Farmers for free trade: Town hall (Farmers for Free Trade)

Farmers for Free Trade hosted a seminar on agricultural trade. The discussion was about the benefits of trade flow through the ag supply chain. Often researchers look at production data, what is forgotten is a discussion that elevates what happens between the farm and the consumer (shippers, truckers, etc.).  When asked about 36:49 about the larger economic context, Senior Research Fellow Joseph Glauber said, “Trade (exports and imports) is important to farmer industries. The export picture is staggering, particularly with meats. We now export about 18% poultry, we export about 12% of beef, and pork has gone from 4% to more than a quarter of pork produced in the US is exported. Dairy, the same. We’re competitive in world markets with dairy. Economic activity shows that every dollar or so of exports contributes about a dollar, seventeen of additional economic activity. We’re forecast to export about US$178 billion this year in agriculture (meats, dairy, grain), that’s a lot of jobs. The WTO is extremely important.” Passcode for the video is i@xP6z5C.  Also published in FarmWeekNow.com