Relief sought for asparagus growers

By The Associated Press

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Asparagus from Peru is currently imported to the United States duty-free under the Andean Trade Preferences Act, which was intended to help countries combat drug trafficking. The law was a boon to Peru's asparagus industry, but it devastated Washington growers.

"Trade policy should help open markets to our farmers, not push them out of production. I'm working to ensure that we find a way to keep the American asparagus industry competitive," Nethercutt said in a news release.

Washington is the nation's No. 2 producer of asparagus behind California. The state had a record-high 32,000 acres producing asparagus in 1991, the same year the Andean Trade Preferences Act went into effect.

The number of acres fell to 15,000 last year and about 13,300 so far in 2004.

"The asparagus industry needs relief to regroup and regain a competitive edge," said Alan Schreiber, executive director of the Washington Asparagus Commission.

Last week, the state's last big asparagus canning plant announced it will close next year, potentially eliminating thousands of seasonal jobs in the Columbia Basin and Yakima Valley.

The decision to close the Seneca Foods plant in Dayton, Columbia County, about 120 miles east of Yakima, came from General Mills, for which Seneca is a contract manufacturer.

The announcement followed the closure of a Del Monte facility in Toppenish, Yakima County, and a Chiquita plant in Walla Walla last year, Nethercutt wrote in a letter to the commission.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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