USDA photo by Lance Cheung
USDA photo by Lance Cheung
USDA graphic
Photo courtesy of South Carolina Peach Council USDA photo
transportation networks, the USDA’s work toward assuring the quality and efficiency of these systems is an important factor in the competitiveness of American agricultural exports. One of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy in recent years, agricultural exports are forecast to total $131 billion in FY 12 and result in a $24.5 billion trade surplus. Few industries are as critical to the nation’s prosperity as agriculture. As Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has pointed out, every $1 billion in farm exports supports approximately 8,400 U.S. jobs. Since 1882, when the USDA sent its first employee abroad to collect and report foreign market information, the department has worked to help American farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural producers compete in these overseas markets. Today, much of this work is performed by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Thom Wright, a Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) agricultural attaché to India, is pictured with Mr. Rode and one of Rode’s American-origin, award-winning Holstein crosses. • A tobacco farm in King, N.C. AMS provides official tobacco grade standards, designates tobacco auction markets where tobacco growers receive mandatory inspection of each tobacco lot to determine its grade and type, and distributes daily price reports showing the current average price for each grade. • United States-Korea Trade Agreement (KORUS) chart. U.S. agriculture exports to Korea are expected to grow $1.8 billion annually under KORUS. • South Carolina-grown peaches are boxed and ready to be shipped to Mexico. The Mexican market earlier in 2012 opened to Georgia and South Carolina peaches for the first time in 17 years, thanks in part to a grant from the FAS Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) Program. • USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack (left) and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa President Dr. Namanga Ngongi sign a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on African food security.
Working with Other Nations
The effort to access any nation’s marketplace, of course, begins with the relationship between U.S. and foreign trade officials. FAS works with these officials, international organizations, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to establish international rules and standards to improve the accountability and predictability for agricultural trade. In recent years, the USDA and its partners in negotiation – USTR, the White House,Congress,the Department of Commerce – launched new trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. According to the USDA, these agreements will bring an estimated $2.3 billion in agricultural trade, and support nearly 20,000 jobs. FAS also helps to shape the trade policy of other nations. From 2009 to 2011, it commented on nearly 900 proposed measures that,if implemented by foreign governments, would have either had significant effects on U.S.
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