Over
the course of 2013, we’ve seen yet another banner year for U.S.
agricultural exports.
Exports of U.S. farm and ranch products reached a
record $140.9 billion in 2013 and supported about a million U.S. jobs.
In fact, compared to the previous five-year period from 2004-2008, U.S.
agricultural exports from 2009-2013 increased by a total of nearly $230
billion.
All told, the past five years represent the strongest five-year period in our nation’s history for agricultural exports.
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture has focused on two key factors in recent
years to help make this success possible. First, an unprecedented
effort by USDA and our Federal partners to expand and grow markets
around the world. Second, a commitment to make sure our farmers and
ranchers have the tools to grow more, even in the face of uncertainty.
Thanks
to the Farm Bill, particularly the Foreign Market Development Program
and Market Access Program, USDA has been able to work with hundreds of
U.S. businesses since 2009 to expand trade. We have led more than 150
U.S. agribusinesses on agricultural trade missions and helped more than
1,000 U.S. companies and organizations promote their wares at trade
shows around the world.
Together,
these trade promotion programs yield $35 in economic benefits for every
dollar invested. Unfortunately, without a new Farm Bill, these programs
can’t continue.
The
trade promotion programs complement USDA efforts with our Federal
partners to expand trade agreements and break down unfair barriers to
trade. In the past five years, the Obama Administration has challenged
more than 750 sanitary and phytosanitary trade barriers, compared to
less than 400 such challenges in the previous five-year period.
We’ve
also helped achieve new trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South
Korea, along with equivalency agreements for organic products to
Canada, the European Union and Japan.
But
the Farm Bill stands at the heart of our trade promotion effort, and
companies across the nation need a renewed commitment to agricultural
trade promotion that only a new Farm Bill can provide.
As
we have undertaken record efforts to promote U.S. trade, we’re also
hard at work here at home to help America’s farmers and ranchers
increase their productivity.
Since
2009, USDA has provided a record number of farm loans – more than
159,000 – to help farmers get started and keep growing. Additionally,
using Farm Bill programs that have since expired, we stepped in to help
hundreds of thousands of producers facing disaster.
So, in addition to
the many trade-related benefits of the Farm Bill, USDA is awaiting
passage of this legislation to continue helping farmers and ranchers
grow the food needed to drive exports even higher.
A new Farm Bill
would continue assistance to farm businesses through loans and loan
guarantees, while also reauthorizing disaster assistance programs and
providing retroactive help to livestock producers who have been hit
particularly hard in the past two years.
American
agriculture has been an economic success story in recent years –
growing more despite adversity, sending more food around the world and
creating more jobs here at home. There is even more success ahead, but
we need a new Farm Bill as soon as possible to keep this record momentum
going.
No comments:
Post a Comment