Location Matters

Location Matters

I'm KayDee Gilkey with the Market Line Report for April 9, 2012.?
Commodity markets were closed on Friday so rather than repeating Thursday’s market results, I will be sharing a conversation I had with Dr. Dave Kohl, Globetrotting emeritus ag econ professor from Virginia Tech, on his thoughts about the bright future for agriculture. Dr. Kohl speaks to the strategic advantage Pacific Northwest’s ag producers have.

Kohl: “The northwestern part of the United States is very very strategically aligned to the Asian markets. Now of course these markets are going to have two of seven people in the world and they are going to demand food, fiber and fuel which bodes very very well for the farms and ranches of the northwestern part of the United States.”

Another reason Dr. Kohl is positive about ag’s future is the world’s increasing demand for food. One of Dr. Kohl’s past students is currently the President of Elanco Animal Health and he has a standard rule that Dr. Kohl shares.

Kohl: “He basically has the 50-100-70 rule. That is by the year 2050, we are going need 100 percent more food, fiber and fuel. And 70 percent of it will come through efficiency-producing technologies. That bodes very well for the agricultural producer who is positioned to take on this technology to feed the globe. The northwestern part of the United States has the resource base, they have the managers and they also have the agriculture infrastructure to positions them very, very, well.”

I'm KayDee Gilkey with the Market Line Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.