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Iowa Farmers React To USMCA Deal

Amy Mayer/IPR file
The USMCA updates the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

An updated trade deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico is bringing widespread relief to many farmers in the Midwest. 
The USMCA updates the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. It expands market opportunities for the dairy industry, accounts for new technologies and reinforces food safety rules. The proposed agreement hasbipartisan support.

Duane Aistrope is a corn farmer from Randolph and is on the U.S. Grains Council. He says farmers have been waiting for a deal for a long time and the USMCA opens the door to more free trade. 

“Farmers here in the United States need every access that we can find right now to help ease the burden that we’re going through right now on the American farm, with low prices and the trade wars going on,” Aistrope said. 

Craig Hill farms just south of Des Moines and is the president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. He says NAFTA needed to be modernized.

“Some of our technology has changed, and we need some rules that are more clear and defined around technology,” Hill said. “That has been done.”

Some farmers are a little disappointed. Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman says USMCA makes some “necessary improvements” to NAFTA, but he’s disappointed it doesn’t include a way to label U.S. products.

“And that consumers can know that they’re buying their product from farmers growing their food here in the United States,” Lehman said.

Lehman said the agreement does benefit the U.S. by addressing labor issues and taking away the monopolies NAFTA had for pharmaceuticals.

“And we in rural America are very vulnerable to price manipulations on pharmaceuticals. It’s very important for rural health, to address that," Lehman said.

The U.S. and Canada still need to ratify the deal.

Katie Peikes was a reporter for Iowa Public Radio from 2018 to 2023. She joined IPR as its first-ever Western Iowa reporter, and then served as the agricultural reporter.