MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine farmers call for patience after negotiations canceled

Agrarian Federation President Eduardo Buzzi

Argentine farm leaders warned the government against ending negotiations to resolve a dispute over export taxes and will meet today as pressure builds in the countryside to halt grain and oilseeds exports for a third time since March.

Luciano Miguens, president of the Rural Society, called on farmers to have "patience" as they continue their talks. Agrarian Federation President Eduardo Buzzi said last night that the government owes farmers an explanation for the canceled meetings. "There is a very strong desire across the country to express anger at the government's decision to stand us up," Buzzi said. "We're asking the people to be patient and tolerant." The dispute over agricultural taxes announced in March has led to food shortages, slumping exports and declining support for President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. A May 25 rally by farmers drew 300,000 people, according to the organizers, the biggest anti-government demonstration since Argentina returned to democracy in 1983. A rally the same day by Fernandez drew about 50,000. Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez criticized the farmers rally and said farmers are trying to "impose decisions" on the government. During an interview on television channel C5N, Fernandez said that the government has worked to address the concerns of farm groups by offering new subsidies to small producers and opening discussions on how the export taxes affect futures markets. The new variable export tax levies grains and oilseeds, including soybeans and sunflower seeds at more than 40 percent, depending on market prices, compared with a previous fixed rate of 35 percent. Fernandez said the taxes will damp domestic prices and enable the government to redistribute wealth to the poor. Argentina is the world's third-largest soybean exporter behind the U.S. and Brazil, and the second-largest corn exporter after the U.S. Buzzi said at the May 25 rally in the agricultural city of Rosario that if the government doesn't change the tax regime, "it will learn its lessons the hard way." Farmers near Rosario began delaying some traffic last night after the meetings with the government were called off. '"The government doesn't want to be seen as ceding to pressure from the farm groups," said Fabian Perechodnik, a political analyst at Poliarquia Consultores in Buenos Aires. "The crisis is worsening because the government won't sit down and negotiate." Farmers began blocking roads after the government announced the new tax regime on March 11. A one-month truce called on April 2, after food shortages had spread nationwide, ended without an accord. Farmers then resumed their roadblocks, targeting trucks carrying produce for export, before returning to the negotiating table May 8. President Fernandez didn't directly refer to farmers or the tax dispute yesterday or during her speech in the northwestern province of Salta on May 25, the anniversary of the revolution that led to Argentina's independence from Spain. The dispute has eroded Fernandez's popularity, according to a survey released by Poliarquia Consultores last week. The president's positive standing dropped to 26 percent in May from 47 percent in March, while her negative rating rose to 34 percent from 19 percent in the same period, Poliarquia said. Fernandez's husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, on May 23 called the polls that show a decline in her popularity "fake." Buenos Aires mayor and opposition leader Mauricio Macri called on the government to re-start negotiations so the country can benefit from high international prices for products like wheat and soy. "Argentina is missing out on an historic opportunity," Macri said during a news conference yesterday. "The rest of the world is looking at this conflict and they can't understand why we're doing this."