USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator, Phil Karsting, made a stop in Indianapolis yesterday to talk trade with farmers and organizations. While no firm deadline has been put in place for Trade Promotion Authority for the President, Karsting says he does believe it will be a 2015 deal.
“We feel confident where we are right now that we have the makings of a good agreement and particularly where agriculture is concerned, will be much better off with it than without it. There’s enough clarity into the parameters that it seems pretty clear right now.”
Karsting says putting TPA in place will only strengthen negotiation power for agriculture.
“As you can imagine in any negotiation, some of the difficult issues are left to the end. And having an added boost for our negotiators to be able to go in and say that we can deliver, that we have a process in place to move a final deal strengthens their ability to negotiate good deals.”
Indiana, much like the rest of the agricultural U.S., could benefit greatly from TPA.
“So they want an environment where trade is predictable, where tariffs are lower, where we can meet needs that we know are going to be growing. By 2050, we’re going to have 9 billion people on this planet.”
In this current market landscape, Howard County farmer Dennis Maple says TPA negotiations are detrimental to farmers finding new markets.
“If you could project that it was going to increase our exports to the degree that we would like, then it would be hugely important because our supply would come down and we have a big supply of corn and soybeans and livestock products right now. So it’s important to get those products moved beyond so we can keep producing. What we like to do, as farmers in this state, is produce. And we’re good at it and we like to sell our products.”
Indiana is a leading producer and exporter of agricultural products, ranking 8th among the 50 U.S. states in the value of its agricultural exports in USDA’s most recent calculations. Indiana’s agricultural exports reached an estimated $4.8 billion in 2013*, up from $3.8 billion in 2009. Indiana’s exports help boost farm prices and income, while supporting about 36,200 jobs both on the farm and in related industries such as food processing, transportation, and manufacturing.
Indiana’s top five agricultural exports in 2013 were:
- Soybeans – $1.7 billion
- Soybean meal – $442 million
- Feeds and fodder – $429 million
- Corn – $410 million
- Pork – $307 million
*State-level export data for 2014 will not be available until October 2015.
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