The Wall Street Journal has a great editorial today on one US industry’s latest attempt to secure some protection against foreign imports, which just may spark a trade war with an important target for American exports. This time, it’s the farmed fish industry, and the imports in question are catfish from Vietnam.

The U.S. catfish farming industry, located primarily in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi, faces tough competition from Vietnamese imports, the value of which rose from $2 million in 1998 to $46 million…

Read the full story

Great. Now USDA head Tom Vilsack is saying the US ethanol industry needs to be protected in the borrow-and-spend bill, and beyond:

“The ethanol industry is under particular strain,” Vilsack said in a
conference call with reporters.

Loan guarantees for the industry, distributed by the USDA as part of the
2008 Farm Bill, “can help more of these companies stay in business,” Vilsack
said, though he warned that “there will be a premium on ethanol producers who
can stay efficient,” a clear warning that there…

Read the full story

Right after House-Senate conferees announced that they had reached agreement on a new farm bill yesterday, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture said that President Bush would veto it because it didn’t reform wasteful farm programs, continued to provide subsidies to rich farmers, and still used some budget machinations to hide the costs.

Indeed, the boondoggle bill deserves a White House rejection for its almost $300 billion of farm programs that will be paid for by taxpayers and consumers. Farm bills, however,…

Read the full story

Hans–

Glad you posted about the bloated farm bill and how sugar is treated.  A “Sweetheart Deal” — how right the Washington Post is in its editorial today blasting farm bill proposals that would make the U.S. sugar program an even sweeter deal for producers while consumers foot the bill.

The current sugar program — which has expired but has been extended with other 2002 farm programs — is a system of price supports, domestic production restrictions, and restrictions on sugar imports.  The…

Read the full story