As a nation, we care about a lot of things. We care that workers
aren’t exploited. So we instituted a minimum-wage law that sets a
minimum standard for the price of the labor.

But in today’s agriculture, with global positioning system
technology in our tractors and crop protection chemical rates
labeled in half-ounces, the last thing I can afford is a minimum
standard worker. I can’t compete with a Chinese farmer on the
cost of labor.

We also have Occupational Safety and Health Administration
standards to keep workers safe and Workers’ Compensation
Insurance to provide for them if they’re injured. No farmer
begrudges his labor force these benefits. They’re in the public
good, but the public isn’t paying for them. Neither are our
competitors. We are.

Regulations Cost Farmers

Do we want to export our agricultural infrastructure as we have
the cut-and-sew textile jobs that have put many a Georgia child
though college? Georgia lost 5,700 textile jobs in the past 12
months.

Every new regulation, like the new diesel sulfur emission
standards that will increase the cost of an engine, adds to a
U.S. producer’s costs. Better sulfur emission standards are in
the public’s best interest, but the public isn’t paying for it.
Neither are our competitors. We are.

Whether it’s the added cost of registering products because of
Environmental Protection Agency requirements or simply a
marketing decision by companies to charge whatever the market
will bear, farm chemicals cost more in the United States than in
other countries.

Fighting Strong Dollar

We have to contend, too, with a strong U.S. dollar. I’m just a
country boy. Am I going to have to learn to trade currency
futures, as I have learned to buy puts and calls, to be able to
compete with the Australians selling cotton?

This all goes back to our trade policies. An excellent example
comes from the debate over the Canadian softwood lumber tariff.
U.S. retailers don’t care whether lumber comes from a Canadian
government that manages their timber for maximum employment or a
Georgia producer who uses best management practices to keep
Georgia’s water clean and pays property, state and federal taxes
on his sales.

We should all thank Congress and the administration for the
19.3-percent tariff now levied against Canadian lumber.

Farmers: Original
Environmentialists

No one cares more about the wildlife habitat and water quality on
my farm than I do. We hunt and fish our property. We’re the ones
who drink the water there.

But the best conservation program for rural America is
profitability. If I have the money to spend, there’s nothing I’d
rather spend it on than conservation.

It’s not going to matter much to me if I have wonderful
conservation practices established on my farm if it’s sold at the
courthouse and someone else owns it.

Conservation practices are in the public’s interest, so broaden
the funding for these new programs. Don’t just take them out of
the price supports agriculture needs through this period of
change.

Rapid Change Disruptive

Change is inevitable. What we’re experiencing, however, is a
change in the change itself. The rate of change has accelerated.
That’s causing painful disruptions.

Global markets are different. U.S. producers can’t adapt quickly
enough, restricted by regulatory, monetary and trade issues well
outside our control.

Since the ink started to dry on the North American Free Trade
Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, “World
Trade Organization” and “Free Trade Area of the Americas” have
made their way into agricultural jargon.

We are the greatest nation in the history of the world. There is
no reason that we can’t find ways to protect our agricultural
infrastructure during this period of rapid change. We just have
to make up our minds to do it.

(This space is provided as a public service. The opinions
expressed here are solely the opinions of the writers and do not
necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the University
of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.)