International Sugar Coalition Voices Farm Bill Support to House Ag Committee

The International Sugar Trade Coalition voiced approval May 28, 2012 for the Farm Bill (S-3240), recently passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee, for giving sugar producers in developing nations a guaranteed level of access to the U.S. sugar market at fair predictable prices. The ISTC wrote to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Pat Roberts (D-Minn.) to express its support for the Farm Bill, which would extend the current sugar policy through 2017.

Attempts to weaken this policy through amendments would hurt U.S. farmers and poor growers in developing countries where sugar is a key economic driver, said ISTC. An end to the sugar program would reward only a handful of large food companies and agricultural superpower like Brazil, it said. The Farm Bill is expected to be voted on by the Senate in early June, according to press reports.