A loophole in NAFTA has allowed Mexico to ship far more sugar into the United States this crop year than the USDA first predicted. The uncertainty created by Mexican imports is one more reason U.S. producers are urging the Secretary of Agriculture to be cautious about allowing additional sugar imports from other countries...
As food manufacturers lobby the USDA to flood the American sugar market with imports and sink prices, a new study unveiled this month shows U.S. companies are already paying less for sugar than their counterparts in other developed countries....
Recession or not, people will still celebrate Christmas, Halloween, Easter and Valentine's Day, which is why candy companies make money in good times and in bad, says the National Confectioners Association (NCA). Article courtesy of The Hand That Feeds U.S...
In a guest article, Dean Martin with First South Farm Credit discusses the hard times being felt by Louisiana cane farmers and the lobbying efforts by industrial sugar users that could drive many farmers out of business as food company profits grow...
America's farmers just kicked off a campaign called The Hand That Feeds U.S. to improve relations with the same urban media that have often been critical of agriculture, and some powerful U.S. lawmakers sent the nation's reporters a letter asking them to give farmers a chance....
In addition to substandard labor and environmental conditions, Guatemala has employed a series of indirect subsidies and market protection maneuvers to give its growers a leg up on foreign competitors...
Under the 2008 Farm Bill, April 1 is the first day of the year that the USDA can tinker with foreign sugar import quotas. Large food manufacturers in search of even higher profits are lobbying for additional subsidized foreign sugar above the 1.3 million metric tons we've already agreed to import. Most other observers agree that the market is adequately supplied; a fact proven by low sugar prices...
Government officials deciding whether or not to increase sugar imports this year received a pretty clear message about foreign sugar from the American public earlier this month. Seven in 10 American adults said they would rather buy American sugar, even if imports were slightly cheaper, according to a March 23 Harris Interactive poll....
The American Sugar Alliance sent Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack a letter on March 12 urging him to speed implementation of the sugar policy contained in the 2008 Farm Bill because of dangers posed by low sugar prices....
