WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) – American farm groups hope their government will soon turn its focus to finding ways to expand trade as the global recession pummels agricultural exports and farm income.
Farm groups worry they could lose ground in important foreign markets if U.S. president Barack Obama’s administration, consumed by health-care reform and climate change legislation, waits too long to move trade near the top of its agenda.
“Trade is our lifeblood,” said Rebecca Bratter, policy director with U.S. Wheat Associates.
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“We need to somehow let the administration know that trade fits into their current priorities.”
Expanding trade can boost jobs at home, advance diplomacy and security issues, and stimulate overseas development, she added.
The stakes are high.
American farm exports were worth $97.5 billion US in fiscal 2009, which ends Sept. 30, down 15 percent from the record $115.3 billion a year earlier.
Exports could dip to $97 billion next year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said late last month in its first forecast for the year ahead.
Sagging exports have hit farmers’ bottom lines.
The USDA recently forecast net farm income for 2009 would plunge 38 percent from 2008, when demand and prices surged to record heights.
“With economic conditions deteriorating worldwide, demand for exports has tailed off, with few options available to expand marketing elsewhere,” the department said.
U.S. trade representative Ron Kirk has emphasized he plans to crack down on enforcing trade deals. Farmers were grateful when the administration jumped to help lift unjustified bans on U.S. pork after the outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 flu virus.
“It came at a time when producers were already financially vulnerable, and the administration was very quick to understand that,” said Nick Giordano, a vice-president of the National Pork Producers Council.
Analysts, many of whom did not want to be named for being critical of the Obama administration, said ending deals with South Korea and Colombia are particularly important for U.S. farm exporters. They worry about losing sales to competitors that are signing their own agreements in those countries.
U.S. farm groups also are eager to see the long-running Doha round of World Trade Organization talks conclude, as long as the deal paves deep enough inroads into markets such as China and India to make up for cuts to U.S. farm subsidies.
