MOORHEAD, Minn. - In a region where sugar politics is influencing some presidential votes, Vice President Dick Cheney sought to reassure sugar beet farmers that the administration will protect them in negotiating foreign trade agreements.

During an hourlong meeting Monday with Republican supporters, Cheney said the administration prefers that sugar negotiations go through the World Trade Organization "whenever we can." The WTO handles trade disputes among nations.

"On a broader context, I think it's very important for everybody to understand how important exports are to agriculture across the board," Cheney said. "We need export markets and … negotiating those agreements is crucial.

"We'll do our best to keep it a level playing field and make sure we take care of sugar," he said.

Cheney was responding to Crookston farmer Bryan Boll, who said he was not selected ahead of time to participate in a question-and-answer session. Cheney fielded questions from six members of the audience.

"I bumped into some of the sugar farmers that were here and they were hoping that a sugar farmer would get to ask a question," Boll said. "I was in the right place at the right time."

Boll said he was satisfied with Cheney's answer.

"Our position has been that we want sugar taken care of in the WTO," he said. "I think he addressed that issue."

Many sugar farmers in Minnesota's rural 7th District are wrestling with their presidential vote because they're worried that the administration's Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, will hurt their industry. The 7th District supported Bush by a margin of nearly 15 percent in the last election.

In a statement last week, Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson of the 7th District said the administration is misleading farmers about wanting to negotiate sugar in the WTO.

"The difference between the Bush administration and John Kerry is that Kerry is opposed to CAFTA and has made a commitment to negotiate sugar at the WTO," Peterson said. "Bush is working to pass CAFTA with sugar still on the table."

Cheney didn't talk about taking sugar out of CAFTA. As the deal stands now, the sugar imported from five Central American countries would amount to one day's production in the United States, or about 100,000 tons of sugar a year, Cheney said.

Many farmers in North Dakota and Minnesota fear CAFTA would create a glut of sugar in the United States and depress prices.

Boll called Peterson "a great friend of sugar," but said he questions Peterson's motives after the congressman waited until three weeks before the election to publicly commit to Kerry.

"You wonder what Collin Peterson was promised from Sen. Kerry to get his support finally," Boll said. "I question that more so than I would question this administration's stance, because this administration has held true to what they said."