Milling Journal

At a recent town hall meeting in Ohio, President Obama vowed to fight to bring jobs back to hard-hit communities.

He said he would never stop fighting for an economy in which "hard work is rewarded, where responsibility is honored, [and] where accountability is upheld."

I would suggest that there is no better place to find such noble traits than in the farm fields of America.

Because of these noble traits, agriculture is in a unique position to lead when it comes to creating jobs in the U.S. Economists predict many jobs shed in the recession might never be replaced as companies stay leaner and meaner even after the recession is but a distant memory.

So where might the more than 15 million currently unemployed Americans find work?

Which industry is situated for growth now and in the future?

The answer is pretty evident when you think about it: agricultural exports.

We're not suggesting that an out-of-work autoworker from Chicago move to the country and start farming.

But the world population continues to grow, and all those mouths need to be fed.

Ninety-five percent of those mouths, in fact, are outside the borders of the U.S.

According to the Economic Research Service, the U.S. exported $89.9 billion in agricultural products in 2007, resulting in an additional $125.8 billion in economic activity--for a total economic output of $215.7 billion.

The ERS also says those exports were responsible for nearly 810,000 jobs in the U.S.--two-thirds of which were non-farm positions, such as equipment sales and repair, marketing, and research and development.

So it makes sense that if the world and its inhabitants are going to consume more food, more people here in America will be needed to grow, process and distribute that food in the coming years.

In order to position agriculture as a leader in job creation, a first step toward finding work for unemployed Americans would be to make sure our agricultural goods are getting to market in other countries.

Congress needs to act on some pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea--agreements that were originally completed in 2006 and 2007.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, annual exports to these countries would increase by $800 million, $195 million, and $1.6 billion respectively if these trade agreements were passed.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates the agreement with South Korea alone could create 200,000 American jobs.

Leaders in Congress need to be willing to put the bills on the floor for votes--until then, the Obama Administration will not submit the implementation legislation to be considered.

We can only hope that the specific mention of Colombia, Panama and South Korea by President Obama in his State of the Union address, as well as his stated desire to double exports over the next five years, signal a new and needed emphasis on the expansion of agricultural trade.

Something we'll be working on this spring to help future trade agreements get passed is the restoration of the Trade Promotion Authority, which allows the president to negotiate trade agreements and submit them as they stand--without having unrelated amendments get attached when they come up for votes in Congress.

Leaving those stalled agreements on the table is not the way to grow an economy, especially in a sector that is uniquely positioned to grow as the world's food needs increase.

There's a lot of hard work ahead.

It will require leadership, responsiveness and accountability.

We in agriculture will do our part to help grow the job base, in addition to the crops in our fields.

But our elected officials need to help as well, by letting a little sunlight get through to foster some of that growth.

For more information, call 309-557-2083.

See Related Websites/Articles:

• Illinois Farm Bureau

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