Republicans in the state Assembly this month issued a report on the state of New York agriculture. It contained a passage of protectionism worthy of Rep. Richard Gephardt or Senator Edwards, whose message failed to take hold with voters in the Democratic caucus and primary battles this winter.

“Free trade agreements, like NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the recently proposed free trade agreement with Australia have harmed or could unfairly harm the state’s agricultural industry. These trade agreements offer foreign competitors the benefit of fewer trade restrictions and barriers, while doing very little to reduce restrictions and barriers placed on New York farmers,” the report says. “For example, the state’s apple industry experienced a drastic drop in prices during a surge in apple juice concentrates being imported from China. Other agricultural commodities have been similarly hit by the dumping of fruits and vegetables from foreign nations. Also, the dairy industry is attempting to resolve complex issues related to the importation of foreign Milk Protein Concentrates (MPCs) as well as the illegal importation of milk from Canada.”

The report’s suggested remedy? “The Task Force recommends urging the state’s congressional representatives to strengthen security at the state’s borders to keep out illegal farm products…and oppose any future foreign trade agreements that would harm New York agriculture.”

Security at the borders? Come on. We’re not talking about terrorist infiltrators or cocaine smugglers here. We’re talking about milk and apple juice. If New York State farmers wanted to launch a campaign against Chinese apple juice because of communist China’s abysmal human rights record, we’d be all for it. But too often complaints of “dumping” come from Americans who are just upset that some other country has figured out a way to do what they do, only cheaper. The way to deal with it isn’t to strengthen security at the borders, but to come up with better or cheaper products that the Canadians will be clamoring to import and that Americans will prefer to the imports. The report has some other recommendations, too, and some of them, like allowing direct interstate shipments of wine and permitting year-round hunting of deer on farmland, may have merit. But the real shocker is the protectionism. We spent enough time denouncing Mr. Edwards for his policies on trade that it’s only fair to criticize New York Republicans when they take the same line as the North Carolina Democrat, or as Patrick Buchanan, for that matter. Protectionism is a proven electoral loser, and it’s no wonder that with this message the Republicans are the minority party in the New York Assembly.

The issues raised by the report on New York agriculture aren’t trivial. The report says that “in the last two years alone, 1,000 farms have gone out of business in the state, an average of 1.5 farms lost every day.” Farming isn’t the only industry where small, family-owned enterprises are being replaced by big conglomerates. But some of those farmers also sold their farms to developers and did okay for themselves. In the end, the free market has a way of sorting these things out better than Albany Republicans do.