28—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. April 4.1970
Across the
Editor’s Desk
We'ie sine >ou have been read
ing and hearing a great deal
about the pioposed new faim
legislation in Washington It’s
creating quite a fuioi, but if you
don’t think you undeistand it.
don’t feel badly, we don’t think
we undei stand it eithei
One thing which is becoming
deal fiom the steady flow of in
foimation acioss our desk is that
the Nixon administration is tiy
mg to boost U S farm expoits
The idea appaiently is that this
countiy has the capacity to pio
ciuce huge amounts of some food
pioducts at i datively low cost
and that the best way to encotu
age a high level of pioduction
without costly suiplus is to ship
o\eiseas
Oveiseas maiketing of US
faim pioducts alieady is quite
substantial Impiovement of
these maikets could ha\e sigmfi
cant impact on the o\eiall faim
economy
The leniamdc! cf this column
is given to a lecent aiticle on
this subject in the New Holland
News
Selling moie oieiseas of what
you pioduce heie is being given
1 top pnontj” lating bv the Nix
on Admmistiation and Agucul
tuie Secietaiy Cliffoid Haidin
Haidm lecenth cieated a new
agency in his depa tment call
ed the Expoit MaikeUng Seivice
to fullv camtal ze on o\eiseas
marketing oppoitunities Its
mam job is no eas\ task to max-
inure c\poi Is of agricultural pio
ducts.
One out of every four acres of
the land fatmed in the US. is
produced for expoit, repiesent
ing about 71 million acies of
farmland Our agricultuial tiade
in fiscal ’6B was valued at approx
imately $6 3 billion, but it has
been on the downslide since then.
Thiee ciops wheat, soybeans,
and feed giains each have ex
port totals of moie than $1 bil
lion a year
Half or moie of our rice,
wheat, and hides and skins goes
o\eiseas A fouith to half of our
cotton giam, soighums. tallow,
soybeans, tobacco and corn goes
oveiseas
It’s no wondei, then, that any
signs of decline in this big dol
lar eamei leceive the immediate
attention of oui government and
faim community’
Of the estimated $5O billion
gioss sales of faim pioducts foi
this year, an expected $5 8 bil
lion will come fiom oveiseas sal
es, S2OO million lowei than piev
ious estimates and one-half bil
lion lowei than last xeai USD A
paitly blames the long dock
stiike on the East Gulf and Gulf
poits foi the ieduced expoit in
come
Also an obstacle to an expan
sion of oui oveiseas maikets, ac
coiding to Hai din's top man foi
international affaus Assistant
Sccietaiv Claience Palmbv is
the “umeahstic p; icing policies
of many of the world’s countries.
He views protectionism, whether
in the form of tariffs, quotas or
other artificial barriers, as work
ing directly to reduce and dis
courage the sale of U.S. commo
dities in customer countries.
If the products you produce
are sold for export, you should
know that there arc a number of
reasons for the drop in cash farm
exports, not the least of which is
keen competition m overseas
markets.
For example, the Soviet Un
ion’s production of sunflower oil
is competing with U S soybean
oil in world markets.
U S expoits of wheat and flour
will meet continued strong com
petition in the months ahead. Ex
portable supplies this season aie
at recoid levels in neatly all of
the major competing countries
Import lequnemenfs appear to
be up, but much of the gain is
occurung in Mainland China and
East Euiopean markets not nor
mally supplied by the U S
Total supplies ot wheat in the
U S., Canada, Austialia, Argen
tina, and the European Commun
ity the five major exporters
this yeai exceed home lequire
ments by approximately 4 2 bil
lion bushels, an amount sufficient
to fulfill total woild impoit re
qunements foi two yeais
In addition to competition,
theie is some evidence that not
all countues aie living up to the
letter 01 spmt of international
commodity agieements A case
in point is the disiuption of om
cash sales of wheat
Fiuthei, many of the once
hungij developing nations of the
world aie adiancing in piospei
ity and stability and aie incieas
ing production Pakistan ioi ex
ample, maj soon be a wheat e\-
pcitei'
Too, inane developed countires
• the woild such as Austiaha
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and Canada, arc rapidly increas
ing agricultural production and
are vying for prime overseas
markets.
What is the U S doing about
this competition? There are sev
eral answers.
The U.S. carries on a vigorous
job of market development
through coopeiative programs
involving the USDA and com
modity groups, such as the Amer
ican Soybean Association, US.
Feed Grains Council, Great
Plains Wheat and Western Wheat
Associates.
These groups implement ex
tensive program of consumer ed
ucation. pioduct promotion,
technical assistance and market
OLLED:
f
GIANT FOXTAIL
CRAIGftASS
?vt
flj
w
PIGWEED
intelligence In customer pount r*
les.
Technical assistance In other
countries has Included the dls
patch of U S. consultants In bak
ing. milling, nutrition, cereal
chemistry and product promo
tion.
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