Neidig reminded the Senate Banking Committee that agriculture is one of the few industries that consistently runs a trade surplus. Given an abundant domestic supply and a stable U.S. population rate, expanding existing market access and opening new export markets for agriculture is more important than ever. Moreover, global food demand is expanding rapidly and more than 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside U.S. borders. Neidig told the committee, which was examining negotiating objectives for agriculture in the next round of trade talks, that when Congress passed the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act, it phased out farm price supports, making U.S. agriculture even more dependent on world markets. American farmers and ranchers produce an abundant supply of commodities far in excess of domestic needs and their productivity continues to increase.
Exports are agriculture's source of future growth in sales and income.
These include obtaining strong trade agreements that are properly enforced, enhancing the administration's ability to negotiate increased market access for U.S. agriculture and building in the necessary changes to the WTO dispute settlement process to ensure timely resolution of disputes. If the United States now leaves it to others to form new trade pacts and write future rules for trade, U.S. producers, processors, and exporters will be severely disadvantaged in the competitive marketplace of the 21st century. We are counting on this administration and Congress to ensure that U.S. farmers and ranchers have a significant place at the negotiating table, armed with the tools they need, including trade negotiating authority. Legal Notice American Farm Bureau Federation, Farm Bureau and the FB Logo are registered service marks of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Voice of Agriculture is a registered service mark of the American Farm Bureau Federation.