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Schafer celebrates dynamic industry at Commodity ClassicBy Holly Martin Commodity growers were anxious to hear new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer during the 2008 Commodity Classic in Nashville, Tenn. With the farm bill still uncertain, Schafer shared good news about ag exports with the growers. "There's plenty to celebrate in agriculture today," Schafer said. He noted record exports, record grain prices and record farm income. Schafer credited a dynamic agriculture marketplace domestically and internationally for the upward trends. The new projection for 2008 exports was $101 billion, Schafer said. "It's up $19 billion over last year's record performance and up almost $10 billion from the number we were predicting three months ago," he said. What's even better for agriculture, is that number creates a positive trade surplus of more than $24 billion. "Now that's what I call a market in motion," Schafer said. High volumes exported are due to a number of factors including global weather, consumer demand and demand for energy. New consumers in foreign countries and their elevated spending habits have made a mark. "The one billion customers that are emerging in the middle class that we have been expecting to arrive in the global marketplace are already showing up, and they are making their presence felt in their purchasing decisions," Schafer said. Free trade has helped, according to Schafer, and he stressed President Bush's commitment. "At USDA we believe one of the most important things we can do it to help is to level the playing field out there so that U.S. producers who want to participate in foreign markets can do so in an honest and open and fair trading arena," Schafer said. Schafer told growers that free trade agreements can mean big dollars for the U.S. agriculture industry. "Taken together, Peru plus Korea, Panama and Colombia provide an opportunity to open a door for $3 billion worth in increased agriculture exports in the next year." "As you well know, what happens in the international arena, these days often has far more bearing on the decisions that you make on how to run your farms and your ranches than what happens in Washington," Schafer said. Conflict over grain-based renewable energy has been a point of contention among the agriculture industry. While higher grain prices have the potential to benefit grain growers, they deeply impact livestock producers. Cellulosic and other non-grain sources will step up and help alleviate that problem, Schafer said. More funds have been devoted to research in this area of renewable energy. "I am convinced that through this process we'll continue to see high prices in our commodities, but they will be market-driven and not driven by feed stocks that distort those commodity prices outside the market arena." While the farm bill was ongoing, Schafer offered this to producers: "I am optimistic that we will pass a new farm bill this year that will deliver an improved safety net to producers while also putting them on the strongest possible footing to compete in the global economy in the years to come." Schafer thanked the thousands of producers who spent time voicing their opinion on what they wanted in a farm bill. "A better farm bill is within reach today," Schafer said. "All we have to do is bring enough flexibility and common sense to the bargaining table to make this happen. And I promise you that I will do, and USDA will do, everything that we can in the coming weeks to make this happen." Holly Martin can be reached by phone at 1-800-452-7171 ext. 1806 or e-mail at hmartin@hpj.com. 3/24/08 Date: 3/20/08 Advertisement
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