02/12/07 Asparagus growers still fighting imports

Washington Ag February 12, 2007 Washington Asparagus Executive Director Alan Schreiber is off to Washington D.C. today as part of the industry's continuing battle against cheap Peruvian imports, one of the major factors behind the decline of asparagus production in Washington. Peruvian asparagus enters the U.S. now duty free year round because of the Andean Trade Preferences Act. But that Act expires in five months. Schreiber says the Andean Free Trade Agreement would eclipse the Trade Preferences Act but surprisingly, Congress failed to approve the FTA last session and he says with the Democrats now in control passage of the trade agreement may be even more unlikely. That's what he will be working on in Washington D.C. Schreiber." "And so if we can prevent Andean Free Trade Agreement from being passed within the next six months it will be the biggest win for the Washington asparagus industry we have ever seen and you will probably see a stampede in growers to plant asparagus." Before Peru was given duty free access as part of the war on drugs Washington had 30-thousand acres of asparagus. Since then acreage has plummeted to 95-hundred acres and the state has lost all its asparagus canneries. Labor costs and labor availability have also played a role in the industry's decline. I'm Bob Hoff.