Kent Conrad: “I consider this a fairness amendment because this amendment, which would extend trade adjustment assistance to farmers…”

“I consider this a fairness amendment because this amendment, which would extend trade adjustment assistance to farmers, says we ought to be giving them the protection we already give other folks who work for a living. Right now we have trade adjustment assistance on the books. It is law. If you are working on a job, and you lose your job because of a flood of unfairly traded imports, you have a chance to get back on your feet. But farmers are left out. Farmers are excluded because farmers do not lose their job when they are faced with a flood of unfairly traded imports. Instead, they are faced with a dramatic drop in income. This shows what has happened to prices over the last 53 years. These are wheat and barley prices. These are in real terms, inflation adjusted, constant dollars. We have the lowest prices in 53 years. One reason is a flood of unfairly traded Canadian imports. This chart shows what the cost of production is. That is the green line. The red line shows what prices for wheat have been over the last 3 years. Colleagues, wheat prices are far below the cost of production and have been for over 3 years, again partly because of a flood of Canadian imports unfairly traded.”