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ClimatEnerGeopolitics
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Meet Your New Secretary Of Agriculture, America Sonny Perdue was raised on a farm in the deep south, rose to power in Georgia politics, and is no stranger to powerful agribusinesses. By Gracy OlmsteadWho Exactly Is Sonny Perdue? Perdue, 70, grew up on a farm in Bonaire, Georgia. Following college, he served in the Air Force, then became a veterinarian and small business owner. He sold fertilizer and seed to farmers, and bought their production for resale, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. At the time, he was a Democrat—and was elected to the Georgia Senate in 1990 as such. Perdue became a state senator in 1991, where he served for 10 years. He became a Republican in 1998, and was elected governor in 2003. He was Georgia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction, notes NBC. “Perdue’s upset win in the 2002 race for governor triggered a GOP wave in Georgia, a onetime stronghold for Democrats,” notes the AJC. “Today, both chambers of the Georgia Legislature and all the state’s constitutional officers are Republicans.” Perdue’s Political and Business Background Following his final term as governor in 2011, Perdue founded “Perdue Partners,” an Atlanta company “that deals in global trade and focuses on the exporting of U.S. goods,” says NBC. His background in farming and business were both instrumental in procuring him the USDA position. Perdue is also, notes the AJC, “the managing member of AGrowstar, which purchases and stores corn, wheat and soybeans from farmers, then markets and sells the crops to processors, said Danny Brown, the company’s president. The company has about 3 million bushels of storage capacity at 11 sites in Georgia and South Carolina, Brown said.” As Perdue told reporters in November, following an interview with President Trump, “He asked me what my skills sets were, and I told him what they were, aside from having been governor, as a business person and primarily in agricultural commodities, trading domestically and internationally.” Perdue Has Many Ties to Agribusiness As the above business experience makes clear, Perdue has many ties to agribusiness and commodity farming. As the AJC notes, “The 70-year-old Perdue, a veterinarian by training, has deep ties to agribusiness. That helped him win over Trump, but it could also pose potential conflicts as he seeks confirmation to lead the sprawling $140 billion U.S. Department of Agriculture.” As ABC reported following Perdue’s appointment, “Perdue [has] assured nervous farm-state senators that he will advocate for rural America, even as Trump has proposed deep cuts to some farm programs.” https://thefederalist.com/2017/04/26/meet-new-secretary-agriculture-america/ Meet Your New Secretary Of Agriculture, America Sonny Perdue was raised on a farm in the deep south, rose to power in Georgia politics, and is no stranger to powerful agribusinesses. By Gracy Olmstead But Kari Hamerschlag, deputy director of food and technology at Friends of the Earth, told McClatchy DC, “We are concerned that Perdue will use his position at the USDA to prioritize the profits of big agribusiness and trade over the interests of American farmers, workers and consumers.” On the face of it, some may not see a conflict of interest between “agribusiness” and “American farmers.” But the most powerful agricultural lobbyists in Washington DC are often swift to secure government supports that benefit their bottom line and subsidize business risk—rather than actually providing a safety net for the average American farmer. Take, for instance, the harvest price option (HPO) crop insurance policy, otherwise known as the “Cadillac coverage option of federal crop insurance.” It’s a premium crop insurance policy that gives farmers a payout of “either the standard locked-in price at planting time or the market price at harvest, whichever is higher.” As the Knoxville News Sentinel adds, “In 2012, when corn and soybean prices jumped 32 and 23 percent from planting to harvest, the harvest price option boosted payouts to farmers of both crops by a total of $6 billion.” A bipartisan coalition in Congress tried to fight the HPO option back in 2015, with the Harvest Price Subsidy Prohibition Act. President Obama then proposed to cut funding for it in 2016. But at his hearing, Perdue “pledged to help senators sustain popular crop insurance programs and fix problems with government dairy programs.” It’s unlikely this particular department secretary will focus his efforts on fighting crony capitalism at the USDA. Continues |
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