BERNALILLO, N.M., Aug. 6 (PRNewswire) -- U.S. farm leaders participatingin a panel discussion here today expressed concern that governmentpolicies and practices in Brazil may make fair competition with farmers inthat country difficult to attain.Representatives of the U.S. cotton, soybean, and sugar industries, and anational farm leader, noted tax breaks, low-interest loans, and lowenvironmental standards encourage acreage expansion in Brazil. Inaddition, exchange rate devaluations make Brazilian farm productsartificially competitive.In a presentation entitled "Brazil: Poised to Swamp All of U.S.Agriculture," Andrew LaVigne, head of Florida Citrus Mutual, describedBrazil's low interest loans and other subsidies that have led the U.S.government to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Brazilianconcentrated orange juice imports.LaVigne also cited the burden Florida citrus producers face from workerand environmental protection standards that are much higher than Brazil's,and from trying to compete with the Brazilian orange juice industry'sgovernment- tolerated "unprecedented degree of monopoly and monopsonypower" in setting processors' prices to purchase oranges and sell orangejuice.LaVigne noted that Brazilian currency devaluations have had such effectsas cutting Brazilian labor costs to "almost half of the 1992-93 level."Several speakers noted that Brazil has devalued its currency by nearly 50percent just since 1999.Kenneth Hood, a Missouri farmer and chairman of the National CottonCouncil, said special tax breaks and low environmental standards forclearing land have fostered cotton area expansion and noted that "Brazilhas tremendous potential to expand crop area" further.Ron Heck, an Iowa farmer and vice president of the American SoybeanAssociation, said that most Brazilian soybean production "would not beprofitable without government aid," such as tax breaks that reduce theircosts about $40 per acre relative to U.S. tax burdens.Dalton Yancey, outgoing chairman of the American Sugar Alliance, said,"Brazil has built the world's largest sugar exporting machine out ofnearly three decades of sugarcane ethanol subsidies." Without the sucroseethanol program, which absorbs more than half of all Brazilian sugarcane,Yancey said, "Brazil's massive sugar producing and exporting industrywould only be a fraction of what it is today."Regarding the prospect of free trade with Brazil under a proposed FreeTrade Area of the Americas (FTAA), Bob Stallman, a Texas farmer andnational president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, warned, "Wehave to be cautious. We agree with the (U.S.) administration that the bestway to address global agricultural distortions is in the WTO (World TradeOrganization)," rather than in regional or bilateral agreements.The American Sugar Alliance, which sponsors the annual InternationalSweetener Symposium, is a national coalition of growers, processors andrefiners of sugarbeets, sugarcane, and corn for sweetener.