Kansas, along with other states in the "agricultural heartland," has been a major beneficiary of the North American Free Trade Agreement, with a significant amount of grain and other products from the region flowing directly to Mexico.

Those were the words of Bob Petersen, executive director of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City, addressing a Trade Issue Forum in Kansas City, Mo., on Feb. 22. The forum focused on the benefits of NAFTA to American agriculture and agribusiness.

"NAFTA has had an enormously beneficial impact on Midwestern agriculture since its inception 23 years ago and is important for holding on to our Mexican and Canadian markets in the future," Petersen told the group.

Mexico is the No. 3 export market for U.S. agricultural products — a market that amounted to $17.7 billion in 2015, Petersen told the group.

Bob Young, chief economist of the American Farm Bureau Federation, was the keynote speaker for the event.

"There is no question about the importance of Mexico to U.S. agriculture and to the Kansas City area in particular," Young told the crowd. "U.S. agriculture has worked to build and foster this market, and we are so fortunate with the infrastructure we have that makes this region a very efficient source of supplies. Without this market, demand for our products would be less and the prices farmers receive for their production would be lower. And price levels this year are already expected to be down from the highs we saw in recent years. From rural America's perspective, strong markets mean strong economic activity that benefits everyone in the chain — the producer, processor, marketer and transporter."

Export numbers highlighted during the meeting showed that in 2015, the top agricultural exports from the U.S. to Mexico were $2.3 billion in corn, $1.4 billion in soybeans, $1.3 billion in dairy, $1.3 billion in pork and $1.1 billion in beef.

Kansas producers sold $274 million in corn to Mexico, $179 million in wheat, $116 million in beef and beef products, $135 million in soybeans and $56 million in animal fats.

Forum participants stressed that they are very concerned about holding on to Mexican and Canadian markets for food products produced in the American heartland.