4-3 FB Export Picture

 What is going on with Idaho exports? A discussion with an expert from the Idaho Department of Agriculture.  It’s always good to know that our local agricultural producers have a market. And it’s even better to know that that market is not just restricted to Idaho. I had  a very informative discussion with the Idaho Department of Agriculture’s trade specialist Kim Peterson the other day and she clarified the export picture. I started by asking exactly how much we exported. “We don’t have a generic number of what is exported that we can tell you our top markets and that would be  Mexico and Canada, Indonesia is always on top, increasingly China. We export all kinds of products, obviously beef, potatoes, dairy ingredients, all kinds of specialty niche products as well, so we have a very mature agricultural immunity that exports products all over the world. Give me an example of a niche product. All kinds of products but especially potato products, anything that is not commodity-based, we have jerky that we send, specialty dairy products, very high-protein beverage mixes and specialty meat products. I guess niche means to me anything that is not necessarily sold as a commodity. A lot of companies we help get into their markets who are more niche or smaller.