Last week, “Agricultural Dumping” was mentioned as one problem with domestic and export subsidies in the U.S. and European Union farm policies. The term “dumping” is used to describe the process whereby a business in one country exports a product to another country at a price below the cost of production. It is one contributing factor to the perpetuation of poverty in developing countries, therefore inhibiting the common good.

♦ Export subsidies and credits are one of the main causes of dumping, because they make it cheap and profitable for agricultural goods to be exported to developing countries.

♦ Dumping of agricultural goods creates serious problems in the Global South. It floods the local market with below cost goods and nearly makes it impossible for small farmers to compete.

♦ A large percentage of people in the Global South rely on agriculture for their primary income.

♦ 70% of rural household income in Asia and 60% in Latin America and Africa come from farming and farm labor.

♦ Dumping stunts the growth of the agricultural sector in the developing world, which in turn makes it more difficult for farmers to break free of poverty.

♦ Small farmers are displaced as they are not able to compete.

♦ As these farmers are forced to leave their land and find work they migrate to either another local city or another country.

♦ Many Latin American displaced farmers migrate to the USA to work as farmworkers.

(Source: Education for Justice/USCCB)