Brian Hancock
Kansas City Southern Railroad Chief Marketing Officer Brian Hancock says company stock fell in reaction to presidential campaign rhetoric critical of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He says frequent talk about NAFTA since the election has educated the public about the trade deal currently being renegotiated with Mexico and Canada.
“We feel very, very comfortable that everyone understands how important it is to industry, agriculture, petroleum; every industry is impacted by that,” Hancock said. “It’s come back in a good way, but it took a lot of education on the part of our CEO and management team.”
A significant part of Kansas City Southern’s business is hauling U.S. grain into Mexico, which, Hancock says, depends on a thriving Mexican agriculture economy.
“From an ag perspective, there are big chicken farms, big hog farms all over the Mexican landscape, and they ship products all over the world,” said Hancock. “They need to be fed. That’s a big business for us, and we want that to be successful.”
Hancock was one of the speakers at Thursday’s Ag Outlook Forum in Kansas City.
By Tom Steever of Brownfield Ag News