A reporter’s view of the world can be very broad. Even agricultural journalists get to see and hear about things far afield.
In the past weeks I have been halfway around the world, including Germany, where I attended EuroTier, the world’s largest livestock industry event.
Normally I ask the questions, but considering that I was from North America, European farmers and industry folks wanted to know, “what will happen with Trump?’”
Most developed nations are both exporters and importers of food, largely because of continental variability of climate, water availability and soil types and conditions. As a result, international trade is very important to agriculture.
Read Also
Growth plates are instrumental in shaping a horse’s life
Young horse training plans and workloads must match their skeletal development. Failing to plan around growth plates can create lifelong physical problems.
About 18 Canadian manufacturers participated in the event, and while global markets outside North America were important to them, the Americans represent the single biggest customer group for most, if not all. So they too were asking.
I spent the American election night in Las Vegas with a group of agricultural and technology folks. They were as surprised as I was, so they told me “I guess we will have to see.”
A week before that I was in North Carolina, instead of being home finishing harvest in the mud. Most farmers and rural folks there were predicting, and hoping for, a Trump victory, saying the promise of reopening steel mills, coal mines and auto plants and protecting them from low cost imports was paramount.
Back in Germany, I told farmers that it was not unlike Britain’s Brexit vote. Fears of non-citizens competing for domestic jobs and lowering wages and xenophobic perceptions of their evolving nations drove voters to act in self-interest.
In agriculture, freer trade allows for appropriate land use and potential for income that cannot be supported within national boundaries. It also helps to spread the risks of supply and demand.
However, free trade is not always a panacea for farmers. Supply managed sectors in Canada have been able to avoid being driven out of business by powerful U.S. competitors that enjoy government subsidies and low-priced labour.
My reporter’s answers weren’t very helpful in these cases.
Campaign promises have a way of morphing into more-of-the-same when it comes to governing, I suggested. Once trade doors are open, they are hard and expensive to close.
