For instance, Russia used to depend heavily on the United States for wheat, although this year it's expected to ship almost 6 percent of the world's wheat.

American farmers, meanwhile, have begun to embrace technology in order to shave production costs and become more efficient.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that there will be no trade surplus in agriculture by the end of 2005, even though four years ago the farm sector was generating an annual surplus of $13.7 billion.