By Doug Johnson

Thanks to free wireless Internet access provided by the city, this report comes to you from the local airport in Chico, California, where I reflect on today’s latest stop on CEA’s nationwide America Wins With Trade bus tour. Chico, located about 90 miles north of Sacramento, is home to a state university and is also at the northern end of California’s almond growing region. 

Congressman Wally Herger, representing California’s 2^nd Congressional District which includes Chico, headlined our visit to the Chico Nut Company, where company president Skip Hubbard and his team warmly welcomed us and gave us a tour and explanation of his almond growing and distribution business. Chico Nut’s business is clearly strengthened by trade, as evidenced by the company’s display cases of various food products in their foreign language packaging which are sold across Asia and Europe and which contain almonds grown and exported by this Californian company.

Congressman Herger (at the lectern) welcomes the CEA America Wins With Trade Bus.

Also joining us at our stop in Chico and emphasizing the economic importance of accessing global markets were Ryan Schohr, president of the Butte County Farm Bureau; Brad Rudkin, EVP with Farm & Trade; and Jim Wilson, the director of the Center for International Trade Development at Butte College.

Congressman Herger, who serves as the ranking member of the Trade Subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives, was naturally an excellent spokesperson and advocate for the economic benefits of free trade and its relevance to the local Chico economy as well as the nation.  Both he and I highlighted the importance of Congress acting on and approving the pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea (don’t forget to write your member of Congress!).

As a native Californian, I enjoyed this brief trip to a part of the Golden State I hadn’t yet visited.  And I couldn’t help but think that the next time I’m munching California-grown almonds and watching the game by satellite on a high-definition flat panel TV, I’ll know that I’m benefiting two great industries, and the local American jobs related to them, that make our economy stronger as a result of global trade.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 10:44 am and is filed under Free Trade. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.