Opinion: World Ag Expo Unites Nations
March 1, 2008 The World Ag Expo was held last month as it always is each year in Tulare, CA, right around Valentine’s Day. The first day of the world’s largest agricultural show featured several seminars on international trade, and since it is the “World” Ag Expo, I decided to duck in. I was particularly curious about what the Bush administration folks had to say, and they did not disappoint. They said the administration’s “Number One” priority was to knock down trade barriers, which is all to the good for fruit growers in the Western U.S.
It’s pretty amazing how much of the crops grown here in the West are exported, especially compared to other parts of the country. Of course, almonds are Exhibit “A.” Fully 80% of the almond crop is exported, the most of any crop. For comparison’s sake, only about one-third of the soybean crop is exported. In 2007, noted Constance Jackson of USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, agriculture exports grew for the fourth year in a row, to $81.9 billion, accounting for more than 20% of the total ag cash receipts.
California agriculture alone accounts for more than $10 billion in exports. Led by almonds, tree nuts accounted for the most of any sector, with $2.7 billion. But fruit was a very close second in the Golden State, totalling $2.4 billion last year. All I have to say to that is … Wow! I say that not because I’m blown away by those big numbers, though I am, but because I don’t think we’ve seen the full extent of it yet. Sure, I’m optimistic. But I really do believe that trade will open up even more, if only because new technology is shrinking the world.
Global: The New Standard
The old expression, “It’s a small world,” has taken on new meaning for me lately. I couldn’t help thinking about that today at the World Ag Expo. It’s not just all the impressive numbers I heard at the international trade seminars. And it’s not just that there are 1,200-plus international visitors representing about 70 countries here this week for the world’s largest agricultural show. It first really hit me in the weeks before the show when I got an invitation to a reception from the Australian delegation, who have their own pavilion at the show. Or, I should say pavilions, as the Aussies have enjoyed such success at the show that they doubled their presence this year.
What struck me about the invitation was that after I turned it down because I had other plans, the fellow wrote back a personal note. That’s when I realized I actually knew this person. Very casually, and very informally, I had come to know someone from the other side of the world. I’m not sure that would have happened to me a decade ago, or at least with such a feeling of “business as usual.” It’s just not a big deal, at least it isn’t today, and that’s why it’s a big deal.
It means, at least in my humble opinion, that you’d better be ready for a world in which the very world “international” will not only lose its cachet, but its importance. Soon there will be no “international trade” seminars, just “trade seminars.” And you’d best be ready to deal, whether it be with the guy across town or the gal across the world. Sounds exciting, huh?
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