‘Perfect storm’ brews over Colorado farmland

    The consequences of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Mexico could wreak havoc upon Colorado agricultural exports, said Don Brown, the state’s commissioner of agriculture.
    It’s also a concern for his boss, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.
    The administration’s tough talk on Mexico — including a suggested (and then semi-retracted) 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports, renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and the construction of an $8 billion-plus wall — could lead to problems with Mexico that could hurt Colorado agricultural exports, particularly for beef and potatoes, Brown told this reporter. NAFTA is the 23-year old agreement that opened up trade and investment between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
    The talk of a looming trade war with Mexico worries Brown, in part, because it’s coming at the same time prices for some of Colorado’s biggest crops — corn and wheat — sit at 30-year lows, and cattle is also going for lower-than-average prices.
     “Agriculture won’t work at these prices,” Brown, a registered Republican, said. Hickenlooper appointed Brown, a third-generation Yuma County farmer and small business owner, as commissioner of agriculture two years ago.
    If the Trump administration were to enact a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports to pay for a border wall, that could trigger Mexican retaliation against U.S. exports, including beef, potatoes and corn from Colorado. These commodities top the list of Colorado exports to Mexico, and potato exports already are restricted to the first 16 miles in Mexico south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
    “We could double potato exports” without that restriction, Brown said.

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