BOISE: Idaho agricultural exports set a record for total value in 2014, but they have been on a steady decline since.
Through the first half of 2016, the value of Idaho farm exports totaled $351 million, down 19.5 percent from the $437 million total during the same period of 2015.
They were down 39 percent compared with the same period in 2014, when Idaho farm exports set a record of $1.02 billion, according to the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.
The decrease didn’t surprise University of Idaho agricultural economist Garth Taylor, who said Russia’s boycott of some European Union commodities as well as a stronger U.S. dollar are having a major impact on demand and prices.
“The dollar continues to be stronger and the world is awash in commodities,” he said. “EU produce, dairy products and other commodities (barred from Russia) are looking for a home in the world market and it’s driving down prices.”
A steep decline in the total value of dairy products exported is a major reason Idaho ag export values have plummeted. A total of $56 million worth of Idaho dairy products were exported from January through June, a 57 percent decline from 2015 and 73 percent decrease from 2014.
Dairy was the state’s leading farm export when Idaho export values reached record levels for four straight years through 2014 but they only ranked third during the first half of 2016.
Gem State farm exports under the “miscellaneous grain and seed” category totaled $73 million during the first six months of 2016, an increase of 10 percent from 2015. The “vegetables” category was second with $63 million in sales, an 11 percent decline from last year.
Doug Robison, Northwest Farm Credit Service’s senior vice president for Western Idaho, told Capital Press in an email that the U.S. dairy industry has been hit by a perfect storm of events since 2014, including “a strengthening U.S. dollar, the elimination of milk production quotas in the European Union, Russian sanctions reducing or eliminating their import of dairy products, slowing growth from China and other emerging markets and continued increases in milk production in the U.S.”
“The strong dollar story continues with other ag commodities as well and has adversely impacted values and export demand for beef, hay and grains from Idaho,” Robison added.
He said that based on research by the Federal Reserve, “it takes about three years for the impact of a 10 percent increase in the value of the dollar to work its way through the system in the form of diminished export values and demand.”
The U.S. dollar is up more than 18 percent since January 2014, so “even if the U.S. dollar remains flat, it will take another year or two for the full effect of this dollar strength to play out in the form of diminished export values for Idaho products,” Robison said.
