Ag Trade Opportunities Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. U.S. agricultural exports have been down the past couple of years, but all is not lost.USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Ag Affairs, Alexis
Taylor says climate change, resilience, and how food is produced is a hot topic everywhere she goes, from the government to buyers of the product …
TAYLOR … “Consumers are demanding it, they're asking those questions of the United States and we're seeing it all around the world as well. And I think there's a real opportunity here, nobody is more sustainable and productive than our farmers and ranchers in the United States. But we are going to have to continue to produce more with less. Less land, less water, different changing climate patterns. And making sure trading systems are open to new tools, new innovations that come down the pipe. I think there's an opportunity for our producers to be able to capitalize on that consumer demand."
Taylor says that's why the USDA launched the partnership for climate smart commodities, investing over three billion dollars around new climate smart farming practices in every state on 25 million acres …
TAYLOR … “And each of those projects actually has a marketing component because we believe there is a market there. There will be a value to our farmers at the end that those consumers are willing to pay."
Taylor says our booming farm economy in the last two decades led to a record two hundred billion dollars of exports in 2022.
That’s USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor.