Rep. Mann adds pressure in tariff talks to benefit Kansas farmers

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has been on a trade mission, visiting various countries with which the United States has a trade deficit. A trade deficit is when the U.S. imports more goods from these countries than it exports to them.

Rollins will soon visit Vietnam, Japan, and India in the latest leg of her “aggressive trade mission.”

Kansas Republican Representative Tracey Mann has high hopes for India becoming a trade partner for Kansas, specifically for sorghum grown in the state.

During a House Committee on Agriculture hearing on Wednesday, Mann asked for details on Rollins’s upcoming trip to India. The Secretary didn’t have any specific information. Still, she did say that trade negotiations will focus on row crops, such as corn and sorghum.

“We’ve talked a lot about how agriculture security is national security,” Rollins told Mann. “A lot of that is opening up markets with our friends like India.”

Kansas is the leading state in sorghum production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, producing 57% of the nation’s total sorghum. However, some of this crop lost a portion of its market when the Trump Administration shut down many USAID programs.

Nick Levendofsky from the Kansas Farmers Union said that if the U.S. can negotiate a deal with India, it could not only replace that lost market but also potentially expand it further.

“This could be in the millions, if not maybe a billion-dollar potential for Kansas farmers,” said Levendofsky.

The Kansas farming advocate also stated that Kansas has been attempting to unlock the sorghum market in India for 20 years.