Ag Trade Deficit Decreases

According to the most recent USDA Agricultural Trade Outlook report, it shows a reduction in projected ag trade deficit that, according to Luke Lindberg,

“USDA trade and foreign affairs under secretary,

those numbers came in at 41 and a half billion. So we shaved eight and a half billion dollars off of the forecasted trade deficit in 2025 and are now forecasting that number to drop down to 37 billion for 2026.”

Lindberg says the goal is to reach an ag trade surplus. Thus, the focus is implementation of trade deals and fostering buyer-seller relationships.

“We talk a lot about trade agreements. We talk a lot about market access, and those are important to getting deals done. And deals, to me, are what I think the average farmer thinks about, which is, Am I selling my crop? Do I have a market to sell into? Are people buying what I'm producing? And to me, that is the mark of success is when you get those signed sales contracts that actually pay the bills, that come back to farmers and give them the money back in their pockets. The trade deals are an important component in my vision of what trade looks like. On the front end, you've got getting a better deal done, and the trade deals big picture, sort of with countries. But in 2026, our focus is going to be on the buyer-seller relationships, which is the second part of a good trade practice.”