Even work in agriculture offers personal moments

I was recently tasked with covering USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue as he made several stops in Michigan.

I thought it was strange that one of his stops was going to be a software startup company that assists farmers with their data gathering and grain marketing just a few blocks from the University of Michigan football stadium. I mean, why wouldn’t he stop in the heart of agricultural research and our land grant university, Michigan State?

(Side note – I find it ironic that I’ve been to the University of Michigan more in the last five months than I’ve been in my entire life, and both had to do with agricultural events. What?)

As Bobby and I stood in the back of the room, I leaned over and quietly asked the representative from the governor’s office if the press was going to have a chance to ask questions. She assured me there would be a press gaggle at the end of the roundtable discussion with Secretary Perdue and Gov. Rick Snyder.

As ag leaders from around the state discussed their concerns about the industry, I listened and realized just how vast our ag industry is. From milling to grain marketing to sugar beets to milk production, to organics to farm lending to precision ag to ethanol production – all of those interests were there wanting to tug on the Secretary’s coattails.

When the meeting was finished, they announced he had to leave and we would only have time for a handshake. So, when I pulled the dairy representative aside and said I wanted to get his picture with the Secretary, he agreed.

I snapped the photo and as I was looking at my camera to see if I had a good one, I heard a familiar southern drawl say, “I was born and raised in Griffin, Georgia,” and the conversation of two home boys talking about their Georgia roots took off.

I spun around and tried to get in position to capture the moment, and heard Perdue ask, “How’d you find your way up here?” And my husband replied, “I found a Yankee wife,” and laughter broke out.

Although I regret that I was too busy taking photos to get a handshake in, I was elated for my husband to reminisce with someone who talks his language.

It was a fun event for me to be able to listen and sort of interact with a USDA secretary and a governor all in the same small place. Secretary Perdue left an impression on me as an unassuming gentleman who isn’t worried about impressing anyone, as you could see by his khaki slacks, plaid shirt and black Georgia Power vest.

As one of my colleagues, Tom Cassidy, so aptly said, “What a personable guy; he could tell you to go jump in a lake and you’d thank him for the well-wishes.”

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.