Worrisome

Here is a very good article on the biggest threat American agriculture faces today.<br />n<br />n<i>"Brazil is the 800-pound gorilla of farming," said U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, who has joined a procession of Minnesota officials to Brazil in recent months. "From the perspective of agriculture, they're the competition."</i><br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4647358.html">Brazil: The new breadbasket</a><br />n<!–more–><br />nIt is not only Brazil that this phenomena is happening. All of South America's agriculture is expanding at a furious rate and the American farmer had better watch out because we are more than likely going to get run over.<br />n<br />n<i>A recent U.S. Agriculture Department report estimated that Brazil can open up an additional 420 million acres of cropland "without any additional deforestation in the Amazon basin."<br />n<br />nBy comparison, total U.S. croplands are estimated at about 250 million acres.</i><br />n<br />nThis kind of information is just unbelievable to me. The sheer amount of land they can put into production is astounding and it is really going to pressure US producers. <br />n<br />nWe in agriculture need to learn a lesson that the manufacturing industry in the US learned the hard way starting back in the 1970's. Quality is important. Something that American agricultural producers have always been proud of is the quality of there product. We are going to have to continue to improve our products and maintain our superior quality to try to effectively compete with this "800-pound gorilla." If we try to battle on sheer quantity and price we are going to lose, quality is going to have to be the road we follow. <br />n<br />n<b>If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying? Shantideva</b>