Vincent Amanor-Boadu, Ph.D.

With the anti-China stance of both political parties, we might be entering some rough waters with agricultural trade. We can anticipate either candidate pushing tighter trade policies despite withstanding agreements to get other policies through Congress. This is complicated by the strengthening relationship between China and Russia and the increasing isolation of the U.S. If Trump wins and maintains his anti-NATO position, this isolation will be exacerbated, weakening U.S. control of its relationship with China on the trade front. How does U.S. agriculture fare in the second term of either leader? To answer this question, let us examine how it fared under their first terms.

The world is rapidly changing as global alliances are redefined. The strategic importance of the different sectors in America’s economy must be evaluated carefully in responding to the changing global environment. The importance of this is based on the fundamental development drivers for U.S. agri-food scale economies through global trade expansion. This conversation puts the agri-food system at the foundation of the U.S. economy and argues for careful choices in the face of the changing geopolitical environment.

The political and social polarization across U.S. has become a truth in itself. It is for this reason that a need to evaluate this polarization is necessary to achieve and sustain our socio-economic goals. In this conversation, we use this truism to rethink how we strategically reframe current positions from the perspective of a national objective using simple economic tools. We invite each other on a journey to explore alternative pathways and their consequences with the view to developing a way to see and hear each other through a commitment to our self-interest. We argue that doing this is imperative to sustaining our lifestyles and conserving the things that are important to use.

The anchor of our national security is our food security. America’s food security is guaranteed by the farmers and ranchers who not only feed this country but also feed a significant proportion of the world’s population.

Feeding more than this country is fundamental to our ability to ensure our food security because it gives us economies of scale and guarantees low-cost food to our citizens. An increasingly loud voice is emerging about the agri-food sector’s role in such externalities as climate change, leading to radical policy recommendations that can significantly alter the sector’s domestic and global competitiveness. We need a reflective balance in our civic discourse to ensure that our fears about the future do not jeopardize our ability to get to the future.