Ag Secretary Implies China May Be Favoring Brazilian Corn and Soybeans

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack implied this week that China may be favoring Brazilian corn and soybeans partly in retaliation against recent restrictions on ownership of American farmland. Vilsack said his counterpart in China recently brought up Arkansas’ move to force seed company Syngenta AG, which is controlled by China’s Sinochem Holdings Corp., to sell 160 acres of farmland in the state.

“We had a trade deficit of $6 billion in the first quarter of this fiscal year; China’s purchases are $6 billion less than they were a year ago,” Vilsack said in an interview Tuesday. “Why would that be? Is it just Brazil, or was there a reason why the Chinese ag minister asked me about Syngenta? It was a signal.”

Vilsack said the U.S. needs to diversify by working more with other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Still, he said the U.S. would like to be able to continue doing business with China. With China buying fewer crops from the U.S., Brazil has overtaken America as the world’s top corn shipper after already doing so with soybeans.