Washington, DC - While trade might be a little slower, agricultural goods continue to cross borders.

Traffic between the borders between Canada, the US and Mexico slowed two weeks ago, as the countries worked together to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus across North America.

Billions of dollars of agricultural products cross the borders between the three countries every year. Livestock may cross the borders multiple times between birth and consumption.

For about 36 hours in the middle of March, the ban on traffic between the three countries impacted trucks. People were concerned and leadership in the three countries listened, said Veronica Nigh, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, AFBF.

“The USDA expressed that concern with border control … and those issues have more or less been resolved,” she said.

Agriculture is an essential business in all three countries. As of right now, that means livestock and produce can cross the borders, she said.

APHIS has pledged to keep inspecting shipments at the borders, but the virus makes it more difficult. There is typically some interaction between a driver and the inspectors or border agents, Nigh said. There has been an increase in protocols to try to limit the interactions between the different people.

She thinks it has caused movement of traffic at the borders to slow down as people are being more cautious, but she hasn’t heard any significant complaints.

“Right now, it seems like it might be a nuisance, only,” she said.

While things at the border might be slower, traveling on the roads is faster, she said. Airline shipments have declined, which has increased the number of trucks on the roads. There is less personal traffic as people try to commute, which means those truckers are moving more quickly through areas that are usually congested.

Most grain products go through ports. Over the past few years, those ports have tried to minimize additional labor and operate with a smaller staff. As a result, there hasn’t been a slowdown at those ports since there was already limited social interaction, Nigh said.

Everyone has been encouraged to increase their personal biosecurity, she added. If inspectors or border control agents get sick or infected, there are a limited number of people who can fill the positions.

“They’re taking precautions,” she said. “No one is immune to this.”

China is slowly showing signs of recovery. The Phase 1 agreement between China and the US was signed mid January, just before the infection became an outbreak in that country. China agreed to purchase about $32 billion in agricultural products between 2020 and 2022. The agreement went into effect mid February. During the USDA agricultural forum, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said the virus could impact the speed at which China makes the purchases, but he thinks they will begin buying soon.

“We are working with China on a daily basis as we implement the Phase One trade agreement,” USTR Ambassador Robert Lighthizer said. “We recognize China’s efforts to keep the commitments in the agreement and look forward to continuing our work together on trade matters.”

Nigh said it isn’t unexpected that the virus impacted the Chinese economy and it might take time to recover, but, as of last week, she’s seeing signs that China is buying.

“We’ve begun to see some significant purchases in the last week,” she said. “All indications are that the deal is moving forward.”

There have been significant purchases of corn, sorghum and beef, she said.

With more agriculture products, there is a time delay of about two months between when it is purchased and when the wholesale data is available, but the export reports indicate there has been an increase of purchases in other areas of agriculture, too.

The outbreak in China took about two months for a recovery to begin and it impacted the economy. She isn’t sure how long it might take to fully recover and doesn’t think there is enough information available yet for anyone to make statements about it.

As of right now, she said she didn’t expect to see a large increase in exports in the next few months, anyway. About 75 percent of the US exports occur in the first and fourth quarter of the year. 

She said the AFBF hopes everything recovers soon.

“The sooner we can get back to normal, in a safe way, the better off we’ll all be,” she added.

Mexico is one of the largest export market for US agricultural goods and the largest supplier of agricultural goods to the US. In 2018, the USTR estimated the US exported $20 billion in agricultural goods to Mexico while Mexico sent about $26 billion in agricultural products to the US.

The US exported $24 billion in agricultural products to Canada in 2018, making it the largest market for US agriculture, according to USTR. The country is the second largest supplier of agricultural imports, totaling about $23 billion in 2018.

The Canadian Parliament approved the USMCA earlier in March, right before Parliament shut down for a five-week recess in response to the coronavirus. News of the virus quickly overshadowed news of that the replacement for NAFTA has been finalized.

It happened as the number of cases saw an increase in all three countries. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family have been in isolation since that time, as his wife tested positive for the coronavirus after a trip to the UK.

In a video statement, Perdue thanked everyone in the food supply chain, from farmers to grocery store clerks.

“We’re spoiled in America… we take you for granted… As an American citizen, I’m so thankful for what you’re doing.” Perdue said. “You’re vital to our economy and you’re vital to our needs … to have a food supply.”

He finished the message by thanking everyone involved for the work they’re doing every day.