USDA has released its final tally for agricultural exports in Fiscal Year 2013. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says American agriculture achieved record exports once again at 140.9-billion dollars. Vilsack says the period from 2009 to 2013 stands as the strongest five-year period for agricultural exports in the nation’s history. Compared to the previous five-year record from 2004 to 2008 – Vilsack says U.S. agricultural exports increased by a total of more than 230-billion dollars. He says the average volume of bulk commodities exported increased by nearly four-million tons per year during that same period.
With record agricultural exports supporting about one-million American jobs – Vilsack says we can’t afford to lose the incredible momentum of recent years. He says that’s why we need Congress to pass a new Food, Farm and Jobs Bill as soon as possible.
