Two Georgia Congressional officials, Senator Jon Osoff and Rep. Sanford Bishop, have introduced legislation that would extend crop loss payments to seasonal and perishable crop producers. Payments would be triggered when a crop’s national average price drops below its five-year average reference price due to imports. The legislators complain that “unfair” crop imports from Central and South America are hurting their growers. It is true that U.S. imports of fruit and vegetable products have been rising sharply. But they appear to be adding to the domestic supply rather than replacing it as overall demand continues to rise.
Their complaint and proposed solution are interesting from several standpoints:
The...
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