News

Trade mission reinforces need for U.S. to stay competitive in Southeast Asia

The president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau says a recent trade mission to Southeast Asia underscored the growing competition U.S. producers are facing.  

Mark McHargue says Japanese and Philippine buyers expressed concern about the price of ag products like beef, pork, wheat and ethanol compared to other countries. “What we tried to reiterate to them is that if that price is close, the U.S. is a better bet for quality than a lot of places in the world, and we need to continue to do business with our allies.”

He tells Brownfield he’d like to see infrastructure improvements in the U.S., which could help level the playing field. “We need to work on our ports so we can get our products out of Nebraska to be able to compete with countries like Brazil that like it or not are growing in every way we are.”

However, McHargue says, he remains optimistic about expanding market access in those countries because of their increasing population and trading relationships.