USDA forecasts $6 billion jump in farm exports in FY 2017

U.S. agricultural exports will total $133 billion in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, up $6 billion from the revised forecast for the current year, USDA said Thursday in its first projection for FY 2017. After two years of declines in exports, the department said the forecasts indicate farm exports have begun to rally again. Vilsack made special mention of an expected growth in demand for U.S. beef, pointing out that shipments of the meat are expected to reach $5.3 billion in 2017, well above the $1.5 billion exported in FY 2004, following the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also called mad cow disease, in December 2003. Read more at Agri-Pulse…