Perdue on Ag Communications Pt 2

Perdue on Ag Communications Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. Breaking down the communications barrier and setting the record straight on all the good farmers and ranchers do rather than the negative portrayed in the media.

That was just one of the messages from Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue last week in Richland where he addressed the concerns of Washington farmers.

He says it's a cycle we've got to get out of ...

PERDUE ... "I mean as farmers, I was one of them, we used to take pride in the fact that our responsibility stopped at the farm gate. We were price takers. We just grew it and took whatever they did. Now, we've got to communicate because the other side is communicating every day of how we're trying to harm them and damage them. And you take successful family farms are labeled factory farms or corporate farms in America. We should not punish people who are successful in any industry, including agriculture."

Perdue says simply put, it comes down to an old proverb ...

PERDUE ... "It goes like this; 'When man has not enough to eat he has one problem. When he has enough to eat, he has many problems' and we've created many problems in America today because the American farmer and rancher has produced such a healthy, nutritious, safe, affordable food supply for so many years, we take it for granted. And that's the problem."

Making the Northwest circuit, Perdue stopped at a Farm Bureau gathering in Richland with U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse to talk about trade and the tariffs, farm labor, and regulations. He was the first USDA chief to visit Eastern Washington since the 1970s.

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