Thomas E. Petri: “I rise to make a few important comments about the inequities of continuing to exclude the U.S. mink industry from the…”

“I rise to make a few important comments about the inequities of continuing to exclude the U.S. mink industry from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Market Access Program (MAP). This is an important issue for the mink industry and its many small ranchers and allied industries that reside in some 28 U.S. states where mink is produced. Since 1996, U.S. mink has been unfairly excluded from the MAP program. This exclusion is primarily the result of political pressure brought to bear by animal rights groups. The exclusion has nothing whatsoever to do with the mink industry's eligibility for the program or the success of the mink industry's MAP program prior to 1996. Importantly, the mink industry's prior export promotion program was considered a model program by USDA. The industry's MAP activities, which were used to promote the superior quality of U.S. rancher-raised mink in Europe and Asia, successfully increased U.S. mink exports by 25% between 1992 and 1995. In the last year of participation, exports of U.S. mink skins exceeded $100 million. Today, almost all sectors of American agriculture, except mink, participate in the MAP program. The mink industry is no different from the beef, pork, chicken and sheep industries in the United States, all of which receive substantial MAP funding. Moreover, most U.S. mink ranchers are small, second- and third-generation family-owned operations.”