Agriculture Trade Missions | Video

Retha Colclasure | 12/25/2012

North Dakota`s agriculture commissioner holds an important job helping farmers and ranchers in the state. Much of the work Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring does doesn`t happen from his office. He`s been to China, Russia, Colombia and many other countries, and it`s all part of a days work.

"No one else is out there marketing our products," he said.

North Dakota farmers and ranchers export 46 different commodities to 73 different countries. But they`ve often found those countries importing the state`s goods may not know where they come from. That`s because they look at where the product was processed or packaged, not where it was produced.

"We can represent our products globally more than anyone else can," Goehring said.

Goehring often leads a delegation to countries where there isn`t a current trade agreement for different agricultural products. He says those trips can help open the door to future trade.

"They want to be able to look you in the eye, have a conversation, get a feel for how sincere you are."

And they can talk about different regulations that could make importing a product tricky.

"Sitting down and having that conversation with government officials helps us create better inroads to moving products."

The more places the product can go, the better off North Dakota`s producers.

"If you hung all of your wherewithal on that one particular country or one market, if things went awry, your whole market would collapse."

He says much of what North Dakota`s farmers and ranchers produce are staples in the diets of many across the world.

Goehring attributes much of the expanding opportunity for trade with other countries to a growing middle class system developing globally. He says as people can afford to buy more luxury food items the desire and demand for them becomes very apparent.

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