AP Worldstream
By:PAUL GEITNER | AP
DOHA, Qatar--Switzerland worries about avalanches. Mauritius about cyclones. Japan worries about not being able to grow its own rice.
On the second day of the World Trade Organization meeting Saturday, they joined three dozen other countries in demanding that the special needs of their farmers be given more weight in any new round of trade liberalizing talks. The tough stance sets the stage for a showdown with big food exporters, including the United States, and some developing countries that see such "non-trade concerns" as protectionism in disguise.
"The principal interest of the United States is to open markets for agriculture, industrial goods and services," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick told the WTO plenary session.
But while his European Union counterpart, Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, struck a similar general tone, he also warned that agriculture would be a "tough point."
WTO Director General Mike Moore reported no movement on agriculture issues after the first day of talks, which run through Tuesday.
"There were very, very firm positions," Moore said, with no concessions offered.
Sharp differences over agriculture between the EU, the United States and big exporting countries known as the Cairns Group contributed to the failure of the last meeting in Seattle two years ago.
The 15-nation EU has for years demanded special recognition for rural development, food safety and environmental protection.
Preserving Europe's countryside and ensuring that generations of family farmers are not forced out of business is a matter of sovereignty that cannot be traded away, EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler said.
Unlike big exporting countries like Australia, Canada and Argentina, Europe is so densely populated that it can't separate recreation areas or national parks from areas where food is produced, he said.
Thus, the EU should be allowed to compensate farmers for measures to protect the environment and landscape, he said.
"Our citizens are more interested in exactly this kind of public good," he said.
Swiss Economics Minister Pascal Couchepin said compensating his country's Alpine farmers for the difficulties they face was the only way of making such farms viable.
"Without clear support, it would be impossible to keep people in the mountains," he said.
Not only would it be "a loss of all the values of the country," but it would hurt tourism and be "dangerous for avalanches" because no one would be managing the landscape, he said.
The agriculture minister from Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth, said his country relies on sugar growers to protect the land from cyclone damage, and the electricity generated from sugar cane biomass provides 25 percent of the island's power.
"For us it is a fundamental issue," he said.
Other countries like Japan, a net food importer, maintain that measures to protect domestic farmers are necessary because the existing trading rules permit exporters to stop shipments in the event of emergencies, such as poor harvests and war.
Japanese Agriculture Minister Tsutomu Takebe said any final agenda needed to "be based on a basic philosophy of coexistence of different types of agriculture."
The latest agenda under debate does state that non-trade concerns have to be taken into account in any future round. But Fischler said it was "almost an afterthought," and they wanted stronger language.
Yet those demanding an end to direct farm subsidies were taking a hard line.
Jim Sutton, New Zealand's agriculture minister, said everyone supports such goals as protecting the environment and supporting rural communities.
But, he added, "If they wish to have their fence posts painted white and their hedgerows trimmed, for goodness sake subsidize the trimming of hedges and the painting of fenceposts. Don't subsidize the farm production and hope that some of the money will be spent on paint."AP Worldstream By:PAUL GEITNER:
