USDA secretary Sonny Perdue held to his promise Aug. 4 as he met with 130 farm and agribusiness leaders, lawmakers and ag press at an invitation-only meeting held on the Paap family farm near Garden City.

BANNER WELCOME: A large banner welcoming the ag secretary to Minnesota was displayed in the Paap family farm shop.

“Not all wisdom is concentrated in Washington, D.C.,” Perdue said. “Our goal is to get out in the countryside and listen to farmers who put their livelihoods on the line every year.”

Perdue arrived in Minnesota that afternoon as part of his “Back to Our Roots” RV tour, a five-state trek designed to gather input on the 2018 Farm Bill. Perdue’s entourage met with farmers, students, lawmakers, USDA employees and other stakeholders. They started in Wisconsin and then traveled to Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, before concluding in Indiana. While in the North Star State Aug. 4, Perdue was scheduled to watch a Minnesota Twins game that night with USDA employees.

“It was an honor to host Secretary Perdue on our farm,” Paap said later. “He has made it very clear that he wants to hear from farmers and ranchers who have a boots-on-the-ground perspective, and the Back to Our Roots tour provided an opportunity for Minnesota to be a part of that conversation.”

Paap noted that the ag secretary, whose appointment by President Donald Trump was confirmed by the

Senate in April, heard from different generations of farmers and agricultural businesses while at his farm.

“It was also important for us to hear from the secretary on the role he is playing in the president’s administration to ensure that farmers and ranchers have a seat at the table,” he added.

GOOD EXCHANGE: Around 130 invited farmers, agribusiness people, lawmakers and ag press attended USDA’s “Back to Our Roots” listening sessions with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue.

An open exchange
At the meeting, Paap served as the moderator, offering open comments and then calling for questions from the audience. He made a concerted effort to allow various segments of Minnesota’s agricultural businesses and rural communities to voice kudos, concerns and observations.

Here are some of the topics discussed in the 47-minute meeting.

• Drainage and water quality are top priorities in Minnesota, Paap said. Farmers need a Clean Waters Act-Waters of the U.S. rule that conforms to the limits approved by Congress, not rules defined in 2015 by the EPA that it expanded its federal jurisdiction. “Let’s protect what we have,” Paap said. Perdue agreed and said he’d pass on comments to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

• Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish asked that as farm bill discussions go on, that the needs of rural communities are addressed. He voiced concern about possible program cuts. Perdue acknowledged that the balance of needs versus program funding is complex. He said he prefers to see farmers farm for the market and not programs. At the same time, he said he sees value in providing a safety net for producers. He added that he wants USDA to be the “most efficient, most effective, most customer-friendly agency.”

OFFICIAL GREETERS: Minnesota FFA student leaders were on hand to welcome USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to Minnesota.

• Comments from pork and poultry representatives prompted Perdue to voice support for food safety and funding for programs such as the vaccine bank, land-grant research and the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Regarding research and outreach, Perdue commented: “I told the president, if manufacturing had an Extension service, it wouldn’t have experienced demise.”

• On questions about trade, Perdue said he didn’t think the Office of Management and Budget understood trade and market development, but Congress does.

“We need to go out and develop markets,” he said. He noted that Minnesota corn and soybeans are fed to Mexican hogs, which are then processed into finer cuts for export.

The U.S. has “been a patsy in the past,” he said, regarding free trade. “We need free trade, yet fair trade,” he said. He asked that farm groups help USDA with monitoring trade practices to ensure rules are followed.

• Acknowledging that the 2014 Farm Bill didn’t help dairy and cotton farmers as some thought it would, Perdue said he wants input from dairy leaders, such as AMPI Chairman Steve Schlangen, who raised concerns about how the farm bill dairy safety net ended up as a tax for dairy farmers.

“I would love to have your ideas about MPP [the Margin Protection Program],” Perdue said. He said it is challenging to develop fair safety net programs when farm businesses range in size from 10,000-cow dairies to smaller family farms that have been around for several generations.

• Perdue said he is “a big fan of checkoffs,” adding “I think the beef checkoff helped us get beef in China.”

• Perdue reported that the president is on top of maintenance concerns about the country’s aging infrastructure, particularly the locks and dams system on the Mississippi River.

In concluding the meeting, Paap noted that at Farmfest, which was held Aug. 1-3 prior to the ag secretary’s visit, he had heard farmers and legislators voice concerns about whether or not Perdue has the president’s ear in order to help him understand agriculture.

“We need to know you’ll go to bat for us,” Paap said.

Perdue responded by circling back to trade deficits and saying the president understands ag’s contributions.

“Ag is always the tip of the spear in retaliation,” Perdue noted. However, he added, “We’re going to do everything possible not to hurt the farmers. If there are issues, we’ll be in their faces on how it affects American agriculture.”