During April’s closing days, I carefully journeyed into the world’s “nerve gut” — Washington, D.C. — to be reminded of how American politics works, and doesn’t. When I said “carefully,” I’m referring to what’s seemingly half of all the world’s cars, trucks and people packed and moving bumper to bumper and elbow to elbow there.

My tension and blood pressure immediately dropped once I escaped to much quieter farmscapes. Thank God for farmers who resist selling out to suburbia! But that’s a different story for another day. Here’s a quick peek at what I took away from my journalistic safari into the wild lands of Washington:

No farm price relief in sight
American Farm Bureau’s Mary Kay Thatcher and National Farmers Union’s Zach Clark weren’t optimistic about substantial commodity price upticks — barring weather disasters, of course. That means USDA’s latest four-year average prices may hover around $3.30 a bushel for corn, $9-plus for soybeans and $17 per hundredweight for milk.

The dairy situ was the most worrisome according to both ag organization reps. The Canadian trade tiff that’s hammering New York and Wisconsin markets isn’t helping. And the Margin Protection Program, according to congressional budget analysts, is about $1 billion too expensive in light of the current budget- crunching emphasis.

Clark, a New England native, reported that Farm Service Agency loans are skyrocketing, and there are growing signs of lending issues. “Working capital has pretty much vanished, and more farmers are relying on operating loans now.”

Sonny Perdue was also confirmed as U.S. ag secretary during my visit. One Washington insider called it a “slam-dunk.” But I thought slam-dunks were lightning-speed events … not long, dragged-out political affairs.

Before Perdue’s confirmation hearing, we heard from Ray Starling, special assistant to President Donald Trump on agriculture, trade and food assistance. Reflecting the president’s views, Starling said, “Removing regulatory and trade barriers is the best way to move ag forward.” And he added, “This president wants it to happen quickly.”

Meet the Prez
No, I didn’t meet President Trump. But two Northeast farmer/leaders sat with the president and Ag Secretary Perdue during a special Farmers Roundtable. Maureen Torrey of Elba, N.Y., and Luke Brubaker of Mount Joy, Pa., joined 12 other farmer/leaders at the White House event that set the stage for an interagency task force to examine legislative, regulatory or policy changes geared to improve the quality of life in rural America — complete with a 180-day deadline.

Torrey reported the president was “engaged and made it clear that he expects Secretary Perdue to be very active in addressing agriculture’s policy priorities. He understands how important it is for farmers to be viable in the marketplace.”

Trump, according to Torrey, reiterated that productive workers who are here and haven’t caused any problems should have nothing to fear from immigration enforcement. The president also acknowledged that the H-2A guest worker program is broken and needs fixing, and a year-round solution to agriculture’s labor is needed, along with a skilled ag worker program.