South Dakota Trade holds the annual Midwest Agriculture Summit, or MAES, in Sioux Falls.
2025’s theme was “Getting to surplus: fixing the agricultural trade deficit."
From the stressors of tariffs to trade priorities to local solutions, the MAES event looked at how farmers and producers in America can profit. That includes South Dakotans.
Jesse Fonkert is the CEO and President of SD Trade. He said Wednesday’s event keyed in on how agriculture can succeed, and it’s by thinking local.
“America is at its best when our farming families and businesses are put at the forefront. And so we want to ensure that any trade deals and trade agreements that are being worked on put their interests first. We need fair trade from both businesses and producers," Fonkert said. "And we want folks to know the stories about that. We want to make sure that our businesses here and our family farms are thriving, that they have a future to look into and that we are making sure that market access is being created for them so that willing buyers and willing sellers can connect to have good relationships.”
While that was the focal point, a major philosophical shift in U.S. trade came into focus.
Ted McKinney is the CEO of the National Association of State Departments and Agriculture and was one of the speakers. He said there’s a distinction in trade that’s come into conversation as of late.
“I might add, you may have picked up that we’ve been talking and using the word ‘fair trade,’ where the last 20 years it’s always been free trade," McKinney said. "We’re making a deliberate change. It, I think, goes over better when you say, ‘We just want fair trade.’ How do you argue with fair trade?”
That’s come into the picture lately, as President Donald Trump seeks a “fairer” global market for the United States. For example, a company may not open certain markets to US goods or imposes higher tariffs on US goods than the US reciprocates.
One example applicable in South Dakota is the ethanol market. One of the reasons Trump gave for targeting Brazil for tariffs is the country’s 18% tariff on ethanol imported into the country. The US has much lower tariffs historically.
While tariffs are primarily a federal issue, they leaves a big impact on state agriculture. Although farmers and producers might not like the answer state leaders have, it's one they're going to have to get used to.
Patience and trust are things President Donald Trump has preached to farmers, and something state leaders have had to hear themselves. Trump has indicated he wants to see the U.S. have more trade opportunity for many sectors, including the agricultural sector.
Hunter Roberts is the Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. On a panel at the summit, he said not everything is bad, and the tariffs could open the door to previously closed markets.
“Our producers want that opportunity to compete. I think generally it’s hard to keep track of where everything is," Roberts said. "Now, we’re seeing some deals happen that are gonna help agriculture and agricultural products in the Midwest which is exciting.”
But he said it isn’t cause for celebration at this point.
“I am concerned about come November, you know, it’s looking like our nation’s biggest corn crop comes in history," Roberts said. "That we’re going to see some 2s in front of cash corn crop sales, instead of 4s and 5s that we’ve had in years past and there’s going to be some angry folks.”
Roberts said ultimately, the states need to do what they can and educate on the fair trade deals needed for their producers, but people need to be patient with the president.
“So we’ve got to give him a little time. Like I said, there’s going to be some pain as we move forward. How long that pain goes and how long people are comfortable with that, we will see," Roberts said. "I mean definitely in the chess match of global trade, we’ve been checkmated a few times by China the last 20+ years, maybe not as much on the ag-side, but on the global manufacturing side of things. And how do we get back to that? I know that that’s something like folks Luke Lindbergh is going to work on every day to get us there.”
So, while things aren’t concrete and are changing every day, Roberts and others at the 2025 MAS are preaching patience and trust in the Trump Administration to open global market access.
