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Show Page 4 November, 1968 UTAH FARM BUREAU NEWS ITS IMTORT AICE TO AfiMClMME We all know the importance of trading the products we grow on our farms. We use the money we get from their sale to buy the things we need to enjoy a better standard of living. Under our system of doing business, both parties have the opportunity of benefiting when a business transaction takes place. Benjamin Franklin well expressed the value of trade about 200 years ago when he said: "In transactions of trade it is not to be supposed that . . . what one party gains the other must necessarily lose . . . If A. has more com than he can consume, but wants cattle; and B. has more cattle, but wants com: exchange is gain to both." We are fortunate in our country that there is a free flow of goods between our 50 states. This was not always true. In our early history the thirteen Colonies erected high tariff barriers between themselves, and in so doing almost wrecked their economics. Fortunately, the Constitution of the United States declares that, "No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, There lay any impost or duties on imports or exports are provisions for state inspection laws, but on the whole there is a free flow of business between all our states. Many nations of the world are smaller than some of our states, but most of them have tariffs which control imports. However, since World War II such organizations as the European Economic Community have been formed and the trade barriers between the members have been lowered. Similar trade areas exist among the Scandinavian countries. Some Central South American countries have considered formation of nMPRTANCE IF AGmcttraraAiL EXPiHnr . ..." trade unions. Our Farm Bureau policies stand for expanded mutually advantageous world trade, and we suport United States policies designed to achieve this objective. We believe that exports both industrial and agricultural - must be expanded. We are realistic enough to know that we must also expect increased imports into the United States, sometimes of agricultural products we produce. -- Congress has been considering the Trade Expansion Act of 1968. It is basically an extension of our present trade program, which has some serious shortcomings. Farm Bureau believes that in the next Congress there should be an extensive study of our future trade policies to see if ways can be found to remove some of the trade barriers which have been erected to keep our farm products off the world market. The developing nations are basically agricultural, and they need to have a market for their produce. As they move toward greater industrialization, many of them will probably need our food and fiber to care for their growing populations. Wfe live in a time of growing world tensions. We, in the United States, have developed the most efficient agricultural and industrial system the world has ever seen. Our ability to produce is so great that we have huge surpluses of goods which we wish to export However, we must be prepared for restrictions set up by other countries who wish to protect their less efficient agriculture and industry. SHOULD TRADE BETWEEN NATIONS BE FREER? Many agricultural leaders have set their sights on annual agricultural exports of $10 billion within the next few years. The value of American agricultural exports climbed from $4.5 billion in 1960 to a new record of $6.8 billion in the fiscal year 1967 - a gain of over 50 percent Our agricultural exports since World War II have totaled over $100 billion. Exh of farmers' total cash port marketings account for sales. Most of this gain has been in sales for dollars - they rose from $3.2 billion in 1960 to $5.2 billion in 1967, an increase of over 60 percent In 1967 about 70 million acres were harvested for export about one out of every four acres. That area was equal to the total harvested crop acreage of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. An expanding foreign market helps not only farmers, but labor, industry, and the whole nation. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that nearly a million farm workers engage in producing farm products for export, and that at least another million work in agricultural-relate- d jobs. Trade for farm products, though it makes up only a little over 20 percent of our total exports, last year accounted for half of our favorable trade balance. Between 1961 and 1967, farm product shipments abroad brought back to the United States a total of almost $33 billion. The United States is the world's largest exporter of farm products. In 1967 United States farmers supplied about h of the world's agricultural exports. For example, approximately 90 per cent of the world soybean trade originated in the United one-sixt- -- one-fift- States. Despite this impressive record, developments in recent months are a cause for serious concern. There has been a serious decline in United States exports of grain, both wheat and feed grains. Wheat exports were 22 percent lower in the calendar year 1967, as compared to the previous year. Feed grain exports also fell sharply especially to the European Economic Community, most often known as the Common Market. These declines are serious , and they have continued into 1968. MARKET DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS Farm Bureau believes that we must have a vigorous market development program to sell our agricultural products abroad. The American Farm Bureau Trade Corporation with offices in Chicago is constantly searching for new markets. Through Mid States Terminal at Toledo - which is owned by Landmark and Farm Bureau cooperatives in Michigan and Indiana - wheat, com, and soybeans are shipped up the St Lawrence Seaway to Rotterdam, and other European ports. The AFBF Trade Corporation has been helpful in arranging sales for grain and other farm products, both in Europe and Asia. |