Potato growers are responding to the recent decision from Mexico’s Supreme Court that opens the market for fresh American spuds.
Last week the court unanimously overturned a decision that blocked imports moving through the country. The National Potato Council says that Mexico had made things difficult because growers are represented by a group that amounts to a cartel.
They wanted to keep prices high and were able to control the supply. Their influence created a decades-long dispute.
“They clearly were exerting that on the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court ultimately was able to resist it and now we’ve got to rely on the Mexican government to follow through and, clearly, that political power is going to be on full display to try to keep that from happening. So that’s the big challenge right now,” according to the council’s CEO, Kam Quarles.
He says that without the ruling, the Mexican government would have felt blocked from taking any action. He calls it a good first step. The potato industry predicts that eventually, access to the Mexican market could create an additional $200 billion dollar a year in revenue.
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