Withdrawals would be added to the producer's gross income for that year. As part of the conditions for membership in the World Trade Organization, China has agreed to take significant steps in opening up its markets to agricultural trade. China is felt to be the most important growth market in the world for U.S. agricultural exports. In order for American farmers to realize this opportunity, Congress must give China the same trading rights it extends to the other 134 nations in the World Trade Organization. In the past five years, the U.S. has imposed 61 unilateral sanctions on 35 countries.
Sanctions currently prohibit U.S. farmers from exporting to six markets.
Farm Bureau believes farm products should be exempt from embargoes except in cases of armed conflict. Farm Bureau supports S. 1771 and H.R. 3140 which would exempt agricultural and medical products from current and future U. S. sanctions, unless approved by Congress. Farm Bureau also supports S. 566 to exempt U.S. agricultural commodities from unilateral sanctions, and H.R. 17 to require congressional review and approval by both houses of any agricultural embargo imposed by the President. A revised H-2A program has been on the books for over a decade to allow the use of temporary foreign farmworkers, but farmers have found it to have too many costly and burdensome regulatory hurdles to be of real use. Farm Bureau is supporting legislation to reform the H-2A program by streamlining the application process, controlling unreasonable program costs and offering farmers certainty about program requirements.