Though the trade surpluses enjoyed by U.S. farmers for decades have recently been eroding, experts say the trend isn’t necessarily as gloomy as it sounds. Exports of farm goods no longer outpace imports as widely or consistently as they did traditionally, and have occasionally even fallen behind in recent years, according to federal data. As long as shipments of U.S. agricultural products keep increasing, though, economists don’t consider a trade deficit to be an alarming development. “In and of itself, it’s not a negative, but the American in me says, ‘Let’s go try to sell more American products,’” said Seth Meyer, chief economist at the USDA.