Opinion: U.S. can’t export its way out of farm crisis

In general, I find the concept of focusing on exports problematic, particularly as a silver-bullet solution to depressed farm income. Exports are important, but they’re only 20% of the market. That leaves 80% of purchasing power among U. S. consumer. Additionally, nearly 100% of farmers are selling the things they produce in a domestic market. Farmers don’t export; agribusiness companies do the exporting. Export-oriented agriculture does not have the best track record in delivering better incomes for farmers. When I was in college during Clinton’s first term, the passage of NAFTA had the pro-export agriculture lobby salivating. Mexico’s appetite for corn, the thinking went, would lead to a boom once Mexico reduced trade barriers. That’s exactly what happened. U. S. corn exports exploded. Yet, even with the export boom for corn producers, by the turn of the millennium corn prices paid to U. S. farmers were at historic lows compared to farmers’ cost-of-production. Mexican corn producers were leaving their farms because of a flood of U. S. corn exports, and U.S. farmers were in deep trouble and had to be bailed out by large “emergency payments” from Congress.