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Guest Commentary January 16, 2002
Agriculture: 'You Either Sell It or Smell It'
The Honorable Pat Roberts
While we have struggled among ourselves to agree on a course for our nation in the difficult waters of international trade, our major competitors have sailed right by us. For example, of the 130 free trade agreements in the world, the United States is party to only three.
The case of U.S. agriculture clearly illustrates how our competitors have caught up and may soon pass us as the largest exporters of agricultural goods.
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Through the last several decades, American agriculture has undergone leaps and bounds in the arenas of production technologies. It's been unbelievable. The explosion of precision agriculture and the productivity and the resulting yields have been able to feed this country in a troubled and hungry world. It's been a modern miracle, with the development of new varieties that resist disease, drought, and with cropping practices that certainly benefit the environment.
It's a paradox of enormous irony that while we have all this progress, all this innovation, and the modern miracle of agriculture, during the same period our share of the world's agriculture market slipped from 24 percent to 18 percent, and it's headed downward. The European Union has gone from a net importer of agricultural goods to a net exporter accounting for 17 percent of the world's agricultural market. Simply put, we're not being competitive. ...
Annually, as of today, we export 52 percent of our wheat produced each year. We also export 48 percent of our cotton, 33 percent of our soybeans, 21 percent of our corn. In Kansas, this translates into one-fourth to one-third of farm income being generated by trade each year. Nationally, agricultural exports support more than three quarters of a million jobs. ...
Despite these sobering statistics, the success stories of trade fall on an increasing number of deaf ears within the agricultural community. Trade has been sold as the savior of the agricultural economy for many years. ...
The sad fact of the matter is that we have never put all the pieces together regarding trade. While we have had Trade Promotion Authority in the past, we did not fully utilize its capability and promise, we also did not pursue sanctions reform or an aggressive trade policy.
Agriculture has always been asked for and has always delivered its support for trade. However, each time without fail, we have left out one or more of the crucial working parts of trade. This unfortunate situation has also occurred in the other industries that I have mentioned. ...
We find our nation in a new century, with a new president, facing new challenges, new concerns, and even new enemies. The president has pledged his full support for trade, using it as a tool for peace rather than as a club. ... Engaging other nations through trade, while promoting political and economic stability, is an important part in obtaining security for us here at home.
Trade also plays a significant role in stabilizing our economy and the economies of our trading partners. During his presidential campaign and from almost the moment he took office last year, President Bush has urged Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority so that we can be taken seriously during trade negotiations. ...
It seems to me that we have two-choices with regards to trade. We either sit and pontificate to the rest of the world and have them ignore us, while letting additional trade opportunities fall to our competitors, or we pass Trade Promotion Authority for the president and aggressively compete for new markets for American products. ...
My mentor and predecessor in the House of Representatives, The Honorable Keith
Sebelius, worked tirelessly for Kansas for 12 years. He told me, "Pat, you've got to export the product. You either sell it or you smell it."
I'd prefer that we sell it. The president has committed to selling it. It is high time that Congress give the president what he needs and deliver on the potential and promise of trade.
Pat Roberts is a U.S. Senator (R-Kansas). The above has been adapted from remarks made by Sen. Roberts before the Kansas World Trade Center, January 15, 2002, in Wichita. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
