News

Free trade essential to ag exports

Trade Promotion Authority and the need to implement new trade deals were among concerns raised by farmers during this week’s Farmers for Free Trade Roundtable.

Doug Chapin, a Michigan dairy farmer and chairman of the Michigan Milk Producers Association, says last year the U.S. exported more than one out of every six gallons of milk produced.

“That meant $6.5 billion worth of dairy production was sold overseas that went to the bottom line of dairy producers like me,” he says.

Chapin says the last new free trade deal aside from the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement was implemented nearly a decade ago.  He’d like to see the Biden administration following through on other agreements like with the United Kingdom.

“For continued growth and prosperity, and for future generations to continue milking, we need new markets that come with new trade agreements,” he says.

Chapin says dairy farmers need trade policies that can expand market access for exports and remove tariff and non-tariff barriers.