News

Farm groups concerned with Perdue vote delay

The nation’s leading farmer organizations are concerned with the delay to confirm Ag Secretary nominee Sonny Perdue.

Zack Clark, Government Affairs Director for the National Farmers Union says dedicated leadership will be necessary to enact changes to two risk management programs before the next Farm Bill.

“We want a solution before the farm bill for dairy and cotton. Those crops, just based on price alone are having some real problems. The ability to guide some new assistance through the USDA process, through the OMB process, it needs USDA leadership so we’re pretty nervous that this is pretty late,” says Clark.

Dale Moore, Director of Public Policy for the American Farm Bureau says as Farm Bill discussions begin, USDA can still provide technical information to aid in those discussions, however…

“When it comes to the policy making, what is going to be the direction that the Trump Administration focuses on some of the farm bill issues. We’re getting pretty close to the point where folks are going to start asking the question what do we know about where the Trump Administration’s going to be?” says Moore.

A spokesperson for the Senate Ag Committee told Brownfield Monday afternoon a business meeting on Perdue will be scheduled sometime later this week. It is uncertain at this time if a committee vote on Perdue will take place during that meeting.

Audio: Zack Clark, Government Affairs, National Farmers Union

Audio: Dale Moore, Director Public Policy, American Farm Bureau Federation