What happens globally can impact the profitability of U.S. farmers.
“We’re in a period where agriculture is experiencing a structural change,” said Sarah Tveidt, vice president of client services for The Directions Group. “There are a lot of dynamics that are shifting globally that are changing the competitive landscape for U.S. agriculture.”
The Directions Group, Tveidt explained during a presentation at the 2025 GroundBreakers Conference, hosted by Compeer Financial, is a strategic insights firm that is focused on helping businesses grow, innovate and differentiate themselves in the marketplace through integrated intelligence.
“We work hard to understand people, businesses and the intricate connection between the two,” said Tveidt, who was raised on a family farm in South Dakota. “Our core belief is the success of the food system and U.S. agriculture is essential to U.S. security.”
To be successful, Tveidt said, it is important to understand the operating environment.
When it comes to the Middle East, Tveidt said, the country the United States needs to pay attention to is Saudi Arabia.
“Our ability to make a deal with Saudi Arabia is key to stability between the Middle East and U.S. relations,” Tveidt said.
“A deal would stabilize oil prices and it will also help to squeeze out the Iranian influence that is really causing issues with the Red Sea shipping lanes,” she said. “About 10% of the world’s global trade flows through the Red Sea.”
Tveidt characterized India as a “wild card” on the global stage.
“India, much like China, is going to do whatever is best for India,” she said. “They have some key relationships with Russia that relate to energy, some military capabilities and in some tech exchange.”
Historically, India has been a very difficult market to trade with, Tveidt said.
“They have a lot of restrictions, trade barriers and tariffs,” she said. “India could potentially be a bit of a bright spot because they’re the largest population in the world, so there is opportunity there.”
For the past three years, economists have been talking about the imminent collapse of Russia.
“Our military guys say that’s not true because they are leveraging relationships around the world,” Tveidt said. “We have to acknowledge that the Russian people are used to navigating periods of downturns and they are really resilient.”
Japan’s economy is going pretty well, the company vice president said.
“They have been a great trading partner for us,” Tveidt said.
“Africa continues to be unstable when we look at things like terrorism,” she said. “However, they are a fast-growing population, and in some areas like Nigeria, they are moving towards rapid urbanization.”
China is in an economic downturn.
“They’ve really had some struggles and issues with their manufacturing and real estate,” Tveidt said. “Xi Jinping has secured leadership for the rest of his lifetime and we can see his goals are really aligned with making China a great world power.”
Ultimately, the client services leader said, the United States is in a great power competition between the BRICS countries and the West.
“The BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa together represent 35% of the global GDP and just under half of the global population at 45%,” Tveidt said.
“The BRICS are offering an alternative to the West in what we know as global leadership today,” she said. “BRICS represent over 45% of the global exports of pesticide value and close to one-third of the global fertilizer export value.”
The United States has been a global leader in corn and soybean production, but that is starting to shift.
“China is projected to increase their production of corn and soybeans where they could become a net exporter of corn,” Tveidt said.
“And competition with Brazil is heating up,” she said. “We’re at the point where the U.S. has become the residual soybean supplier to the world and the U.S. cost of production is becoming less and less competitive.”
U.S. farmers will see increasing commodity risks, Tveidt said, because of the structural changes in global competition.
“In this environment, farmers must increase their net operating income and diversify their income streams,” she said.
In addition, farmers should strive to be in a position to reinvest and innovate.
“If you’re in a position of just maintaining, that leaves you exposed to greater risk over time and ultimately it will be harder and harder to catch up,” Tveidt said.
“We have to be able to connect to an innovation pipeline in our operations,” she said. “In order to advance, we all need to think about how we can lean in to the areas that are right for our businesses.”
Tveidt encourages farmers to take a calculated risk, which is less risky than doing nothing.
“The agility of adoption becomes even more of a focus and more important in the operating environment we’re looking at,” Tveidt said.
“Focus on increasing efficiency and driving down costs,” she said. “Participate in new revenue streams by seeking out collaborations and learn from each other.”
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