RICHMOND—U.S. farmers will need to pay more attention to overseas markets in the coming years, speakers at a recent agricultural trade conference said.

According to projections, 80 percent of the world’s purchasing power will come from outside the United States, “so we either focus on future growth in the world economy or we don’t,” said New Zealand Ambassador Mike Moore March 7 at Virginia’s fifth annual Governor’s Conference on Agricultural Trade.

Moore said agricultural producers need to expand their markets out into the world. If the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is passed, it will help them by eliminating tariffs on agricultural goods.

“Agriculture will be front and center of these negotiations,” said Ambassador Islam Siddiqui, chief agriculture negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “President Obama has said that the TPP is a top trade priority.”

The TPP seeks to increase exports to a region that represents more than 40 percent of global trade. The United States is negotiating the TPP with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

“Our country is extremely excited about the TPP, but it’s a platform to grow on,” Moore said. “If we don’t do this and set the standards, someone else will.”

As a group, the TPP countries are the United States’ largest goods and services export market. U.S. goods exports to the broader Asia-Pacific region totaled $895 billion in 2011, representing 60 percent of total U.S. goods exports. U.S. exports of agricultural products to the region totaled $98 billion in 2011, which was 72 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports.

Virginia agricultural exports are an important contributor to that amount. The state’s agriculture and forestry industry set another record in 2012 with $2.61 billion in exports, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced at the trade conference. That’s a 12 percent increase over the previous record of $2.35 billion in 2011.

“Virginia is well-situated for continued exponential growth in agricultural exports,” McDonnell said. “Negotiating the TPP will help level the playing field.”

He mentioned aggressive agricultural export deals during his administration that have led to live cattle exports to Russia and Canada, wine sales to Europe and China, seafood exports to Europe and Hong Kong and increased soybean shipments to China and Japan.

The trade conference was sponsored by Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, the Virginia Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, the Virginia Port Authority and Virginia Tech’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

Contact Spencer Neale, VFBF director of commodity marketing, at 804-290-1156.