SUNDAY 25 AUGUST 2019As no-deal Brexit looms, US
farmers see opportunity
Preparations for the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines (Reuters)
CLARK MINDOCK
IN NEW YORK
With the UK facing an uncertain future as Boris Johnson marches the country towards a no-deal Brexit,
American farmers can’t help but sense a golden opportunity to bring their goods into a new market.
While many US farmers have historically been turned away from trading with the United Kingdom over
fears for the implications of practices such as washing chickens in chlorine, or the use of genetically
modified crops, Britain’s impending exit from the EU has left some dreaming of a change to that situation.
On a blistering summer day in Iowa, the idea was hard to avoid for farmers like Leon Sheets, a pork
producer from the northeast of the state who also maintains 600 acres of row crops. “Hey, let’s have the
conversation. Let’s work out a deal,” Sheets says, using the kind of language one might expect from Donald
Trump. When prodded further, Sheets acknowledges that he hopes to see a post-Brexit trade deal that