Wheat Growers Say NAFTA Can be Improved

The National Association of Wheat Growers says the North American Free Trade Agreement can be improved to benefit U.S. wheat farmers. While stressing the ag industry line of “do no harm” to agricultural trade, the Association says there are some areas where the framework for wheat trade between the three countries can be improved. Association CEO Chandler Goule (gool) says those areas include sanitary and phytosanitary rules that the three countries already agreed to as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. Goule also points to Canada’s grading system for U.S. wheat, stating: “Canadian wheat can freely enter U.S. elevators and receive a grade equal to its quality while U.S. wheat brought to Canadian elevators is automatically downgraded to a ‘feed wheat’ grade or the equivalent.” NAFTA negotiations started last week in Washington, D.C., and will continue next month in Mexico.