U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was in Manhattan Wednesday for a full day of tours and discussion panels. He began the day at River Creek Farms east of Manhattan with Kansas Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, then co-hosted an open Q&A panel at K-State’s Stanley Stout Center with Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer. Finally, Perdue delivered the keynote speech for the Kansas FFA Convention on the K-State campus that evening.
One person at the panel with Colyer praised the work Perdue was doing, as well as President Donald Trump and Colyer.
“I’m not from Kansas — I vote in Georgia — but if I was voting here, I know who I’d vote for,” Perdue told the full crowd, nodding towards Colyer, who is up for election in November.
One of the chief concerns brought up by the audience at the Stanley Stout Center was the status of the 2018 Farm Bill, which was rejected by Congress earlier this month. It failed in the House 198-213. Every Democrat voted against the measure, as did 30 Republicans.
“Farmers, ranchers, producers depend on the farm bill for certainty and predictability,” Perdue said. “It’s like trying to make plans of what you’re going to do next year and you have no idea what your income budget or anything is going to be like.”
Sen. Roberts said during his visit to River Creek Farms in Pottawatomie County earlier in the day that changes to work requirements to receive food stamp benefits are the root of the disconnect in Washington over the bill.
“The current farm bill, as I understand it in the House, could not get 60 votes in the Senate and I think everybody knows that,” Roberts said. “That’s because of the effort to put allegedly welfare reform in the farm bill.”
Even so, Roberts does not think the work requirements will be scrapped from the bill altogether.
“There will be a work requirement and able-bodied people will be required to work — that isn’t the issue,” he said. “The issue is how far you go with it and how you describe it.”
Colyer also spoke on the importance of the bill in light of current crop and trade conditions.
“We’re looking at a crop that’s going to be much lower and also with some lower prices,” said Colyer. “We have some hopeful areas and it’s going to be spotty in some areas, but it’s going to be a tough year.”
Roberts said crop insurance is the “number one” issue they hear about from growers in regards to the farm bill. Despite the setback, Perdue said he is confident lawmakers will come to an agreement on the bill before the September 30 deadline that keeps vital programs in place.
“Crop insurance is a mainstay,” Perdue said. “We hope and believe that that will be maintained and recognized as a good risk management tool that’s worked well for the 2014 Farm Bill.”
Perdue also spoke about USDA development programs and the importance improving internet connection for rural communities.
“We can’t expect really young people to stay on the farms [when]they go visit their cousins in Kansas City and Topeka and they get this 25 to 50 megs up and down and [then]expect them to come home and be disconnected from the commercial interstate highway of the 21st century,” said Perdue. “It’s time to get broadband all across this country and connect us in the 21st century.”
He said they have already received $600 million to start pilot programs in underserved areas.
Trade deals and disruptions were also on the minds of attendees, many of whom are already experiencing fluctuations in crop prices.
“The president told me, ‘When you’re out there, you tell the farmers I’m not going to let them bear the brunt of these trade disruptions,'” said Perdue. “We’re not going to expect them to be the only soldiers in this battle.”
He told the crowd President Trump came into office unaware of the agricultural community’s views on deals like the North American Free Trade Act — often known as NAFTA — thinking “everybody didn’t like NAFTA.” Perdue said he has made some headway on demonstrating the value of NAFTA to the president and is confident they’ll be able to reach a good new deal.
“We were able to sit down with him and show him the benefit that NAFTA had been to agriculture, particularly the middle section here with the Kansas southern railroad going down and the benefit of exports that way,” he said. “I’m more optimistic about getting NAFTA done, particularly with Mexico.”
Perdue also said he and the administration is working to bridge the gap with China to prevent any harm from reaching producers. He said they have sent a team headed by Under Secretary for Trade Ted McKinney to China to negotiate an increase in agriculture exports from the U.S.
“I don’t want to oversell it before it gets done, but we’re hopeful that we could see potentially another 8 to 10 to 12 billion dollars of ag[riculture]exports – much of which would come from the heartland and Kansas farmers,” Perdue said.
He also touched on the farm labor shortage, saying the USDA is working on streamlining the H-2A program for hiring temporary immigrant farm workers.
“Our farmer population is aging and we’ve got a real dearth of farm workers and farm labor,” Perdue said. “But even on the farms here in Kansas you need a reliable, legal workforce.”
U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) was also in Manhattan Wednesday. Marshall, who represents the Kansas’ “Big First” District in Washington, was touring Ultra Electronics — a local company that specializes in the aviation industry.
Marshall told KMAN he was confident the farm bill will be passed by the end of June.
“We’ll get the job done,” he said. “We had a little hiccup, but we’ll get the job done.”
