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By Alice McFarlane

Trade Deals

Trade agreements good for farmers

Dec 11, 2019 | 2:57 PM

Canada, the United States and Mexico have formally agreed to the changes in the new North American free trade agreement. The next step is ratification in all three countries.

Western Canadian Wheat Growers chair and Rosetown area farmer Jim Wickett said it is a necessary step.

“Well, I think it just means stability. There shouldn’t be any threats of some trade action or anything like that,” he said. “The U.S. is a very large customer for our grains, milling oats, wheat and durum. Even malt barley goes south.”

Wickett said with on going concerns surrounding trade irritants, he’s happy this can start the process to tie up this agreement and that’s good for Saskatchewan farmers.

“Yes, my opinion is it’s a very good deal. There’s about 50,000 tonnes of grain that come north from the states into Canada for various uses. But there’s about five million tonnes that goes south,” he said. “It’s a huge market and it’s certainly something that we would like to have a rock solid kind of trade deal.”

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Wickett said Mexico buys Canadian durum but they also supply fresh produce for Canadian grocery stores. He said trade stability is good for farmers and consumers.

“Certainly some stuff goes down there, durum goes down there. I don’t know about the trade imbalance given our winters and how much produce comes out of Mexico,” he said. “If it can get food on the table a little bit cheaper, like fresh vegetables and fruit, I can’t see where that’s not a good thing for the Canadian consumer.”

“Those of us who were around in the 1980s have seen the effects of protectionism. We certainly don’t need a repeat of the ’80s and ’90s. The more of these agreements we can get tied up, along with sound trade practices, I think it’s a good thing for everyone,” Wickett said.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF