"We certainly benefited from its strength through 2009-10 when the dairy industry helped pull the country out of recession ," he says.
"Now we see a whole range of industries where there size is such when they grow as they are, it is taking the whole national economy forward."
English made the comments while opening the 2016 National Fieldays.
English singled out the horticulture industry and the sheep and beef industry as doing well.
He says the economy has pretty strong prospects because "it turns out we have a well balanced export sector".
"Of course there are risks out there; on any given day we can worry about whether the Chinese credit bubble will burst or whether Britain will leave the EU.
"Both of these things look a bit more likely this week than they did last week."
