Thread: USDA Sees Rise in Farm Exports

AUGUST 31, 2010, 12:42 P.M. ET.

USDA Sees Rise in Farm Exports

By SCOTT KILMAN

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, with a nod toward the drought that has knocked Russian wheat farmers from the export market, said Tuesday it expects U.S. agricultural exports to increase 5.1% to $113 billion in the federal fiscal year ending in September 2011.

One of the biggest factors behind the expected rise is the likelihood that reduced competition from Black Sea farmers will allow U.S. farmers to export $8.1 billion worth of wheat in fiscal 2011, up 35% from the USDA's revised fiscal 2010 forecast of $6 billion.

In May, the USDA forecast fiscal 2010 wheat exports of $5.3 billion.

The USDA also predicted that U.S. corn exports will climb 16.5% in fiscal 2011 to $10.6 billion from its fiscal 2010 forecast of $9.1 billion. The agency also said it expects U.S. cotton exports to climb 25% in fiscal 2011 to $6 billion from $4.8 billion in fiscal 2010.

U.S. agricultural exports are climbing despite the rocky economy in the U.S. and much of developed world in part because U.S. farmers do a lot of their business with emerging Asian nations, which are generating the strongest growth.

The USDA said Tuesday it expects the U.S. to export $47 billion worth of agricultural goods to Asia in fiscal 2011, up 5.1% from its upwardly revised forecast of $44.7 billion in fiscal 2010.

Write to Scott Kilman at scott.kilman@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 41406.html

Thanks to the advances in mechanical harvesting our wheat and corn production is champion. Cyrus McCormick invented a reaping machine nearly 180 years ago, and today's farmers produce 100 times the crop (in terms of man hours) that was produced before then.

Corn production is something like 30X more efficient than before the industrial revolution. Plus there is a lot more land that is now usable.

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