North Dakota delegation praises Perdue as ag secretary

“He said, ‘I love my farmers.’ He said, ‘Farming is tough”.

President Reagan met with a large group of farmers in the early days of his administration because of the President Carter-era embargo on wheat exports to the Soviet Union, Starling said.

“For months, rural America has not had a voice in this administration and frankly it shows”, she said Monday. Starling said “many farmers, were you to interview them, would say many of their problems came from other agencies”. “Perdue has pledged to be an advocate for open and global markets which is very important right now to our farm income, income projected to be about half of what it was just four years ago”. And that’s just a hint of the diplomacy Perdue will need as the administration rewrites old deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and forges new ones with individual countries.

“Today is a great day for American agriculture. Although there is much to be done, we are optimistic that he is up to the task”, the NFU said.

The panel discussion that will go with the executive order is expected to include conversations on immigration reform that may be counter to some of the president’s initiatives in that area.

“I plan to be onsite as USDA’s chief salesman around the world to sell these products, to negotiate these deals side by side with USTR [the US trade representative], side by side with [Commerce] Secretary [Wilbur] Ross and our whole team there”, he told lawmakers at the time. “The Senate would love to see Lighthizer in place before they tackle NAFTA in earnest”, he said. “But we’re very excited about having an actual farmer to be head of the agriculture department, and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in that job”.

“It is important to ramp up quickly”, Nelson said.

U.S. Senator Al Franken was also pleased.

The legislative effort should build on the consensus to improve labor access and also check the boxes on enhancing national security and ensuring program integrity.

He will then participate in a farmer roundtable and attend an executive order signing with Trump. Separately, U.S. ranchers also lost pastures and animals in March to wildfires, while chicken farmers have ratcheted up defense amid new cases of avian influenza.

“As Secretary of Agriculture, my cousin has a big job”. Debbie Stabenow of MI, said the department has been without leadership “long enough”, and endorsed Perdue as someone who can “cross regional divides and partisan pressures”. “‘If I’m profitable this year, I will be able to farm next year'”.