Australians Dump Grain at U.S. Embassy
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CANBERRA, Australia — Wheat farmers dumped sacks of wheat on the U.S. Embassy lawn today in an angry protest against a U.S. decision to sell subsidized grain to the Soviet Union, undercutting one of their biggest foreign markets.
About 50 wheat growers braved heavy rain to picket the embassy, dump sacks of grain on its lawns and deliver a letter protesting the move to U.S. Ambassador William Lane.
“The Americans are using production and export subsidies which are diametrically opposed to the principles of free enterprise to destroy our stability,” said the leader of the group, Peter Lock.
Lock said Australian grain growers were becoming “increasingly angered and disillusioned by the actions of a friend and ally in inflicting economic hardship on them individually and on the people of Australia collectively.”
The president of the Grains Council of Australia, Mick Charles, said the U.S. plan to sell subsidized wheat to the Soviet Union placed stress on the longstanding relationship between the two countries.
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