It’s a crazy world we live in. Civil unrest, war, and just plain disagreements are causing our global marketplace to be a very unstable area as the years have gone on. More so lately after numerous trade disagreements that caused us to either reevaluate or update our trade treaties. I’m not here to debate the politics of how those trade deals were struck. Whatever the motives behind it, we have still seen a very fragile marketplace. Our grains are having to compete harder against more plentiful Brazilian grain. Our livestock prices are high which is good for the farmers, but doesn’t lead to increased purchases at the meat counter.
Last month, the U.S. Soybean Export Council was part of a large announcement in Des Moines about a purchase agreement for soybeans between the United States and China. No matter how much we diversify our trade portfolio to increase the countries that we trade with, China is still one of our biggest customers in AG products.
Stan Born is chairman of the board for the USSEC. He spoke with me about the interesting scenario which is our trade relationship with China.
Something else that has become fascinating in our trade relationship with China and the rest of Southeast Asia is the fact that their consumers want to learn more about the story of U.S. farmers and where their food is coming from.
You can learn more about the efforts of the U.S. Soybean Export Council on their website.
