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Article: Free trade floods United States with imported food
- Article from:
- The Pantagraph Bloomington, IL
- Article date:
- August 10, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2003 The Pantagraph Bloomington, IL. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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To most American farmers and ranchers, free trade is like
motherhood, apple pie and John Deere green: it's an unquestioned core
belief of the farming faith.
A July report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic
Research Service however, relates that freer ag trade over the last
20 years has allowed imported food - especially imported red meat,
fruits and vegetables - to claim a larger share of the American
stomach.
The big picture, according to Andy Jerardo, the report's author,
shows the average share of food imports consumed by Americans has
climbed from 7.8 percent in 1981-1985 to 11.1 percent in 1997-2001.
That's a staggering 50 percent increase in America's taste for
imported ...