May 27, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
Report: Paciic Rim trade deal Idaho curtailment
list
further
trimmed
good for agriculture, mostly
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Wheat industry
criticizes federal
study
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Agriculture more than any
other major sector of the U.S.
economy would beneit from
the 12-nation Trans-Paciic
Partnership, but some farmers
would miss out on the gains,
according to a report by the
U.S. International Trade Com-
mission.
U.S. dairymen and cattle-
men would be among the big-
gest winners, according to the
report. Fruits, vegetable and
nut growers also would gain
from tariff reductions.
Wheat, rice and soybean
farmers, however, could see
their overall exports decline,
as TPP increases foreign com-
petition and U.S. agriculture
puts more resources into rais-
ing meat for new overseas cus-
tomers, the report states.
Wheat and soybean trade
groups discounted the report’s
indings and reafirmed their
strong support for TPP.
The National Association
of Wheat Growers called the
report “out of touch.”
American Farm Bureau
Federation President Zippy
Duvall urged Congress to pass
the trade agreement.
“Approving this deal
would give U.S. agriculture
greater access to some of the
fastest-growing markets in the
world at a time when we need
market expansion like never
before,” Duvall said in a writ-
ten statement.
The trade commission’s
780-page study constitutes the
federal government’s oficial
economic analysis of TPP.
If implemented in 2017,
TPP would create an addition-
al 128,000 U.S. jobs and raise
national income by $57.3 bil-
lion by 2032, according to the
commission.
The commission noted
the gains in employment and
income would be less than 1
percent compared to not im-
plementing TPP.
Agriculture would fare
better than the services sector
or the manufacturing, natural
resources and energy sector,
according to the report.
The commission estimated
TPP would increase U.S. farm
output by $10 billion, primari-
ly because Japan and Vietnam
would open their markets by
phasing out tariffs and lifting
limits on imports. The $10 bil-
lion increase would be roughly
equal to the value of Washing-
ton state’s annual farm produc-
tion.
U.S. producers could ex-
pect to see signiicant gains
in sales of beef and processed
foods to Japan, dairy prod-
ucts to Canada and Japan, and
fruits, vegetables and nuts to
Vietnam, the report noted.
The potato industry would
almost triple french fry sales
to Vietnam within ive years,
according to the report. Grow-
ers could also expect increased
sales of french fries and dehy-
drated potatoes to Japan.
Paciic Northwest grow-
ers would be the most logical
source of those potatoes, said
Matt Harris, government rela-
tions director of the Washing-
ton State Potato Commission.
TPP’s elimination of tar-
iffs on nuts should help U.S.
almond growers in the highly
competitive export market, ac-
cording to the report.
Lower tariffs should boost
apple sales to Vietnam and
Malaysia. Japan also will
phase out tariffs, but TPP does
not resolve the phytosanitary
issues that have kept U.S. ap-
ples out.
According to the commis-
sion, increased beef and dairy
exports would be felt through-
out the U.S. farm economy.
Ranchers and dairymen
could be expected to increase
their herds, driving up the de-
mand for animal feed and the
competition for land, squeez-
ing producers with less to gain
by trade liberalization, accord-
ing to the report.
The trade commission sin-
gled out wheat and soybeans as
crops that could be adversely
affected.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
A ship waits to be loaded at the Port of Tacoma in Washington
state. A new report by the U.S. International Trade Commission
projects the Trans-Paciic Partnership would increase U.S. farm
production by $10 billion by 2032, primarily by exporting more food
to Japan and Vietnam.
The report also said that
while U.S. wheat farmers could
expect to gain business in Viet-
nam, they may lose Japanese
customers to cheaper Cana-
dian wheat. The overall result
would be lat production.
The wheat growers asso-
ciation issued a statement,
challenging the report’s con-
clusion.
The association said the
U.S. sells more wheat to Japan
now than competitors and TPP
won’t give Canadians a new
advantage. The trade commis-
sion’s analysis, the association
said, was “out of touch with
the reality of Japan’s prefer-
ences for U.S. wheat.”
“The assumptions made in
the ITC report are disappoint-
ing and misleading,” wheat
association President Gordon
Stoner said in a written state-
ment.
Most importantly, TPP can
be the vehicle for increasing
trade with countries that are
not now part of the agreement,
such as Indonesia, Thailand
and the Philippines, according
to the wheat association.
“Congress should act quick-
ly to enable farmers to take full
advantage of the potential eco-
nomic opportunities at stake
under TPP,” Stoner said,
The American Soybean As-
sociation said TPP will beneit
its members by increasing do-
mestic demand and prices for
soybean meal to feed livestock.
“When our partners in the
pork, poultry, beef and dairy
industries do well, we do well,”
said Delaware farmer Richard
Wilkins, soybean association
president.
The trade commission
agreed that soybean prices
would rise, but that would hurt
exports, particularly to China,
which is not a TPP partner.
U.S. rice farmers could ex-
pect increased sales to Japan,
but that would be more than
offset by losing market share
in the U.S. and Mexico to Viet-
namese growers, according to
the trade commission.
USA Rice Federation re-
sponded to the report by reaf-
irming that it wasn’t ready to
endorse TPP, a stance shared
by the California Rice Com-
mission, a spokesman said.
Capital Press
BOISE — The Idaho De-
partment of Water Resources
sent notices of curtailment
May 18 affecting 160 junior
groundwater rights in re-
sponse to the Surface Water
Coalition’s 2005 delivery call.
The department’s order
will be effective June 3, meet-
ing a state requirement to give
affected water users ample
time to join a groundwater
district with an approved mit-
igation plan and avoid cur-
tailment, said IDWR Deputy
Director Mat Weaver.
“We met this morning and
went over the practices and
staff and timing it will take to
be ready to curtail,” Weaver
said, adding the department is
coordinating with water dis-
tricts and watermasters.
IDWR’s curtailment list
included 44 fewer water rights
than Weaver’s initial estimate,
mostly due to the removal of
water rights that staff deter-
mined had been obtained un-
necessarily for uses that were
already covered by a domes-
tic-use exemption.
Idaho code speciies the
domestic groundwater ex-
emption applies to “the use of
water for homes, organization
camps, public campgrounds,
livestock and for any other
purposes in connection there-
with, including irrigation of
up to one-half acre of land if
the total use is not in excess of
13,000 gallons per day.”
The exemption also covers
other uses if the diversion rate
is below 0.04 cubic feet per
second and a volume of 2,500
gallons per day.
In at least one case — in-
volving an Idaho Falls busi-
ness that treats groundwater
used for cleaning gravel and
re-injects it into the aquifer
— Weaver explained cur-
tailment wasn’t necessary
because the use was non-con-
sumptive.
The coalition’s surface ir-
rigators iled the call based
on junior groundwater users’
contributions to declining
spring lows into the Snake
River downstream of Black-
foot.
IDWR’s methodology or-
der calculates the coalition
is owed 44,200 acre-feet this
summer, factoring in this sea-
son’s water outlook. The no-
tices went out to groundwater
users with priority dates ju-
nior to February of 1989 who
aren’t covered by one of four
IDWR-approved mitigation
plans.
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