Potato industry nervous but hopeful about the upcoming Administration’s policies

The CEO of the National Potato Council says folks are asking the right questions, but their concerns may be presumptive.

With so much change on the horizon, the ag industry is bracing for what the new Administration has in store.

The CEO of the National Potato Council says folks are asking the right questions, but their concerns may be presumptive.

“If the threat of tariffs drives countries that we partner with, and in some cases compete with, if it drives them to the negotiating table where we can get a better deal overall for, selfishly for U.S. agriculture’s huge trade deficit, we can start balancing that trade deficit. That will be a very good thing. Obviously, if you had massive tariffs go on just kind of wholesale across the United States and never come off, that’s an entirely different matter. But that hasn’t happened. So, I think we just have to give the administration the opportunity to actually implement their policies,” said Kam Quarles.

Regardless, Quarles says the way things are currently going is not working, so he hopes change leads to more positive outcomes.

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“It really hamstrings our availability of financing to get loans when everything is costing 30-60% more.”
“Producers want those options for identification and traceability purposes that they were promised back in 2013, and that’s what made it controversial.”

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