美国农民向世界其他地区出口的高质农产品比美国农业史上以往任何时候都多。
美国国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥（Mike Pompeo）3月4日在艾奥瓦州（Iowa）对农牧民发表讲话时说，美国农民的收成已“达到短短几年前令全世界大为惊讶的水平”。
美国是全世界第一大粮食出口国，在2018年输出价值超过1395亿美元的农产品，比2017年增加了15亿美元。
这对于美国农民，以及那些进口高质、安全、可靠的美国农产品以为全体人民提供足够粮食的国家而言，都是一个好消息。
美国种植哪些作物
只要开车经过美国中西部地区——伊利诺伊（Illinois）、艾奥瓦、内布拉斯加（Nebraska）等几个州——很快就会发现玉米和大豆是美国最常见的农作物，而且是出口创收最高的农作物。
而开车经过堪萨斯（Kansas）、北达科他（North Dakota）、蒙大拿（Montana）和华盛顿州（Washington），则会看到麦田遍地。
去过得克萨斯（Texas）、内布拉斯加和堪萨斯州的人，还会看到这三大养牛州满山遍野的牛群。
美国农业部（U.S. Department of Agriculture）的经济学家布莱斯·库克（Bryce Cooke）说：“美国农业部门极具多样性。美国粮食供给价格合理、品种多样，反映了整个农业部门的生产力和多样性。”
农业出口支持着美国超过100万个农牧业以及作物加工、包装和运输部门的就业机会。
美国农业前景展望
全世界对粮食的需求量预期到2050年将增加60%。为应对这一挑战，美国将制定新的农业措施，建立新市场，并消除不公平的贸易壁垒。
蓬佩奥对美国农民说：“由于我们的自由市场体制，我们还有高质量的保证。在市场导向的经济中，各公司都注重自己的品牌，积极保护自己的声誉。竞争和选择促使人们按规则办事。”
蓬佩奥表示：“我相信美国的创新、创造力和辛勤劳动今后还将为全世界数十亿人提供粮食。”
U.S. farmers feed the world
American farmers are selling more of their high-quality products to the rest of the world than ever before in the history of U.S. agriculture.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking to farmers in Iowa on March 4 , said that U.S. farmers produce harvests “at levels the world would have been astounded by just a few years ago.”
The United States, the world’s top food exporter, shipped over $139.5 billion in agricultural products abroad in 2018, a $1.5 billion increase over 2017.
That’s good news for both American farmers and the nations who import high-quality, safe and reliable U.S. agricultural products and so can provide enough food for their entire populations.
What America grows
Anyone driving across the American Midwest — Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and more — quickly learns that corn and soybeans are the most common crops grown in the United States and generate the highest agricultural export sales.
Drive across the states of Kansas, North Dakota, Montana and Washington and wheat fields dominate the landscape.
And visitors to Texas, Nebraska and Kansas see massive herds of cattle roaming these top three beef-producing states.
“The U.S. agriculture sector is extremely diverse,” said Bryce Cooke, an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “The affordability and variety of the U.S. food supply reflects the productivity and diversity of the entire agricultural sector.”
Agricultural exports support more than 1 million American jobs in farming and ranching, as well as jobs in processing, packaging and transporting the crops.
Future of American farming
By 2050 the world demand for food is expected to increase by 60 percent. To meet this challenge, the U.S. will devise new agricultural practices, build new markets and remove unfair trade barriers.
“We also have the highest quality because of our free-market system,” Pompeo told the American farmers. “Companies value their brand in a market-based economy and work to protect that reputation. Competition and choice cause people to play by the rules.”
“I am confident that the next billion, and the billion after that, of people who will be fed around the world will also be fed by American innovation, creativity and hard work,” Pompeo said.
