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American Soybean Association (ASA) Vice President Danny
Murphy, a soybean producer from Canton, Miss., and is scheduled to
testify on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 before the United States Senate
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to present ASA’s
views on international trade issues, including the export promotion
provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill.
Murphy will advance ASA’s position that Congressional
approval is needed for the pending Free
Trade Agreements with Colombia, South Korea, and Panama, negotiation
of new FTAs with key importing countries, and progress on the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation regional agreement, as well as on
legislation to normalize financial relations with Cuba. He will also
address funding for export promotion programs in the trade title of
the 2008 Farm Bill.
Soybeans are the second largest commodity in the United
States in terms of annual acreage and value, with 78 million acres
planted and a farm-gate value of $32 billion in 2009. Soybeans and
soybean products are the most important U.S. export commodity, with
sales exceeding $21 billion last year. This represented over 50
percent of U.S. soybean production and 21 percent of total U.S.
agricultural exports in 2009.
ASA has actively participated in negotiations on and
strongly supported enactment of every multilateral, regional, and
bilateral trade agreement the U.S. has engaged in. ASA has worked
closely with every Administration to ensure enforcement of these
agreements, including their sanitary and phytosanitary provisions. And
ASA has successfully protected access for U.S. soybean exports to
foreign markets as new biotech traits have been introduced over the
last 15 years. |
