Bus Tour To
Ag Progress
EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.)
Brubaker Agronomic Consulting
Service Inc. of Ephrata, an inde
pendent professional crop and soil
consulting firm, will sponsor an
exhibit at the 25th annual Ag
Progress Days to be held August
17, 18, and 19.
The Brubaker Agronomic Con
sulting Service Inc. exhibit will
focus on agricultural consulting
services such as nutrient manage
ment planning, soil fertility prog
rams, IPM field scouting,
beneficial-use permitting, and
community relations workshops.
The exhibit will be part of more
than $2O million worth of agricul
tural machinery, equipment, sup
plies and services that will be dis
played and demonstrated by near
ly 300 commercial and
non-commercial exhibitors during
the three-day event
Penn State Ag Progress Days is
one of the largest and longest run
ning agricultural expositions in
the East
Exhibit hours are 9 a.m. to S
p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. On
Wednesday, the hours are
extended until 8 p.m. Admission
AVAILABLE NOW -
Contracts for new and updated turkey houses
using equipment
Planning your first or second turkey house? '
Call Northeast Agri Systems for a free estimate: 1-800-673-2580
agri
systems
(Continued from Pago AID)
cation of the NAFTA agreement
This agreement offers economic
opportunities for Pennsylvania
farmers and the U.S. economy as a
whole. The fastest growing sector
of the American economy is our
export sector. Mexico is the fastest
growing market for U.S. exports
in the world. U.S. merchant
exports to Mexico have increased
22 percent per year for each of the
last five years. U.S. agricultural
exports rose 173 percent to over
three billion dollars, from 1986 to
1991. The good news for Pennsyl
vania farmers is that NAFTA,
over the next ten years, will cause
U.S. exports to increase at a more
rapid rate.
We believe there is a lot of mis
information about NAFTA and we
and parking are free.
On Wednesday, August 18,
Brubaker Agronomic Consulting
Service Inc., will be chartering a
coach bus for persons interested in
attending Ag Progress Days. Tick
ets are $l5 in advance and can be
Northeast Agri
FLYWAY BUSINESS PARK (store hours:!
139 A West Airport Rd. Lititz, PA 17543 JS-f*
(717)569-2702 1-800-673-2580 ■ ' V^T
BE m
Farm Forum
want to set the record straight
NAFTA will create U.S. jobs, not
lose them; it will expand U.S.
exports; it will offer opportunities
to improve Mexico’s environmen
tal and labor conditions as its eco
nomy grows and develops: and it
will help to widen our trade surp
lus in farm commodities. The
Institute for National Economics
has estimated that over several
years NAFTA will create a-net
increase of over 130,000 U.S.
jobs. Recent estimates indicate
that the gain to the U.S. gross
domestic product by the year 2002
will 35 billion dollars. Part of that
increase will be in increased sales
of beef, dairy products and coarse
grains which will directly or indi
rectly benefit Pennsylvania
fanners.
Your editorial article refers to
reserved by calling (717)
859-3276 prior to July 21, 1993.
The bus will have several pick
up points for your convenience
and will be leaving Lancaster
County at 7:30 a.m. and returning
by 6:00 p.m. Limited seating is
available.
Systems, Inc.
Chore-Time H 2 ALL-PLASTIC
PEEPER floods feeder pan with
plenty of feed to attract and
start poults from the first day.
Chore-Time SUPER 6™ curtain
elded ventilation made easy
Chore-Time SUPERS* Environmental Con
trol System takes the work out of operating
curtain ventilation and does it without
requiring anyone to be a computer expert!
SUPER 6 accurately and automatically
“supervises' your building's ventilation dur
ing hot, cold, and even during natural ventila
tion periods doing automatically what
most hog producers are attempting to do by
hand.
the myth that the Pennsylvania
and the-U.S. will suffer massive
job losses as companies fly south
to take advantage of cheap labor in
Mexico. Two things are usually
not discussed in this argument
First labor costs are only part of
the equation when companies
decide where to locate. Many
other variables enter the equation,
including productivity, availabili
ty of raw materials and energy,
transportation costs and marketing
infrastructure. Otherwise, all
those jobs would already be gone.
