USDA expounds new strategy to boost agriculture exports

Delivering the keynote speech Friday (Mar 5) at the 2010 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack outlined a plan to increase US agricultural exports and strengthen the industry.

Contrary to USDA's traditional strategy of selecting trading partners on the basis of their geographic region, the new trade strategy focuses on their position on an agricultural market continuum. This, the agency said, enables tailored strategies to increase exports to each individual market. The continuum includes fragile markets/food security states, potential growth markets, restricted access markets, rapid growth markets and developed consumer markets.

The new strategy aims to improve collaboration among USDA agencies and guide priorities for international staffing, foreign assistance and agricultural research.

In potential growth markets, for example, USDA programmes will now emphasise building the institutional and human capacity needed to support increased trade. In restricted access markets, USDA efforts are designed to remove trade barriers. In rapid growth markets, USDA will now emphasise using a full range of programmes to build trade capacity, remove trade barriers and develop new markets for US products.

The annual value of US agricultural exports is on the rise. USDA estimates that, even with the sharp global economic downturn, agricultural exports will reach US$100 billion, more than doubling the value of agricultural exports a decade ago.