Virginia Tech professor helps farmers navigate global trade challenges

The Center for Agricultural Trade is a nationally trusted resource for understanding international agricultural markets in a rapidly changing global marketplace.

By Julie Shlisky

As global markets shift and trade rules change, Jason Grant, W.G. Wysor professor of agriculture and director of the Center for Agricultural Trade in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, helps U.S. farmers stay competitive. Grant leads research aimed at improving access to international markets for American agricultural producers.

Grant’s work is part of a Hatch project titled “U.S. Agricultural Trade and Policy in an Uncertain Global Market Environment.” The goal is to help farmers in Virginia and across the country sell more products overseas, especially in places where trade barriers make it difficult.

“The U.S. is the largest agricultural exporting country in the world,” Grant said. “We export over $170 billion in food and farm products every year, and many farmers rely on those international markets to sell what they can’t sell at home.”

Agricultural output in the U.S has consistently outpaced our own domestic demand for many commodities, driven largely by novel approaches and productivity gains across farming and ranching operations.

If food and farm products are not needed stateside, producers turn to international markets to keep their incomes stable and to diversify their customer base. Still, trade is not just about money — it’s also about making sure food gets to where it’s needed.

“Trade helps connect places with extra food to places that don’t have enough,” Grant said. “It also gives people access to nutrient-rich fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood, and dairy year-round, even if those foods aren’t grown locally.”

Selling food abroad isn’t always easy. Many countries have strict rules that don’t recognize or approve innovative production methods, restricting many U.S. products. These rules fail to recognize modern farming methods used here like advances in biotechnology, precision agriculture, pathogen reduction treatments, food packaging, and animal production.

“One of the main goals of our project is to find where these trade barriers exist,” Grant said. “We use data to create global models to show which markets have the most potential and where U.S. products are being held back. This informs policymakers who can stimulate more effective trade negotiations for U.S. and Virginia producers.”

Grant’s research has already made an impact. His team created benchmarks for U.S. negotiating efforts to increase exports to key regions like South and Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and China. These benchmarks help policymakers understand both the opportunities and the challenges in global trade.

“As the U.S. develops new trade policies, our work helps leaders make better decisions,” Grant said. “We provide timely, data-driven evidence of potential costs and benefits that can lead to stronger trade deals and better outcomes for our farmers.”

The project establishes Virginia Tech as a leader in agricultural trade analysis.

“Our Center for Agricultural Trade team is now seen as a go-to resource for understanding global agricultural markets in a rapidly changing global marketplace,” Grant said. “We’ve built strong partnerships that allow us to support both national and local trade efforts.”

Grant’s team now works closely with the Office of the Chief Economist and Foreign Agricultural Service to provide projections that advise trade negotiations, market access strategies, and policy decisions. He has presented policy briefings to understand current trade opportunities and how trade frictions would impact U.S. and Virginia agricultural producers and the communities that surround them. This past May, he presented to a special Virginia legislative taskforce focused on the local impacts from new tariffs. His briefings have helped numerous officials understand how trade changes affect farmers and rural communities.