January/February 2023 - 24

FOREIGN AGRICULTURE SERVICE
described to me is, one company said, " Exports are a
profit margin; what we sell domestically pays the bills,
but what we sell overseas is where we see the profit that
we can reinvest into our company. "
We sell a lot of things overseas that we don't want to
consume here. We can also sell some things at a premium
because it's of a high quality and has the great image that
U.S. products have. All of that really helps contribute to
the stability and the growth of our ag sector.
NNG: Should we be concerned about
market share shifting to another
country?
CH: It's something that we have to be aware of. We've
seen a little more turmoil in global markets over the last
couple of years than we've traditionally seen. COVID
certainly didn't help, as well as some of the trade tensions
that we've got now. But shifting of markets is something
we always have to be aware of. That's what we do at
Foreign Ag Service; we work with trade associations
to help them forecast where the markets are, what to
expect and how to be able to adapt. Because we want to
keep exporting. We've got fantastic products; we want
to do our share to feed the world. That just takes a lot of
research and effort to make sure that we're positioning
ourselves in the proper place for the future.
24 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023
NNG: What is it that you're expecting or
hoping to see happen?
CH: I think sustainability is going to become a growing
requirement for exports. That's why we started the
Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program
to try to get ahead of that. We're doing a lot of work
internationally in multilateral organizations to try
to ensure that we're using the same definitions for
sustainability, for how we're going to prove sustainability,
so that we can continue to export.
We want free markets, not just for us, but for all
countries. And we want to make sure that decisions are
based on science. Because those are the only ways we can
ensure that they're consistent, and that everybody knows
how to meet those requirements. So we're doing a lot of
work as a government to try to do that.
I think the U.S. is one of the most sustainable countries
in the world. And we don't get the credit we deserve for
that. People overseas hear about factory farms, and they
hear about fast food and other things, and they don't
understand the commitment and the passion that U.S.
agriculture has for high quality, safe products.
I think that's something we want to work more with the
trade associations and State Departments of Agriculture
on, to get that message out to just let people know what a
great job we're doing.
January/February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2023
