Perdue Looks Back On First 18 Months At USDA

Sonny Perdue is looking back at his first 18 months as Ag Secretary.  During the past year and a half, he’s made trips to 47 of the 50 states, including Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Perdue said things are going well as the USDA.

“We are, I think, making progress.  We’d love to have a Farm Bill, and I think we’ll get a Farm Bill before the end of the year.  But, we would have loved to have one without an extension as it expired on September 30^th.  But, I think things are going well," Perdue said.  "I think the trade issues we’ve seen are coming together nicely with many people calling it a new NAFTA, agreement between Canada and Mexico, a renewed agreement with South Korea and now beginning serious conversations with the European Union and Japan.”

Perdue hopes the success of reaching agreements with other nations will lead to an eventual end to trade war with China.

“We’re building out markets across the world, hopefully then China will recognize that we’re serious about playing fair, and they will discontinue some of the things that they’ve been doing and commerce will allow us to trade with them again.”

The USDA is looking at a possible relocation of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture to a new location outside of Washington, D.C.  Over 130 communities, including the Tri-Cities, have applied to host those agencies in their area, which Perdue said is encouraging.

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