US Farm Exports Predicted to Set Record in 2011

06 December 2010

Harvesting soybeans in Pleasant Plains, Illinois.

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Two thousand ten was a good year for American farmers. They earned an estimated eighty-two billion dollars. That is almost one-third more than they earned last year. And it is twenty-six percent higher than the ten-year average.

The numbers are from the Economic Research Service at the Department of Agriculture. They represent net farm income, a measure of profitability of farm operations.

Values for grain and oilseed crops are up about three percent from last year. The value of animal production is up by almost seven percent.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack points out that agriculture is one of the few major areas of the economy with a trade surplus. A surplus of forty-one billion dollars is predicted in twenty-eleven. That would be an increase of almost eighteen billion dollars from this year.

At the same time, farm exports are expected to break the all-time high set in two thousand eight. The Agriculture Department says exports in this coming year could top one hundred twenty-six billion dollars.

The largest buyer of agricultural products is expected to be Canada. But farm exports to China are predicted to come within five hundred million dollars of Canadian purchases.