Potato Grower

June 2010

Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/10959

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 28 of 31

FROM THE BOARD by John Toaspern, VP International Marketing Applauding Export Success National Export Initiative and potato exports IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS, President Obama announced his administration would be launching a National Export Initiative (NEI), with the goal of doubling U.S. exports in five years. On March 11, the president established an Export Promotion Cabinet to develop and coordinate the implementation of the NEI. The Secretary of Agriculture is one of the 14 members of this cabinet. They were given 180 days to provide the president with a comprehensive plan to carry out the goals of the NEI. The grower organizations that receive Market Access Program (MAP) funding are all members of the U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council (USAEDC). The USAEDC works with the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) at USDA to improve the framework under which the MAP and other export promotion funds are administered so that they maximize increases in agricultural exports. nopeAs a member of the USAEDC Executive Committee, I had a chance to meet with Janet Nuzum, the new General Sales Manager (GSM) and Associate Administrator at FAS to discuss the blueprint of the NEI for agriculture. We were able to hear what USDA and FAS hope to do under the NEI and were requested by the GSM to provide our comments and suggestions. We expressed how glad we were the administration and USDA are focusing on increasing exports, as we see this as the only way U.S. agricultural producers will be able to remain in business. We also re- emphasized the need for the government to do the inherently governmental work such as trade negotiations, resolving trade barriers, data collection, etc., while allowing the private sector and grower organizations to pursue the market development work they have been doing for the past 57 years. Again, at the request of the GSM, there were three specific points made by USAEDC that day and in a follow-up letter: 1 A fundamental aspect of accomplishing this goal [doubling exports] will be to maintain, and if USDA www.potatogrower.com 29 agrees, increase the MAP program. History proves this program represents the best Return on Investment for U.S. government funding expended to support increased agricultural exports. 2 3 Improved agricultural credit is very important for bulk and high-value products, and enhancement and/or resurrection of the GSM and Supplier Credit Guarantee Program would be beneficial to accomplish- ing the president’s NEI. Improved market access is the third and equal piece to this plan. USAEDC believes this is the only realistic way to generate net new sales as it opens new markets. FAS, working with the Secretary’s office, and the Secretary, working with Congress to pass the Colombia, Panama and Korea Free Trade Agreements, to move forward the Trans-Pacific Partnership and broaden it with an all-ASEAN agreement, as well as completing the Doha round, again, would all further the success of the president’s NEI. If these things are done, U.S. potato exports will undoubtedly increase. In a follow-up to this meeting, at the request of the GSM, I provided a list of actions to be taken by the U.S. government that would lead to an estimated $889 million increase in U.S. potato exports, equaling 74 percent of the current $1.2 billion in exports. Chief among these are to resolve the Mexican trucking dispute so U.S. fries no longer face the punitive 20 percent tariff, gain full access for U.S. fresh potatoes into Mexico, pass and implement the US-Korea FTA, gain access for U.S. fresh potatoes into China and Japan, negotiate an FTA with all of the ASEAN countries and keep or increase MAP funding at $200 million per year. PG

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Potato Grower - June 2010