Public Citizen Charges Negative Effects of NAFTA on Small Farms

  
During the first seven years of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), an increasing number of farms in the region went bankrupt, according to a new study by Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "Down on the Farm: NAFTA's Seven-Years War on Farmers and Ranchers in the US, Canada and Mexico" argues that while big agribusiness has benefited from NAFTA, smaller farms and consumers in all three countries have paid a high price for the agreement. Farm incomes have fallen, and US food prices increased 20% since 1993. In addition, the study found that the US agricultural trade surplus with the NAFTA countries declined by 71%, compared to 29.6% worldwide.

"Given the track record of the NAFTA model for farmers and consumers in the three NAFTA countries, it is not surprising that farmers nationwide are increasingly opposed to the notion of expanding NAFTA through the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "As bad as NAFTA's seven years has been in the United States, the results for poverty-stricken Mexican farmers and consumers is horrific and puts to rest that myth that these trade deals benefit people in developing countries."

For the full text of the study, see http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/nafta/naftapg.html.