New Year Outlook Pt 3
I’m Bob Larson. Not that 2019 wasn’t filled with its share of obstacles for farmers, but as the year drew to a close, some of those hurdles started coming down, giving reason for hope in 2020.
Washington Farm Bureau CEO John Stuhlmiller says there are positives in the making like EPA water regulations and rural broadband that both appear to be headed in the right direction …
STUHLMILLER … “Rural, wireless technology increases the access to high speed internet, you know, continuing that as we all rely more and more on that technology.”
Other positives, Stuhlmiller points to conversations with China …
STUHLMILLER … “It’s always with China, it’s always on and off again, but it appears to be more on than off at the moment. And, some improvements are being made, some specific things related to agriculture and products going in. So, that’s very good. That bodes very well for us as they are a very large market and we can benefit by our position in geographic sense, being close from a shipping standpoint.”
But, Stuhlmiller says China isn’t the only market potential …
STUHLMILLER … “There’s talks as the U.K. goes through BREXIT. You know, the U.K. is going to be a market that’s going to be open in a new way and the possibilities are there for that, making progress with some of the other Asian countries and so it’s a bright spot from a market standpoint, from a trading standpoint.”
So, 2020 in a nutshell, Stuhlmiller says …
STUHLMILLER … “I think it’s as bright a prospect as we’ve had for a while.”
