Pubdate: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 Source: Daily Independent, The (KY) Copyright: 2001 The Daily Independent, Inc. Contact: http://www.dailyindependent.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1573 Author: Steve Shamblen ALTERNATIVE MARKET ACCESS IS NEEDED I live in south Texas, and we have a lot of farmers and ranchers, so I can relate to your plight in Kentucky. When folks start speaking of alternative crops, they sometimes don't take into account alternative market access. What I propose is an alternative market approach for your current crops and an increased use of possible alternative crops as well. An arm of the war on drugs stretched itself into South America into countries like Colombia and Bolivia. The U.S. government's incentive to farmers to deter them from producing drug crops was to offer assistance to those who grew alternative crops instead. Today, those alternative crops are rotting in the field because of lack of access to a market for their crops. The war on drugs has farmers of Bolivia in need of the same thing as farmers here in the U.S.: market access. A few decades ago, cities of America participated in a program that linked them with sister cities of other countries. Since the war on drugs has denied farmers from growing hemp as a viable market commodity, that would have been my first suggestion as an alternative crop for Kentucky to utilize in place of tobacco. Since the war on drugs has caused death and poverty on foreign soil in Bolivia and hardship for its farmers, the two have the same problem and seek the same solution. The farmers of Bolivia are producing fruit mainly, the same type of alternative crops that farmers in Kentucky are thinking of switching to. A possible solution for the two farmers in different countries is to establish trade with one another. Farmers and distributors will benefit in both countries and show profits for their work and at the same time correct two wrongs made by the war on drugs. Steve Shamblen San Antonio, Texas - --- MAP posted-by: Beth