Day in, day out, lawyers at a trade tribunal hearing last week argued about whether Manitoba corn growers have been hurt by dumped and subsidized imports of American corn.
But conspicuous by their silence on the matter were lawyers and witnesses from the United States.
While the office of the U.S. Trade Representative sent the panel a written submission of its views, it left the arguments up to Canadian opponents of a $1.58 (US) duty on corn coming across the border.
Some of the most vociferous opposition came from Canadian farmers who use corn to feed their livestock.
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On the one hand, corn growers like Michael Coates testified that the duty has brought him relief from low corn prices depressed by overproduction in states just south of the border.
In the past five years, the Carman, Man., farmer had gone from making a small profit on his corn to breaking even to losing money.
“Rather than pay down debt, my debt has continued to mount,” testified Coates, who presented detailed financial information to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal during a private session.
On the other hand, the three-member panel also heard from Roger Barnabé, a Letellier, Man. corn grower who said he gets his best margins from corn, and doesn’t believe U.S. imports hurt him or other farmers.
Before the Nov. 7 duty on corn, Barnabé also imported U.S. corn to sell to livestock producers through his company Seed-Ex Inc.
He said many corn producers get higher prices and have lower production costs than the averages suggested by provincial government data.
Barnabé and Eric Peters from Steinbach, Man., were two of 38 producers who signed statements opposing the trade action.
The others were kept confidential by the panel for the “protection” of the farmers, explained Barnabé, adding the group doesn’t want to cause conflicts between neighbors.
The group claims to represent 15 percent of Manitoba corn acres, an amount other parties at the hearing used to discredit the Manitoba Corn Growers Association.
Lawyers for Maple Leaf Foods, the Association of Canadian Distillers, and the British Columbia Agriculture Council argued that, under Canadian trade law, the association doesn’t represent enough producers to prove its case.
The panel is expected to make its decision on March 7 — a decision that will determine whether corn imports will continue to be subject to a duty at the border.
Coates, who is president of the MCGA and helped launch the trade complaint last summer, said he was not surprised by the opposition from livestock producers, corn importers and feed companies.
“They have to do what they have to do,” said Coates, who said he thought the hearings went well. He doesn’t think the relationship between corn producers and their buyers will be affected by the acrimony often present in the hearing sessions.
Coates also said he wasn’t surprised the U.S. government didn’t send a lawyer to argue its case.
“It’s really a very small pea in their pod, so to speak,” he said.
