EEUU: National potato leader voices optimism about Trump

POCATELLO, Idaho — A top national potato leader is optimistic Donald Trump’s presidency will be good news for his industry.

National Potato Council Executive Vice President and CEO John Keeling spoke Jan. 18 on the Idaho State University campus during the 47th Annual Potato Conference.

On immigration, Keeling said NPC supports a foreign guestworker program “that works,” as well as a change in legal status that would enable agriculture to retain undocumented foreign workers who are “here doing the work now.”

“It would shock me given the understanding Trump has of the hospitality industry if we don’t do something,” Keeling said. “He understands who changes the beds in his hotels and who buses the tables in his restaurants.”

Keeling said 20 percent of U.S. potatoes are exported, and NPC will “push the concept of trade and the value of trade.” Despite comments Trump has made about many of the major U.S. trade agreements not being in the country’s best interests, Keeling predicts U.S. foreign exports will continue to grow under the new administration.

Keeling supports being “tougher on trade partners,” and he predicts rather than starting from scratch with trade agreements, Trump will change them slightly.

“He is the king of re-branding,” Keeling said.

Keeling believes Trump’s vision for the Environmental Protection Agency should be much more in line with potato growers’ priorities than under President Barack Obama.

“There’s not a single agency of all of them where the turn-around in direction, philosophy and everything else will be bigger than with the EPA,” Keeling said.

Keeling believes Trump’s pick to head EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, will place a higher premium on states making environmental decisions. He said having “an EPA that works” is vital to ensuring agricultural chemicals are approved in a timely manner. He believes Obama’s EPA too often based decisions on epidemiological data — relying on patterns and apparent correlations — even when it was inconsistent with scientific data.

Keeling argues there was no scientific justification for EPA’s controversial choice to expand Clean Water Act regulation to “cover every drainage area that might be wet once every two years,” and he expects that policy will be reversed within Trump’s first 90 days in office.

Keeling was also critical of shortened EPA public comment periods.

Idaho Potato Commission President and CEO Frank Muir is encouraged by comments Trump made about the Idaho potato industry. In a video shown at the Expo, Muir included a clip of Trump saying, “Obviously, I love Idaho potatoes. Who doesn’t love potatoes from Idaho?”