Farmscape for February 15, 2005 (Episode 1724)  Rosann Wowchuk | Agriculture Ministers from Manitoba and Saskatchewan report they're finding support among American politicians for the elimination of antidumping duties on live Canadian swine entering the US. Manitoba Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Mark Wartman were part of a delegation that traveled to Washington last week to meet with US political leaders and agriculture industry officials. Rosann Wowchuk says there's a recognition that the import duties on Canadian pigs hurt American producers as well as Canadian producers. Clip-Rosann Wowchuk-Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives We had the opportunity to raise the issue with Congressmen from areas where the weanlings from Manitoba go. In fact I was quite surprised at how little many of the people knew about this issue and they agreed with us that, if there is a tariff applied, that there will be an impact on their producers as well as ours. Some people, I have to say, don't quite understand why this is happening right now given the high prices that US farmers are experiencing. On one hand they're saying that they're suffering because of dumping. On the other hand their prices are quite high so it doesn't make any sense to say that they're being negatively impacted by dumping. In reality our farmers on both sides of the border have found a way to work together in that we can raise the weanlings cheaper and they can finish them out cheaper. That's what we should be allowing to happen rather than having these kind of challenges. Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Mark Wartman says, while there is a mix of perspectives, there are those in the US who feel the duties should never have been applied. He this particular application of the duty doesn't fit the classic definition of dumping and he suggests a serious look needs to be taken at how these duties are applied. For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane. *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council |