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ment, income and purchasing power in both the farm and nonfarm sectors. Each 

 dollar received from agricultural exports in 1991 stimulated another $1.40 — a total 

 of $54.7 billion overall — in supporting activities to produce U.S. exports. Agricul- 

 tural exports generated an estimated 8,000 full-time civilian iobs, including 545,000 

 jobs in the nonfarm sector. Farmers' purchases of fuel, fertilizer, and other inputs 

 to produce commodities for export spurred economic activity in the manufacturing, 

 trade and transportation sectors. 



The United States exported $39.2 billion of agricultural products in 1991 includ- 

 ing 39 percent of its wheat, 45 percent of its rice, 30 percent of its soybeans, 22 per- 

 cent of its corn, and 50 percent of its cotton. Exported raw products totaled $15.8 

 billion, while processed commodities totaled $14.3 billion and transportation and 

 trade services for raw and processed products totaled $9.1 billion. The nearly $55 

 billion in supporting activity included $10.3 billion from the farm sector, $4.9 billion 

 from the food processing sector, $15 billion from other manutacturing sectors, $6.9 

 billion from trade and transportation, and $17.6 billion from other services. Non- 

 farm sectors of the economy received about 81 percent of the additional economic 

 activity. 



Of the 860,000 full-time civilian jobs related to agricultural exports, more than 

 314,000 U.S. workers, 10 percent of the farm labor force, worked in the production 

 of export commodities. In addition, 545,000 jobs in the nonfarm sector were directly 

 or indirectly related to the assembling, processing, and distributing of agricultural 

 products for export. About 67,000 of these jobs were in food processing, 228,000 in 

 trade and transportation, 91,000 in other manufacturing sectors, and 159,000 in 

 other services. USDA estimates that full implementation of NAFTA will create an 

 additional 56,000 jobs for U.S. workers. 



Agriculture has long contributed to the U.S. trade balance. Net agricultural ex- 

 ports of $16.5 billion in 1991 partially offset a $99 billion deficit in nonfarm trade, 

 leaving the U.S. trade balance in deficit by $82 billion. U.S. agricultural trade sur- 

 pluses have consistently offset the overall U.S. trade deficit. Agriculture remains 

 this country's leading export earner. In fiscal year 1992, U.S. farm sales abroad to- 

 taled $42.4 billion. The resulting positive agricultural trade balance for fiscal 1992 

 swelled to $18 billion. 



NAFTA REGION TRADE 



According to recent Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) analysis, U.S. agricultural 

 exports to Mexico and Canada may reach a combined $8.3 billion in 1992. If real- 

 ized, this would make Canada and Mexico the United States' largest export market 

 for the first time — surpassing Japan's $8.1 billion and the European Community's 

 $7.1 billion. At a level of $8.3 billion, U.S. exports to these two NAFTA countries 

 would account for 20 percent of all U.S. overseas sales — up from only 10 percent 

 just 5 years ago. 



Mexico is a net importer of food and agricultural products. Almost 70 percent of 

 their imports in 1990 were from the United States, making Mexico our third largest 

 single market. U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico in 1992 are anticipated to reach 

 a record $3.5 billion, up 20 percent from the 1991 record and almost triple the 1987 

 level of $1.2 billion. Primarily a bulk commodity market prior to 1987, Mexico is 

 now one of the United States' largest and fastest growing high-valued markets with 

 1992 exports expected to reach an all-time high of $2.4 billion — up 40 percent from 

 1991 and almost four times higher than 5 years ago. As a result, high-value prod- 

 ucts now account for almost 70 percent of all U.S. agricultural sales to Mexico ver- 

 sus 40 percent in 1987. Much of this growth is due to Mexico's trade liberalization 

 efforts that began in 1987 as well as the economic revitalization that has occurred 

 as a result of President Salinas' structural reforms. Unfortunately, bulk commodity 

 trade has not been liberalized. Therefore, exports of bulk commodities have shown 

 little growth over the past few years — a situation that NAFTA will change, allowing 

 more liberalized trade for bulk commodities. 



NASDA POSITION ON NAFTA 



Passage of NAFTA is of utmost importance to the agricultural economy. NASDA 

 supports all positive efforts to expand foreign trade, including the adoption of 

 NAFTA. We believe not only that the treaty will have a positive impact on the agri- 

 cultural industry of the United States, we strongly believe that the defeat of NAFTA 

 would cause irreparable damage impacting our ability to continue to sell products 

 to Mexico and the entire world. 



We, at the State level, fully appreciate the importance of trade and exports in 

 maintaining and creating jobs in the food sector. Clearly, Mexico will be an even 

 greater export market for U.S. food products and commodities if the trade pact is 



