The agriculture industry is hoping for a turn in fortunes this growing season, but a lot of work remains to achieve that goal in an uneven political environment.

Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey tells KNIA/KRLS News that plenty of supply is generated by livestock and crop producers, but demand has not kept up with the high yields, which in turn, has kept commodity prices low.

“We need to be able to export our products, whether it’s crops, livestock, meat, eggs or dairy products,” he says. “We need the Mexicos of the world to still buy–they’re typically our number one buyer of pork, dairy, or of any U.S. exports, and all this tension we have going on right now between us and Mexico on auto parts and refrigerators, we need to make sure we have an opportunity to be able to grow those exports on the livestock side and the grain side.”

Northey made a trip this past weekend to China with the Iowa Soybean Assocation to further relations for Iowa’s number one soybean importer. He says it’s important for the federal government to recognize the importance of maintaining relationships to keep demand growing beyond domestic markets.