Colorado well positioned to boost potato export to Mexico now tariffs are lifted

Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar is organizing a trade mission to Mexico that he hopes will be fruitful for potato farmers in the San Luis Valley.

Salazar said Thursday that he and Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office hope to pave a trade path to interior Mexico through lifted tariffs and expanded transport that could mean up to an additional $30 million in American potato exports there.

“Right now Colorado is the largest producer of fresh-market potatoes into Mexico,” Salazar said. “Geographically we’re in a place where we’re right next door.”

American potatoes are free of the pests that concern Mexican consumers, and russets grown in Colorado are a popular variety that is not native to Mexico, according to Salazar.