Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Illinois Farm Bureau is taking retired and current farmers to Mexico City, Mexico Monday morning for a “market study tour.” A trip that is going to strengthen the trade relationship between US and Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) is up for review this year in July.

Current resident of Sangamon County and retired Farmer, David Wirth, will be present on this tour.

“I’ve been involved in agriculture for my entire working career and so I have an interest and a curiosity in my state,” said Wirth, on the WTAX Morning Newswatch.  “But most importantly, I recognize that there’s trade with Mexico is very important for agriculture, especially for Illinois agriculture. You know, a lot of our corn goes to Mexico, and it’s not something that everyone would be aware of.  Certainly our farmers are aware that exports are important to us. But consumers might not know how important that trade is.”

What are the goals of this trip?

“To gain an understanding of the relationship, but look for opportunities and as well as the challenges, to help grow that trait,” said Wirth.  “We’ve had tremendous growth with trade, with Mexico and agricultural commodities in the past 15, 20 years, where now Mexico is one of our leading export markets for our agricultural products in the United States and from Illinois. There’s like 30 billions of export egg products to Mexico; of thatm over 3.6 billion from Illinois. So, I can throw out a bunch of numbers. But what’s important for people from Illinois to understand is of all the exports from the United States, Illinois, represents about 12% of that market, so it’s a pretty big deal.”

What important stops are planned for this tour?

“One of our stops is a research facility that specializes in wheat and corn, and they do research that helps to improve productivity, really across the world, that organizations have been around its summit is the international corn and wheat Improvement Center,” said Wirth.  “So, that’s an important stop for us, and we’re going to learn more about that organization. It’s been around for a lot of years, and it’s really helped to develop varieties and improved productivity.”

Wirth said there will be more money made for Illinois through trading.