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Wisconsin agency tracked 2019 ag export losses

A Wisconsin ag department official says the tariff and trade disputes over the last year made a considerable dent in ag exports.

Wisconsin’s Director of the International Agribusiness Center Mark Rhoda-Reis tells Brownfield some December figures aren’t ready, but they already see the 2019 damage caused by trade disputes and retaliatory tariffs in several key product lines. “Overall, our exports are down a little over 5%, but if we look at miscellaneous edible food preparations, that’s almost 7% down, wood is down 12%, dairy is down 17%, and meat is down nearly 10%.

Rhoda-Reis tells Brownfield there are export opportunities, for example, pork in China. “They’re actually going to the U.S. looking for genetics and for feeds, and for the equipment and those kinds of things that will actually improve how they grow their own hogs, but then at the same time, there is still a large opportunity for export.”

And, he says they need some of the Wisconsin -built tools to help rebuild their own herd. “There’s a company, for example, that does ventilation equipment, and also does infrastructure around the Internet of Things, IOT, for the running of the buildings.”

Rhoda-Reis says his agency has continued working on trade relations with several foreign countries during trade disputes, and he’s more optimistic now that USMCA, Japan, and the phase-one China deal are getting done.