Questions we should consider today are: • What affect will government policy have on commodity pricing?
• How will it affect the normal cycle? • What affect will it have on equipment sales?
Specifically, we should focus on what is happening with the federal department of agriculture: • What will happen to the Renewable Fuels Standard? • How about international trade agreements, such as the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership and the North American Free Trade Agreement?
• How will these decisions impact relationships with our longstanding trade partners?
We hope that Sonny Perdue, the newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture, will understand the RFS and trade issues, and will aggressively support the agricultural economy essential in his role.
China remains one of our largest buyers of North American grain, making our relationship with China crit- ically important. The Trans Pacific Partnership includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malay- sia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. These countries also account for an enormous amount of United States grain exports. The North American Free Trade Agreement involves two of our largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada. Mexico has indicated it will buy grain elsewhere due to recent U.S. government policies, confirming the fact that decisions on how to proceed with these trade deals will certainly affect agricultural prices and profitability going forward.
The greatest growth in the history of world population has occurred over the last 100 years. All indications are that population growth will continue, meaning more mouths to feed. North America has the greatest ability to feed this increasing world population, with agricul- tural commodities our nation’s leading export. How our leaders handle foreign policy will substantially affect agricultural exports, our domestic economy and the world economy.
ANDREW GOODMAN President/CEO
May/June | The Retailer Magazine | 3
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
