“The losses are just devastating”

USDA Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse made his final stop on his three state farm tour at Kelsay Farms in Whiteland, Ind. Thursday.

Scuse says this trip has been eye-opening.  “As a farmer when you tour crops and you see the types of conditions that the farmers here in Indiana are experiencing; it’s heartbreaking,” he says.  “The losses are just devastating.” 

He tells Brownfield a trip like this gives him an opportunity to visit with the Nation’s farmers and ranchers and take what he learns back to the Washington, DC. 

“Hopefully we can get some ideas about things that we can do differently and make some changes in programs,” Scuse says.  “That’s one of the reasons why we do these – not just to see first-hand what our producers are experiencing – but also to get ideas from them on how we can make things better for them going forward.”

Scuse spent time in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana this week.

USDA visits drought stricken fields

USDA Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, Michael Scuse will be in the Eastern Corn Belt this week touring drought affected fields.  One of his stops is at Brian Scott’s farm located in White County, Ind. 

Scott tells Brownfield “we just keep missing rains”.  “Beans are starting to show stress where they hadn’t before and corn is showing a lot of stress,” he says.  “We pulled some ears this morning – some of them look pretty decent and some of them look pretty bad and occasionally you can find a plant that doesn’t have one at all.”

He notes they’ll start the Indiana leg in Fort Wayne on Wednesday…  And Scott says the fields they’re scheduled to see are the worst of what he has.  “It’s really just starting to shrivel up and the bottom couple of leaves are burnt up and starting to fall off in some fields,” he says.  “And of course everyone worries about pollination.”

Scuse will wrap up his Indiana visits in Johnson County on Thursday.

Scuse on the importance of trade

Discussions about the budget situation in Washington, D.C. bring up a lot of concern for the agriculture industry.  That is one of the reasons Acting Under Secretary for the Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services says his department continues to emphasize the importance of trade to Congress.  Scuse says it just doesn’t get much better and the return on investment (ROI) agriculture provides.  He cites a couple of specific examples – for every $1 the US invests in trade they receive a $35 return on investment.  Another shocking statistic, every $1 billion in trade supports over 8,400 jobs.

AUDIO: Michael Scuse, Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services (6:33mp3)