10 March 2022
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National potato council holds summit
THE National Potato Council’s Washington Summit took place last week, where the NPC’s newly-elected president, Jared Balcom from Pasco, stressed the importance of promoting free and fair-trade agreements.
“Currently, our key issues are continuing to work on the Mexico fresh access for both fresh potatoes and chip stock,” he said. “We are engaged with APHIS and USDA on trying to continue to move that forward. We've run into some stumbling blocks, but we're going to continue to try to work through those.”
He says creating more opportunities for trade in the Pacific Rim is also a priority.
“We're continuing to encourage the Biden administration to work with our Asian counterparts and reduce restrictions,” said Balcom. “There’s a strong desire to re-engage in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and to be a part of that important Asian Pacific trade deal. Trade isn’t a high priority of the current administration. So, we just continue to bring it up and try to encourage them to engage in the conversations.”
During the 2022 National Potato Council Washington Summit, attendees also advocated issues such as keeping potatoes in federal nutrition programs and protecting tax policies that support the long-term health of family-owned farming operations.
Source: AgInfo
