As expected, President Trump’s nominee for secretary of agriculture former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue shared several strong statements showing that he’s the “right man for the job” during his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Perdue has widespread support from both sides of the aisle, and hundreds of groups have written in support of his nomination. That support was clearly evident during his nearly two-and-a-half hour confirmation hearing.

Here’s some of the highlights from there hearing.

Trade has a story to tell, and Perdue plans to share it. U.S. producers have the ability to produce efficiently, but Perdue already knows from his conversations with farmers that they’re most concerned about trade. He recognizes that farmers are really struggling to be profitable.

“I think trade is the answer,” he said of farmers’ woes in the lower price cycle. Perdue said he plans to be “chief salesman” of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and will negotiate trade deals side by side with USTR Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and their whole team. He expects USDA will be closely involved in the boots-on-the-ground negotiations with agriculture ministers and foreign dignitaries.

Perdue looks to do more with less. Former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack often bragged and complained about USDA’s ability to do more with less as the agency’s budget saw year-over-year decreases in its budget. Trump’s proposed 21% budget cut was a sucker punch to many, but as mentioned during the Senate Agriculture Committee, “the President proposes and Congress disposes.”

Perdue said he wasn’t directly involved with the proposed budget but all but flat out said he didn’t agree with the draconian cuts and entrusted Congress to make the right decisions in appropriating funds. He also will advocate for funds where warranted.

But fiscal responsibility and smarter government is at the core of what he’s done. He said, as governor, he “grew” Georgia’s budget from $20 billion to $16 billion, noting that even though the state spent less money, he worked with his dedicated civil workforce to increase efficiency and effectiveness. He hopes to engage USDA’s workforce and aspire the staff to do the same but also promised to be a “strong and tenacious advocate” for money to remain in areas that need it.

Smarter regulations are needed, and Perdue plans to make that happen. Implementing smarter regulations was a promise Trump made to rural America, and Perdue said he plans to put into action. “We’ve seen the harm it causes when one agency has cross-purposes from another. I look forward to developing mutual respectful relationships with other department heads to eliminate unintended consequences,” he said.  

Perdue also expressed a commitment to a strong Renewable Fuel Standard, welcomed by Midwest senators who continually have expressed concern over some of the President’s Cabinet members’ previous stances on biofuels.

Another top priority for agriculture -- and, accordingly, to Perdue -- is labor issues, which have created a great deal of anxiety recently. Perdue, who grew up on a dairy farm, said he has heard loud and clear how the current H2A program does not work for agriculture, especially dairy producers.

He said there are some ways to make improvements to the H2A programs. If confirmed, he said addressing agriculture’s labor woes and trade would be the two issues he would begin to work on “post-haste."

Farming is in his blood, and agriculture is his passion. Perdue shared he’s been in agribusiness since 1977 when he left his initial profession as a practicing veterinary and built a grain elevator with his brother-in-law. He is the founder and operator of three agribusiness and transportation firms serving farmers across the Southeastern United States.

“Farming and farmers have been my life ever since. I have lived and breathed the exhilaration of a great crop and the despair and devastation of a drought,” he shares. “I learned by experience what my father had told me as a child, ‘If you take care of the land, the land will take care of you.’”

Trump promised rural America that whoever he nominated to serve as secretary of agriculture would have production agriculture know-how. Perdue has this and the government experience to go with it. Now it’s time to get to work.

The Senate Agriculture Committee will need to formally confirm Perdue, which Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said he expects to happen soon. However, a full vote on the Senate floor may be several weeks out as the Senate prepares for a spring recess beginning Friday, April 7.