When we talk about U.S. agricultural exports, it’s easy to think about commodities like beef, corn, or soybeans. But American livestock genetics are also finding a place in international markets. New Zealand is itself a major agricultural exporter, sending much of what its farmers produce to customers around the world.
During a recent U.S. agricultural trade mission to New Zealand and Australia, USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg got a first-hand look at how American agriculture can become part of that production system. One stop included a New Zealand cattle operation using U.S. livestock genetics in its Hereford herd.
“They are large exporters. New Zealand, for example, exports 93% of the food that they, in fact, grow, raise, harvest in New Zealand. And one of the site visits we did was to a cattle rancher there that is using U.S. livestock genetics to produce Hereford cattle. And so, love seeing that integrated supply chain, ways that we can help support their agricultural product categories using a little bit of American every bite, is what I was saying,” recounted Lindberg.
For American cattle producers and genetics companies, that represents a different kind of export opportunity. Rather than simply selling an agricultural product that will be consumed overseas, U.S. genetics can become part of another country’s livestock production for years to come. And with New Zealand exporting a significant share of the food it produces, those genetics can ultimately contribute to an agricultural supply chain
Lindberg said examples like that demonstrate the different ways U.S. agriculture can participate in global trade, even in countries that are already major agricultural producers and exporters.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.