Will Slower Global Demand Bolster Domestic Markets?

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

International demand for many U.S. agricultural products is down. Could the answer be to look internally to try to replace it with domestic demand? Dr. Bill Ridley, an international economist specializing in trade policy says that might not be a realistic long-term solution.

Ridley... " I think some people have that view that like, well, we don't need world markets. The US is a big place. Maybe we come up with policies that can make up for any lost export markets. Is that a long-term solution? Is that a viable way to make up for lost export markets? I don't know. If you're an optimist about the current approach to negotiating trade deals, you might think well, maybe all of these disputes will segue into new trade deals and easier access to foreign markets. Maybe if you're optimistic, but we haven't seen that yet. I think you ask any farmer, you ask any industry group, you ask anybody, they would love to sell their product to foreign markets, right? That's the big goal here. They wanna get rid of as much of our product as possible. And the way to do that, well, sure, we'd like to sell domestically, but if people in other countries want to buy our stuff, and they certainly do, you know, like the US is an agricultural powerhouse for a reason. That, I think it's just totally backwards and totally silly to be picking these fights with everybody and losing access to foreign markets as a result of that."

Dr. Ridley also highlighted Canada’s demand-boosting efforts and wonders if the U.S. could replicate them.