Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 3 · column 2 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
disease, their final appeal failed just a few weeks ago. While country of origin labeling for beef became the law in 2004, Miller reported that the chair of the agriculture appropriations subcommittee, Texas republican Heniy Bonnilla, has effectively nullified the law by zeroing out financing for enforcement. And despite intense opposition, including a recent R-CALF USA press conference in which Miller and 15 bipartisan congressional representatives participated, CAFTA passed last week by a razor thin margin.
Setbacks, or no, Miller is pushing a vision of change in our model of agriculture. As he sees it, the local farmer's profitability has been hurt by several closely interconnected factors.
Globalization
There's the impact of globalization, for one- and treaties like NAFTA and CAFTA. Miller argues that these treaties, as they are written now, hurt our farmers and our economy, and benefit only giant retailers and huge mulitnational agricultural conglomerates like ConAgra and Tyson Foods. Noting that the U.S. was a major food exporter before NAFTA and since then has become a net food importer, Miller said, "I ask how members of Congress can call themselves fiscal conservatives and support trade agreements that cause huge trade deficits.”
Asked why Latin-American countries have taken such a big bite out of the domestic beef and agricultural market, Miller pointed out that wages are extremely low in those countries, and that nothing in these trade agreements requires equitable pay.
Miller recounted.
"R-CALF sent a fact finding team to Central America. They have governments providing their vaccines. They don't have
r
91.0%