The Stories Project: Oregon Livelihoods Traded Away

Reid Saito Residence: Nyssa, OR Age: 54 Occupation: Grower: onions, other Affiliations: Malhuer County/Idaho Onion Growers Assoc., President Additional Notes: Interviewed with Paul Skeen, Onion Association VP

Snapshots "I'm Reid Saito, President of the Malheur County/Idaho Onion Growers Association. I'm Paul Skeen, Vice President of the Malheur County/Idaho Onion Association. " "We grow 40% of all the onions consumed in the US from August to April. 40% of that whole market comes from Malheur County and four counties across the Snake River. Malheur County produces more than all four counties put together." "Since NAFTA, the tariffs are slowly being removed from onions coming in from Canada and Mexico. At a certain point in the year, Mexico becomes a factor. They start pushing onions across the border so it affects our markets here. Well, if you are a grower in Mexico or an onion grower in Texas growing in Mexico, your cost of production is paying people $8 a day and we're paying our people $8 and hour -- just that factor alone plus they are not contending with the US EPA's regulations or contending with many of our labor restrictions." "When they talk about a level playing field and trade, there's the issue about safety that adds a lot to our costs of producing a safe crop. Not only growers, but all the way through the marketing chain. Yet, you have the onions coming from foreign countries that don't have to comply with that. They are selling here. How safe are those commodities?"

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