Sonny Perdue

As recently as last Tuesday, September 1st, Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue said USDA was finishing up writing the rules for the second round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. During a recent trip to Iowa, the secretary said the rules have been written and they’ll be announced this week. ...

It’s not often that all six of the Northwest Senators are on the same page. But as proven over and over, 2020 is not your typical year. Washington’s Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Idaho’s Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, and Oregon’s Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined bipartisan group of lawmakers calling on Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to provide financial assistance to wheat growers impacted by the coro

The deadline is approaching for farmers and ranchers to apply for USDA's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue recently told the National Association of State Directors of Agriculture the first $16 billion was used for direct payments to help farmers struggling during the pandemic ...

On Monday, the USDA extended free meals for kids through December 31st. The announcement, according to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, allows summer meal program operators to continue serving free meals to all children into the fall months ...

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue hinted this week at the possibility of more CFAP aid for farmers on the horizon. Perdue confirmed that the USDA is considering “shortly after Labor Day” offering a second wave of CFAP relief. Funding for the next round of payments would come from the additional $14 billion Congress allocated in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to replenish the Commod

On Wednesday, Representative Dan Newhouse joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers sending a letter to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue expressing concerns with changes announced to the Organic Certification Cost Share Program. The issue, the announcement earlier this month that for Fiscal Year 2020 OCCSP funding would be reduced ...

The USDA is out with its final rule on payment limits and its definition of farmers who are “actively engaged”, under the 2018 Farm Bill. Senate Finance Chair and Agriculture Committee member Chuck Grassley has pursued farm payment limits for years, getting language in House and Senate farm bills twice, only to see it ditched in conference negotiations both for the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills. “Th .

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts is calling on Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to provide flexibilities for school meals and child nutrition. Leading lawmakers in a letter to Perdue, the Kansas Republican said, "As the school year begins, the challenges brought on by the COVID emergency persist ...

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue is concerned. He's concerned about Europe's new Farm to Fork strategy which calls for more locally grown agriculture. "If I were a European farmer, based on the farm-to-fork strategies I would be literally concerned because if you make me anti-competitive my only hope is protectionism ...

The USDA announced this week it is moving forward with a third round of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. "We're on our third traunch beginning here the first of August there. We've done two; one was in May and June, the other was June and July and now we'll do one through really probably October ...