U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will travel to Nevada, Iowa tomorrow to tour Couser Cattle Company, give his first major farm policy speech, and host a farmer’s town hall meeting. Couser Cattle Co. is a diversified operation that annually feeds and finishes over 5,000 head of cattle and farms 5,000 acres, producing both corn seed and soybean seed. Bill …
#SecretarySonny Moves to Make School Meals Great Again
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue started out his second week on the job by going back to school and eating lunch. Perdue visited Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Virginia to announce that USDA will provide greater flexibility in nutrition requirements for school meal programs in order to make food choices both healthful and appealing to students, beginning the process of …
Secretary of Ag Answers Questions on NAFTA & More
Yesterday newly confirmed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue spent his third day on the job visiting the USDA office in Kansas City, Missouri. He also addressed members of the press, answering questions on topics from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to wildfires. “I was a grain trader, and President Trump is a trader,” Perdue said when asked about …
U.S. Secretary of Ag Traveling to Kansas City
Newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue is making his first official trip already. The secretary is heading to Kansas City today to first visit the USDA Beacon Facility and hold a press conference to discuss his vision for USDA and the first 100 days of the Trump Administration. Tomorrow, Perdue will address an audience of Midwest farmer leaders …
Ag Groups Showcase Sustainability, Technology
The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) hosted a field day for officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs. Participants got to observe seed treatments, planting practices, equipment innovations and product demonstrations– all using the most cutting-edge technology available. …
Welcome @SecretarySonny
Sonny Perdue was sworn in as the 31st U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tuesday and officially introduced his new Twitter handle – @SecretarySonny. Welcome to Twitter Secretary Perdue. After he took the oath of office, Perdue’s first order of business was to address employees at the USDA. “The only legacy that I seek is the only one that any grandparent or …
Trump Puts Agriculture in the Spotlight
President Trump welcomed new Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on his first day in office for a White House “Farmers Roundtable” and the signing of an Executive Order establishing an Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity. During the signing, President Trump commented on the current trade dispute with Canada over dairy product pricing. “(w)here the dairy farmers up …
Ag Unites – Now Time for Business
As Monday came to a close, news in ag circles was still streaming in. We now have a leader at the USDA and agricultural organizations have welcomed the news of the confirmation of George Ervin “Sonny” Perdue III as the next Secretary of Agriculture. But this appointment comes with a long list of to-dos. American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy …
It’s a Sonny Day for America
The U.S. Senate has formally confirmed the nomination of George Ervin “Sonny” Perdue III to serve as the 31st Secretary of Agriculture. The final vote was 87 to 11. Agribusinessman, veterinarian, state legislator, and governor of Georgia, Perdue worked on the family farm in central Georgia andn will be only the fourth agriculture secretary who can claim to have been …
USDA Gearing up for 2017 Census
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is gearing up for 2017 Census of Agriculture, which will be mailed to all known farmers and ranchers in the nation at the end of this year. The census is conducted every five years by and is a complete count of all U.S. farms, ranches and those who operate them. “The Census of Agriculture remains …