Iowa Rural Power was on hand in Nevada, Iowa to welcome the newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and listen to one of his first major policy speeches following his confirmation by the United States Senate on April 24. Perdue said he was in Iowa “to learn” and vowed to the hundreds of people in the audience that if “you grow it, we’ll sell it.”
Representative Steve King, Senator Charles Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst were on hand to introduce Perdue. Ernst said that she believes that he “understands what great stewards we are” and that “trade will be very important.” Grassley said that Perdue is “the perfect person to be Secretary of Agriculture.”
Secretary Perdue assured the crowd that “renewables and ethanol are here to stay.” He also touched on trade, animal safety, vaccines, and staffing at USDA. He vowed that they have an “oath to the American people” to make sure we have “safe and wholesome food.” He said there is work to be done at USDA to improve communications and tell the story of the American farmer, saying “we need to be great producers and great communicators.” He wrapped up his philosophy by saying he will institute a new motto at USDA which is “do right and feed everyone.”
Chuck Soderberg, Executive Vice President of the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives was on hand with other Iowa Rural Power Advocates to listen to the speech and meet the new Secretary. “We look forward to working with Secretary Purdue on issues that are important to rural Iowa.”
The event was held in Nevada, Iowa at the Bill Couser Farm.
