Byron Dorgan: “Tomorrow it will be somewhere close to 30 below, I am told, in the northern part of North Dakota up near the Peace…”

“Tomorrow it will be somewhere close to 30 below, I am told, in the northern part of North Dakota up near the Peace Garden. The Peace Garden straddles the border that we share with Canada. At the Peace Garden will gather a good many North Dakota farmers tomorrow. They will demonstrate about an unfair trade practice that is sucking millions of dollars, tens of millions, in fact hundreds of millions of dollars, out of the pockets of our farmers. What is this practice? A flood of grain has come across into this country from Canada--a flood that is unfairly subsidized. Our farmers cannot compete, and therefore they lose money. Ever since the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement we have been unable to compete against a flood of durum wheat. Imports from Canada of unfairly subsidized durum wheat have rocketed from zero shipments into our country to one fourth of our entire domestic consumption. Durum wheat is ground into that flour that is in pasta. Eighty percent of the Durum wheat that is produced in this country is produced in North Dakota. These farmers are not talking about a problem that is theoretical. They are protesting because they are losing money and losing big money.”