Cautious Optimism About Brexit and New U.S. Administration

World Potato Markets Managing Editor Cedric Porter at the recent Potato Expo shared UK Farmers perspective of Brexit and what that might mean to their operations.

Porter: "Brexit is the UK leaving the 28 countries of the European Union. I think it is going to have a significant affect obviously for farmers in the UK because they get farm support. They get $4.4 billion of farm support from the European Union and there is no guarantee that that will continue. And there is no guarantee that free trading relationships will continue."

He shares what opportunities what lay ahead for U.S. farmers concerning Brexit.

Porter: "I think in the US the big issues are the trading relationships with Britain and with the European Union. I think there are some opportunities there in terms of selling into the UK. The UK is only 60 percent self-sufficient in food. New trade relationships perhaps based on the long history of relationships between the UK and the US. So there might be some opportunities there for U.S. farmers."

So trade and labor are two areas that concern farmers in both countries. He continues with how farmers are looking at Brexit in the UK and the incoming new administration in the U.S.

Porter: "There are some real parallels between Brexit and the new Trump administration as far as the feeling with farmers. There is actually a cautious optimism."