Nearly 65 years ago, my friend Johnny Warton and I hopped in his green MG TF two-seater sports car for our first international road trip to Mexico. The idea that two Illinois farm kids would travel over 1,000 miles, crossing a border into another country, was not entirely unheard of then. But, in a sports car? The mode of transportation didn’t cross our minds much, as we were interested in getting to Mexico any way we could.

Traveling to Mexico was very simple in 1959. You showed officials a copy of your birth certificate, car title, and proof of insurance. We had to buy car insurance before we could cross the border, and we had to have our parents telegraph the proper paperwork to get that done. All-told, it took three days to clear up the paperwork, longer than it took us to get from Griggsville, Illinois, to the border town of McCallen, Texas.

Before traveling to Mexico, we got the required shots at Western Illinois University, where I would be a junior when we returned. The university doctor was a retired army doctor and gave us advice that stayed with me, even today: “never take a bite of food outside the United States unless you wash it down with some good old strong alcohol.” I’m not a big drinker, but I followed his advice, and have only gotten sick from food poisoning once.

Farming was primitive in Mexico to say the least. Most of the work was done by hand, horses, and donkeys. There were plenty of donkey carts and horse carts on the road. Open air markets and roadside stands were common, although scores of people appeared malnourished. Seeing the number of hungry people in Mexico sparked a desire in me to try and do something out it.

And as I continued in my farm operation, I also got involved with commodity organizations and worked on congressional campaigns, which gave me opportunities to help move forward trade policies and practices. Several years later I would have the opportunity to help promote the free trade I was convinced would help the Mexican people improve their lives and their diets.

One of those opportunities occurred in the 1980s when I was asked by then Illinois Governor Jim Thompson to serve on the Future of Rural Illinois task force with Lt. Governor George Ryan. Illinois opened one of the first state trade offices in Mexico in 1989.

That state trade office played a key role in advancing trade policies beneficial to both countries. The North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect January 1, 1994, and was fully implemented in 2008. The agreement removed all trade restricting tariffs and quantitative restrictions on agricultural goods between the two countries. NAFTA has been one of the most successful trade agreements in history and has contributed to significant increases in agricultural trade and investment between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Today, the United States is Mexico’s top trading partner with 72 percent of total exports and 38 percent of total imports. In 2022, trade between Mexico and the US reached $738 billion (USD), with Mexico posting a surplus of near $208 billion (USD).

U.S. total exports of agricultural products to Mexico totaled $20 billion in 2019, our 2nd largest agricultural export market. Leading domestic export categories include corn ($2.7 billion), soybeans ($1.9 billion), dairy products ($1.5 billion), pork and pork products ($1.3 billion), and beef and beef products ($1.1 billion).

My college road-trip to Mexico was my first connection between my farming operation and feeding people around the world. It’s a connection I have focused on throughout my farming career, and I’ve had many adventures along the way.

I’ll be sharing more experiences here, on Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you’d like to take in all my adventures at one time, you can purchase your copy of Your Food, My Adventure. Just click on the button on the landing page on this website.