Nothing is stopping them from
leaving now.
Mexico’s situation is similar to
that of other developing countries
- short of infrastructure, skilled
workers, experienced managers
and entrepreneurs but long on
cheap labor in a world where
cheap labor is becoming less
important. In 1991, for instance,
less than one third of the major
investments abroad by U.S. com
panies went to countries with low
labor rates.
Another,element is that the
cheap labor argument assumes
that a job created in Mexico takes
one away from the U.S. In fact,
the result of a successful NAFTA
will be to create income and
employment in both countries.
U.S. trade with Mexico has
changed from a $5.6 billion deficit
in 1987 to a $5 billion surplus in
1992. The result has been more
U.S. jobs. Associated Press, citing
a U.S. Commerce Department
study, stated that exports from
Pennsylvania to Mexico quad
rupled between 1987 and 1992,
placing the state among the top 10
in the nation in sales south of the
border. This strong growth comes
against the backdrop of closer
economic ties between two
nations as they move toward the
establishment of NAFTA.
Your paper’s editorial also indi
cated that many U.S. companies
are most likely to move to Mexico
because environmental laws are
lax. Mexico’s General Law of
Ecological Equilibrium and
Environmental Protection enacted
in 1988 is roughly the same as
U.S. laws and regulations. In
1992, the Mexican Congress
created the Secretariat of Social
Development, the government
ministry charged with environ
mental policy formulation and
enforcement - essentially the
Mexican EPA. The environmental
hurdles that companies wanting to
locate in Mexico will have to jump
will likely be no lower than those
in the United States.
Since Mexican President Salinas took office,
Mexico’s environmental budget has increased
700 percent. The number of environmental
inspectors has increased to more than 300.
There have been suspensions of operating
licenses and closures of 1,926 facilities for
non-compliance with environmental regula
tions. More than 100 facilities have been closed
permanently in an attempt to curb pollution in
Mexico City. These are not the actions of a
country unconcerned with enforcements of
environmental rules and regulations.
It is unfortunate that you rely on the Manu
facturing Policy Project Study when postulat
ing that NAFTA will cost the U.S. 5.9 million
manufacturing production jobs. This study has
been widely criticized as using questionable
methodology as being totally misleading. Its
starting .assumption is that industries whose
labor content is 20 percent or more of the total
value of shipments are vulnerable. As the 20
percent criterion is only slightly more than pay
roll as a percent of shipments of all U.S. manu
facturing industries, the inevitable result was-to
find that approximately half of all jobs in U.S.
manufacturing industriesare implicated. Using
the same procedure, but choosing industries
with a 30 percent or more labor content crite
rion would have led to an estimate of 940,600,
not 5.9 million, jobs at risk.
Regardless of the figure used, the analysis is
incomplete since it ignores other factors, such
as technological superiority, that contribute to
U.S. competitiveness. Furthermore, the report
characterizes these jobs as being “at risk” yet
press reports and statements made in your pap
er’s editorial imply that these jobs will actually
be lost
Mexico currently has higher trade barriers
than the U.S. Mexico is currently at a 10 per
cent average, while the U.S. currently averages
four percent. Mexico has significantly more
non-tariff barriers than the U.S. Over ten years
all of those restrictions will gradually be elimi
nated except for the most sensitive commodi
ties, such as com on the part of Mexico and cit
rus on the part of the U.S., which will be given
fifteen years.
In summary, we believe strongly in our
country and in doing what is right to promote
jobs, prosperity and every American citizen’s
standard of living. We firmly believe NAFTA
will promote growth and employment in our
country. We also believe that NAFTA is
important in maintaining a leadership role in
the world. It is only by expanding our markets
abroad, coupled with sound domestic econom
ic policies, that we will stimulate our economy,
provide jobs and prosperity for our fellow
Americans and continue our role as a dominant
and competitive force in the world.
Keith Eckel,
President, Pennsylvania
't
Farm Bureau