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  FLORIDA - Down on the Farm: NAFTA's Seven-Years War on Farmers and Ranchers in FloridaRead the Full Text During the 1993 debate over the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Florida farmers and ranchers as well as farm communities across the U.S. were promised that NAFTA would provide access to new export markets and thus would finally bring a lasting solution to farmers off-and-on struggles for economic success. Now, seven years later, the evidence shows the income of independent Florida farmers has declined, consumer prices have risen while some giant agribusinesses have reaped huge profits. Florida has lost 1,000 small and medium sized farms since NAFTA went into effect. Total net income for "farm operations" in Florida increased between 1993 and 1999 but all of the income gain was in corporate farms. When corporate income increases are eliminated farm income drops steeply in Florida. During the seven years of NAFTA, net farm income for non-corporate Florida farm operations fell 74.4% between 1993 and 1999 from $51.4 million to $13.4 million. These bad outcomes for independent farmers are defining the growing national debates over President Bush s proposals to establish Fast Track trade authority and to expand NAFTA to 31 other Latin American and Caribbean nations through the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). This report documents the results that are causing farmers concern about NAFTA and its model of export-oriented agriculture. This special Florida supplement to a recent national report on NAFTA s agriculture-sector outcomes examines the impact of NAFTA on Florida farmers. For the past seven years, Florida vegetable growers, especially tomato and bell pepper growers, have been facing intense pressure from increasing imported vegetables from Mexico. Florida s citrus crop, the jewel of Florida s agriculture production, is already facing increased pressure from Mexico and will face even further import threats if President Bush is granted Fast Track trade authority. President Bush has announced he is seeking trade authority to negotiate FTAA NAFTA expansion which could result in Florida facing severe competition from powerhouse citrus producer Brazil. Farmers raising beef cattle in Florida who have seen incomes decline as farmgate prices for beef have collapsed in Florida under NAFTA would face new FTAA imports from beef giants Argentina and Brazil. Moreover, sugarcane farmers, who received special protection from Mexican sugar imports when NAFTA was negotiated, face even greater threats from FTAA nation Brazil which dominates the world sugar trade. Brazil has announced that access tothe U.S. for its citrus, beef, and sugar is a non-negotiable requirement for any FTAA deal. Similar NAFTA outcomes are plaguing farmers and ranchers throughout the country. While Florida s farmers were hardest hit, for the past seven years, Midwestern and Plains states wheat farmers; ranchers in Montana, Texas and other states; vegetable, flower and fruit growers in California; lumber mill owners in Louisiana, Arkansas and Washington; chicken farmers nationwide and others have suffered declining commodity prices and farm income while a flood of NAFTA imports outpaced U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico. Yet it was not farmers in Mexico or Canada who benefitted from Florida farmers woes. Millions of campesinos throughout Mexico have lost a significant source of income and left their small corn farms. Some became farm laborers working in squalid conditions for poverty wages on large plantations growing produce for export to the U.S. Others moved to Mexico s cities where unemployment is high. Canadian grain and dairy farmers also face steeply rising debt during the NAFTA era. However, NAFTA has brought seven years of good fortune to many of the agribusinesses that pressured Washington, Ottawa and Mexico City to negotiate and ratify NAFTA's corporate- managed trade terms. Since NAFTA stripped away many safeguards for the folks who produce raw agricultural products, relative power and leverage has grown for large agribusiness conglomerates to exert pressure on both farmers and consumers. In Washington D.C., the Bush Administration is pushing forward with an ambitious plan to expand the NAFTA model throughout the hemisphere through FTAA. President George W. Bush and his principal trade policy advisors have stated that they intend to make the debate about NAFTA expansion and Fast Track (which they want to rename "Presidential Trade Promotion Authority") a referendum on NAFTA. Public Citizen agrees that the debate over NAFTA expansion indeed, the national conversation about the premises and direction of U.S. trade policy should be decided on the basis of the real-life results of NAFTA and the model on which it is based. In this report, we show how Florida independent farmers and small and medium sized farmers throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada have seen agricultural prices plummet, farm incomes collapse and critical domestic agriculture safety net programs dismantled during NAFTA s seven years. International free trade agreements and the domestic policies which furthered implementation of the export-oriented model, such as the U.S. "Freedom to Farm Act," have proved to benefit only the largest agribusinesses while the majority of farmers and consumers have lost.
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