Cedric Porter

Editor of World Potato Markets and contributor to Farmers Guardian, Arable Farming and Dairy Farmer.

For five years after Brexit I published a monthly briefing called Brexit Food & Farming. I still keep up with post-Brexit issues. I regularly do presentations (mainly on potatoes) across the world

Other roles:

  • Non Executive Director of Waldersey Farms, a 15,000 acre farming estate in Norfolk.
  • Member of the Department for Business & Trade’s Trade & Agriculture Commission
  • Vice Chair of LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming)
  • Member of the Caroline Drummond memorial trust and organiser of the Caroline Drummond Celebrating and Communicating Farming Excellence Award. Caroline was the founding CEO of LEAF in 1991 until her death in 2022.

Location: Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Sector: I monitor the global potato market and also analyse all crop and livestock markets regularly. I follow international agricultural trade and trade policy.

Happy to talk about:

  • Potato markets (not agronomy)
  • Global agricultural markets – I’m fortunate to travel regularly
  • Agricultural trade
  • International co-operation
  • Post Brexit farming policy
  • Need for greater understanding between urban and rural audiences

Talking Point:

  • I edited a meat magazine in the Netherlands in the early 2000s. I told vegetarian friends it was called Meet International – a global dating magazine.
  • I’ve eaten a raw potato in front of the Vice President of Peru
  • I used to get confused with another Cedric Porter who was the Entertainment Editor for South London Press. He was asked why he was writing about farming and I got the street cred that people thought I was a band reviewer.

Other skills and hobbies:

  • Am dram in the distant past
  • Occasional floor hockey player
  • Litter picking
  • Gallery visiting
  • Exploring my family’s farming history – taking up the mantle from my mother who published a book on farming in the Cotswolds based on my father’s family records.
  • Very sporadic research for a book on the change in grain and other crop supply in an era of increased risk and novel foods such as cultured meat.

Previous media experience:

  • Appearances on Countryfile (2001 and 2021)
  • A number of interviews on Farming Today
  • Appearance on Chris Morris BBC Brexit series
  • Interviews on foreign radio including in US and Ireland
  • Scheduled appearance on RTE potato documentary
  • Local BBC and ITV commentary
  • Interviews in national print media including Telegraph and Independent

Declared interests:

  • NED for Waldersey Farms,
  • Member of Trade & Agriculture Commission
  • Vice Chair of LEAF
  • Director of my own company Supply Intelligence Ltd
  • Member of British Guild of Agricultural Journalists
  • Member of Institute of Agricultural Management