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Food and Agricultural Trade Resource Center

Farm Foundation established the Food and Agricultural Trade Resource Center to bring clarity to trade discussions and enable productive debate and dialogue on trade policy issues. Here, you can access a variety of tools and information to improve your knowledge and understanding of the key trade issues affecting farmers, agribusinesses and others throughout the food and agriculture value chain.

Latest Trade Insights

Advance your understanding with a variety of trade articles on our blog.

Read the Latest Insights

Trade Analyses

Economic and legal analyses of key trade topics.

Read Trade Analyses

Trade Basics

Background and information on the basics of agricultural  trade.

Review the Basics

Trade Acronyms

An evolving list of commonly used agricultural trade acronyms.

See the List

Trade Glossary

Definitions of common agricultural trade terminology.

Build Your Vocabulary

About the Center

USDA reports U.S. farmers and ranchers currently export more than 20% of their production, making exports an important component of farm cash receipts. The food and agriculture sector exports nearly $140 billion in commodities and value-added goods, making it one of the nation’s only sectors with a trade surplus.

Given these trade dynamics, a basic understanding of food and agricultural trade is critical. A solid foundation of basic trade education, as well as more detailed analyses of larger trade issues, will support quality dialogues on agricultural trade. Clear, concise and unbiased trade information is needed to achieve a balanced outcome to the current debate.

To address this need, Farm Foundation’s Trade Resource Center offers white papers addressing a variety of agricultural trade topics; conferences, seminars, and webinars allowing experts to directly address key trade topics; and this information hub, which includes regular updates and editorials on the latest trade issues facing the sector.

The Advisory Council

To guide the direction of the Trade Resource Center, Farm Foundation has convened an Advisory Council of agricultural leaders, researchers, trade experts and consultants. They provide input on the structure of the Center, identify priorities for paper development, identify topics for conferences and seminars, and provide technical expertise to evaluate proposed analyses. Members of the Advisory Council are:

Dan Basse
President, ARC Communications, Inc.

Bill Bryant
Chairman, Bryant Christie, Inc.

Richard Crowder
Thornhill Professor of Agricultural Trade, Virginia Tech University

Gregg Doud
Vice President of Global Situational Awareness and Chief Economist, Aimpoint Research

Joe Glauber
Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute

Dan Kelley
Farmer, Global Farmer Network

Ted McKinney
Former Under Secretary, Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at USDA

Bob Stallman
Farmer, Oak Canyon Ventures

Bob Thompson
University of Illinois, retired

Darci Vetter
Vice Chair, Edelman Communications

Bob Young
Founder, Agricultural Prospects

Become a Trade Resource Center Partner

To help support the Trade Resource Center, Farm Foundation seeks partners among organizations, institutions, foundations, companies and individuals who are interested in trade discussions rooted in objective, factual information. To maintain neutrality and prevent bias or perceived bias, partners do not have input on information provided through the Center, including the substance or content of papers.

Farm Foundation gratefully acknowledges Gary and Marg MacDonald, Corteva AgriScience, Illinois Farm Bureau and Syngenta for their support of the Trade Resource Center.

Contact us about partnerships