The Foreign Service Journal, May 2003

Agriculture officers usually travel fre- quently and extensively in-country, especially in places where reliable data are hard to come by. FAS offi- cers can be seen evaluating the stur- geon catch on the Volga, examining the cotton harvest in China’s Xinjiang province or talking to soybean farm- ers in Argentina. This breadth of con- tact allows an FAS officer to gain insights into life outside the capital that can be potentially valuable in post decision-making. Yet with the proliferation of the Internet and other information sources and an increasing workload, FAS faces the question of how many resources to dedicate to reporting — and what reports to write. In recent years, FAS has moved away from long, production-focused reports to smaller documents of more use to small and medium enterprises. These reports cover foreign agri- cultural import regulations and standards, as well as spe- cific sectors including retail trade, institutional buyers and consumers of organic products. FAS reports are free, unbiased and publicly available on the Internet at www.fas.usda.gov. I t is true that this information can help competitors, but that risk is outweighed by the ben- efits to analysts and exporters who could not afford access to a commercial agricultural news service. Although there is pressure to cut reporting even more, allowing FAS personnel to spend more time resolving trade disputes or investigating a new market, going too far will result in the loss of valued contacts and expertise on local markets, deprive USDA of important input for its lockup process, and deny exporters a valu- able information resource. So finding the proper bal- ance between reporting and FAS’s other overseas roles will pose an important challenge for the agency. Other Challenges As FAS works to promote U.S. exports, resolve trade disputes, report on agricultural markets and provide support to developing countries, it faces a number of additional challenges: Maintaining faith in liberalization. Low prices for commodities and higher volatility in exports, taken together with the use of SPS and other non-tariff barri- ers to trade by key importers, may undermine some farmer and agribusiness support for agricultural trade liberalization. If farmers lose faith in export markets, they will likely ask for more protec- tion against imports. This change would pose a special challenge to FAS, an agency strongly dedicated to market access and export promo- tion rather than import administra- tion. For this reason, it needs to continuously demonstrate progress in market access by successful agreement negotiation and imple- mentation. The war on terrorism. Trade promotion has become more difficult since Sept. 11, 2001, as Americans are understandably more reluctant to go overseas and there has been renewed attention to threats to the U.S. that could enter via trade. Although the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, requiring pre-notification of shipments for the U.S. and exporter registration along with improved container security, may reduce threats to the U.S., it will also add costs to foreign exporters and could bring about equivalent measures on U.S. exports. The key will be to balance security with openness. The war on Iraq may also trigger an anti-American backlash which may make it more difficult to promote U.S. products, especially in the Middle East, where “Mecca Cola” is already taking market share away from Coke. Information technology. With elevated fears of trav- el resulting from the war on terrorism, there is a temp- tation to replace personal contact with e-mail, home pages and videoconferences. But to understand and influence consumers and markets, there is simply no substitute for personal contact. In any case, like most government agencies, FAS has been unable to keep up with the pace of change in information technology: many of our overseas offices are still using technology from the mid-1990s. Although these issues will test FAS, its experience in promoting U.S. agricultural interests overseas will likely see it through. FAS offices overseas and in Washington have worked together to open up new markets to billions of dollars worth of U.S. agricultural products. With con- tinued adjustments, there is every reason to believe this encouraging trend will continue. F O C U S 50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 3 FAS recognizes that information and communications technology have changed the way U.S. exporters do business around the world.