IICA attends the 2018 USDA Agricultural Outlook

Country of publication

United States of America

On February 22 and 23, 2018, a delegation of IICA professionals attended the 94th Agricultural Outlook Forum organized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the theme "The Roots of Prosperity”. The forum highlighted key issues and topics within the agricultural community which included producers, processors, policymakers, government officials, and non-governmental organizations, both foreign and domestic.

On the first day of the forum, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Sonny Perdue delivered the keynote address. In addition to underscoring the importance that agriculture plays in the country, he shared three themes that farmers across the country were concerned about: regulation, trade, and a reliable, legal workforce. He also discussed the 2018 farm bill, the agricultural economy where farmers and ranchers are facing serious challenges and a plan to improve rural infrastructure. In his closing remarks he said, “We know that there are serious challenges ahead for American agriculture. But our people are resilient and strong. They are optimistic in the face of pessimism.”

Forum attendees also heard from Distinguish Speaker, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, and recipient of the 2017 World Food Prize. He stated, “Agriculture, for way too long, has been treated as a development activity, a social sector. It's been treated as a sector for managing poverty. Hence, intentions tend not to be structural but rather palliative for poverty reduction. I do not believe in poverty reduction. I believe in wealth creation.” Adesina also emphasized, “We must now turn the rural areas from zones of economic misery to zones of economic prosperity. This requires a total transformation of the agriculture sector. At the core of this must be rapid agricultural industrialization. We must not just focus on primary production but on the development of agricultural value chains.”

The presentation on the economic and trade perspectives for agriculture was shared by the Chief Economist of the USDA, Dr. Robert Johansson. He pointed out that during 2018; a drop in net income for agricultural producers is expected, despite the projected increase in the production of basic grains and foods of animal origin. He highlighted the importance of international markets for producers and the possibility that opens up when incomes improve in emerging economies since this will demand more products originating in the United States.

Private sector representatives from DowDuPont, Cargill and Pilgrims also shared their strategies and visions on the challenges and opportunities of agriculture, highlighting that the main challenge of how to improve and expand the social benefit that stems from better agriculture.

Among the diverse panels held during the forum, there were several that were considered most relevant to IICA member countries. Such panels were those related to the estimates for 2018 and 2019 production, trade and prices for cereals, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, livestock, dairy and poultry; the changes that are happening in Brazil and China, the advances in organic agriculture; antibiotic resistance, the health problem of opioid addiction in rural areas, the protection of agriculture from hurricanes and the potential impact of major commercial, economic, political and climatic events on production and trade.

Attending this annual event allowed IICA to access updated information that will help strengthen the technical cooperation that IICA provides to its member countries.

For more details, visit https://www.usda.gov/oce/forum

More information: hugo.chavarria@iica.int

*The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and they do not reflect the position of the Institute on the topics presented.

*This post appears in the IICA Delegation in the USA Newsletter - January - February 2018