Sonny Perdue
After many stops across the country, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue presented findings of the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to President Trump at the 2018 American Farm Bureau Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
The task force was formed by an executive order from President Trump in April 2017 with Secretary Perdue serving as chairman. According to the order, the task force was created to, “promote economic development and revitalization, job growth, infrastructure, innovation, and quality of life issues for rural America.”
Perdue traveled across the United States to hold the task force meetings, discuss the needs of rural America and gather recommendations on how to better serve these areas. According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Perdue chaired each meeting and identified over 100 recommendations. The recommendations centered around e-connectivity, quality of life, rural workforce, technology and economic development.
Following the USDA’s news release, American Seed Trade Association President and CEO Andy LaVigne released a statement in favor of the report given to President Trump. He said in the statement, “We’re especially encouraged by the Task Force’s focus on technological innovation. The seed industry is built on a long history of innovation; and continued innovation is paramount to the future of agriculture, and our quality of life.”
LaVigne went on to express his appreciation for the task force for emphasizing the importance of international markets. “The seed industry is a global business, and we’re glad to see the Task Force emphasize the importance of opening markets overseas and eliminating non-tariff trade barriers,” he said in the statement.
Although the task force is finished traveling, Perdue said there is still work to do. “While the task force worked tirelessly to identify solutions to the problems plaguing our rural communities, there is more work ahead. No doubt, rural America has struggled under burdensome regulations with no voice in Washington, but under President Trump’s leadership, and with the work of this task force, we can turn that around and restore rural prosperity once and for all,” he said in the USDA release.
The task force included a stop in the Southeast, in Tifton, Georgia. You can read about it here.
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