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House questions Perdue on rural issues during hearing
 
By RACHEL LANE
D.C. Correspondent
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue spoke for the first time last week at a U.S. House Agriculture Committee hearing on rural infrastructure and agriculture, to answer questions about his plans for the USDA.
 
It was his fourth week as head of the USDA. In that time, he has visited Kansas, Iowa and Ohio, talked to government leadership and moved forward to fill an undersecretary position to focus on trade.

“Our farm economy is down about 50 percent in net income from where it was in 2013, as you all were looking and contemplating the 2014 farm bill,” Perdue said.

He discussed crop insurance, broadband access, trade, immigration and labor reform, and answered legislators’ questions about USDA programs and restructuring plans.

“What I’ve learned about the USDA is how vast, how broad, how helpful it can be in rural America overall,” Perdue said.

“It’s not just producers. If farms aren’t doing well in rural communities, the communities aren’t doing well.”

He said he was glad to see President Donald Trump sign an executive order to establish an interagency task force focused on agriculture and rural America.

Perdue will be its chair during the 180-day review of policies and regulations. Ag commodities are not selling for what producers need to support their farms.

Large production yields over the last few years is the only thing keeping some farmers from bankruptcy.

In fiscal year 2016, the USDA provided 243,000 loans totaling about $35 billion to farmers and ranchers, with record loan levels. Perdue said the existing safety net saved many farmers and the next farm bill needs to maintain those levels of protections, while improving support for dairy and cotton farmers. Those protections need to be put in place in a way that makes sense to Americans.

Perdue discussed research and technology on farms as the key reason farmers will be able to feed 9 billion people by 2050. American farmers are leading the way with the resources and innovation.

“We’re fortunate that we live in a country where we can produce more than we can consume,” he said.

Perdue spent time being questioned about animal vaccinations, as well. Outbreaks of avian influenza in Tennessee and other states were quickly contained earlier this year, but the 2014-15 high-pathogen outbreak devastated the poultry industry in the Midwest. Between the recent scares and the constant fear of a single case of foot-and-mouth disease, Perdue acknowledged that vaccination banks – ready to respond to outbreaks as soon as they happen – could play a vital role in stopping the spread of disease.

The United States is known for food safety, and an outbreak could cause some countries to wait years before opening trade again. A case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2003 caused China to block U.S. imports of beef until recent talks focused on reopening that pipeline.

Broadband in rural America is an infrastructure need, Perdue said, as important as water and sewer systems. With the average age of a farmer at 60, young farmers are needed and they expect high speed internet access, but the real reason it is needed is to meet the technological needs of modern farms. He promised it would be something he worked to support across the country.

Trump has proposed a budget to cut funding in food assistance programs across the board. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is one of the largest and many people have proposed changes to it. 
 
Perdue said it is a vital program and while changes are easy to propose, it would be difficult to implement without adversely affecting a segment of the population not intended to be impacted –such as veterans, many of whom rely on 
SNAP and similar programs.

Minor changes in the program and best practices from different state programs can benefit everyone, but Perdue does not support major changes to the SNAP program. 
5/24/2017