ERS: Exports Crucial For Economic Bounceback

USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) recently published a report titled, “What the 2008-2009 World Economic Crisis Means for Global Agricultural Trade.” The report states that the global economic crisis, caused a reduction in overall international trade, including a 20% short-term decline in the value of global agricultural trade.

The report goes on to say the impact was more significant on crops than on livestock, but suggests these will both be short-term difficulties as global agricultural trade will continue to grow in the future.

“The U.S. agricultural export surplus in 2007 generated a record $82 billion for U.S. farm families and the economy in general. That record was broken in 2008, when exports generated nearly $108 billion in income to rural America,” said Ken Hobbie, U.S. Grains Council president and CEO. “As we face the current economic uncertainties, U.S. agricultural exports will continue to be as important as ever to the future of U.S. agriculture and the U.S. economy.”