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Vetter: Every farmer is an exporter

The chief U.S. ag negotiator for the TPP says the agreement will help ALL U.S. farmers and disagrees with the National Farmers Union and other groups that claim independent, smaller farmers will be hurt by it. Darci Vetter told farm broadcasters in Washington, D.C., “I frankly don’t understand that assertion. I think if you look at the Farm Bureau’s analysis, for example, of what the benefits of TPP will be, it’s $4-Billion dollars a year in additional farm income.”

Vetter says the American Farm Bureau’s report shows increased farm prices for commodities across-the-board under the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership. Vetter says trade is a fundamental element of the U.S. ag safety net, “Twenty-percent of farm income is due to exports and every farmer, when they take their grain to the elevator or put their products into a supply chain, is an exporter. Whether they think about it or know it or not. And, the price they receive is higher, regardless of the size of their operation, when we maintain and expand markets.”

Vetter says the TPP is the first such agreement to include support for small and medium-sized farming operations that want to participate in the global market. She says the assertion that only large farms will benefit is not truthful or logical.