WASHINGTON: Sen. Norm Coleman's decision to vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement could hurt him in western Minnesota, where sugar beet growers are not convinced that the concessions he won will offset CAFTA's damage to their industry.

"I'm extremely disappointed," said Brent Davison, who owns grows 1,800 acres of sugar beets in Tintah, Minn. "We thought Senator Coleman should have been a champion for the sugar industry, coming from a state with the largest sugar beet production."

Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, came out for the deal on the eve of the vote last month, after securing commitments from the Department of Agriculture to keep excess imported sugar out of the United States through the life of the current farm bill, which expires at the end of 2007. The USDA agreed to do this by either compensating exporting countries for not sending sugar here, or converting the excess sugar into ethanol.

But Davison called that "just a Band-Aid fix for a long-term solution. We're still look for a long-term solution. The senator had good intentions, but it's our position that there's nothing there." Davison added that while he voted for Coleman in 2002, he will not vote for him in 2008.

CAFTA would bring six Latin American countries El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic into the open U.S. market that now includes Mexico and Canada. Proponents argue that it would help most U.S. farmers by letting them sell their goods in Central America without paying duties.

Coleman's chief of staff, Erich Mische, said that four staffers from the office went out to western Minnesota last week, covering 19 cities, to explain the senator's position.

"People were very appreciative that we went out and communicated where the senator was at on the issue," Mische said. Constituent calls to Coleman's office were running slightly negative on the CAFTA vote, Mische said, but he said he wasn't all that worried about the political fallout.

"Do we acknowledge that there is a political risk? Sure," Mische said. "He had a greater concern about the 40,000 jobs at stake. It's easy to be on the sideline and shoot at stuff, and say this is bad. Rather than stay on the sidelines, he found protections for sugar."

When Coleman announced the deal he reached with the Bush administration at a Capitol Hill news conference, he acknowledged the differences with the industry, saying, "Sometimes you have to tell your friends they're making a mistake."

That rubbed David Roche, president and CEO of Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative, the wrong way. "I was offended that he feels that he knows what is best for the industry better than we do," said Roche, who lives in Fergus Falls, Minn. "I live and breathe the sugar industry 24 hours a day. CAFTA is not what's best." "As a cooperative, we're disappointed in his support of CAFTA," Roche said. "We've made it known to our shareholders. I will give Senator Coleman credit, he attempted to find some middle ground, but it was nowhere near the middle."

Doug Peterson, president the Minnesota Farmers Union, said the deal will hurt Coleman politically. "I don't think he can come out and make policy 1,000 miles from the farm and expect farmers to swallow it," Peterson said. Mike Hasbargen, who farms 1,600 acres of sugar beets in Breckenridge, Minn., argued that the deal on sugar was designed to give cover to Coleman and Rep. Mark Kennedy, a Minnesota Republican who is running for Senate next year.

On Tuesday, opponents of CAFTA rallied outside Kennedy's St. Cloud office, urging him to vote against the deal even though the congressman has already come out in favor of it. The agreement passed the Senate, but no vote has been scheduled in the House.

Asked for comment, Kennedy's office referred to his statement last month, when he said, "We're pleased that the administration heard our concerns and responded with a compromise that allows the sugar industry to grow profitably in Minnesota for generations to come."

Dwight Aakre, an extension farm management specialist at North Dakota State University, said that while sugar beet growers are opposed to CAFTA, other farmers in the Red River Valley are supportive or neutral.

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