The National Farmers Union was unimpressed with the economic analysis on the benefits of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) for agriculture released by Farm Bureau this week and promoted by USDA.

“To broadly categorize agriculture as benefiting from this agreement is not giving due diligence to the serious concerns that are not addressed by TPP,” said NFU president Roger Johnson. “While access to global markets is important for American agriculture, a trade agreement that does little to fix currency manipulation, reign in foreign predatory trade practices, or improve the $531 billion trade imbalance is not the solution.”

NFU stands adamantly opposed to the trade agreement which the majority of agricultural organizations support, claiming that TPP “stands to hurt our rural economies by pitting American jobs against foreign labor that is paid mere pennies per hour.” The Farm Bureau analysis estimates the TPP would boost annual net farm income in the United States by $4.4 billion by dismantling trade barriers and increasing commodity prices.