U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue met with Alabama farmers May 3 to hear their ideas for the farm bill Congress is drafting. Perdue held the mid-morning meeting at the request of Alabama’s U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, who chairs the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.

About 20 farmers attended a round-table discussion with Perdue at Sam Spruell’s Marion County farm near Guin.

“I’m here to listen,” said Perdue, who leads the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “I want to know what the federal government can do to help your productivity and your profitability.”

Alabama Farmers Federation North Area Vice President Rex Vaughn of Huntsville inquired about rumors that USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) would be streamlined or combined. Perdue confirmed that plan, but said combining the software and technology of the agencies will take time.

“In civil service, sometimes you hear, ‘That’s not my job,’ but when it comes to FSA and NRCS, farmers are always our job,” Perdue said.

He noted farmers may visit one agency then the other to file farm program requirements.

“I want our farmers to be able to say USDA is the most efficient, most effective and most customer-focused agency in federal government,” he said. 

Other discussions included farm bill cotton provisions, trade impacts on agriculture, milk price programs and crop insurance.

Perdue toured Spruell’s farm, where he saw a new furrow irrigation system. The system includes a holding pond, fed in part from a nearby stream. A gravity-fed system supplies pond water to nearby row crops. Unused water is pumped back to the holding pond.

“This is a very innovative thing,” Perdue said. “You may see something like this in the Mississippi Delta, but you don’t usually see this in Alabama and Georgia. It shows how innovative and creative agriculturists are across the country.”

Spruell said it was an honor to host Perdue, Aderholt and others.

“We count on Rep. Aderholt and other elected officials to make our views known in Washington, especially when policy is being made,” Spruell said. “Visiting with farmers face-to-face and seeing what’s happening on our farms helps reinforce that message.”

Aderholt and Perdue met about 100 farmers and local leaders for lunch in Hamilton. They later joined Gov. Kay Ivey in Winfield for the announcement of a $3 million USDA broadband grant for Tombigbee Communications, part of Tombigbee Electric Cooperative. The $10 million project will bring high-speed internet to Winston, Fayette, Lamar and Marion counties. n