An hour with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue

usda is the most effective and the most efficient and the most customer focused the problem the federal government today on tv are present us secretary of agriculture sonny perdue has a vision for the usda and lessons learned on the farm i'm j mcintyre sonny perdue gave the one hundred seventy nine foot landon lecture at kansas state university on november first two thousand eighteen he's introduced by taste a president richard b myers who reflects on the long relationship between the us department of agriculture and kansas state university good morning and welcome as we continue our fifty third year of the landon lecture series today we are very pleased to welcome us secretary of agriculture sonny perdue dilemma podium as the one hundred and seventy ninth landon lecture to share his thoughts and opinions on important topics impacting the border region of the world a celebrity you grew up on a dairy and the first farm in rural georgia his life was shaped growing up on his family's

farm he learned by springs when his father told him as a child if you take care of the land and the land will take care of you as a young man he served in the us air force rising to the rank of captain he would alter his doctorate of the green medicine degree from the university of georgia and worked in private practice of butter private practice in north carolina he pursued a political career next and served as a georgia state senator for eleven years and was elected to two terms as governor of georgia from two thousand three to two thousand eleven he then followed his public service with a successful career in agribusiness focusing on commodities and transportation and enterprises that has spanned the southeastern united states from childhood through life and business of elected office sen perdue as inspiration agriculture from every possible perspective which open for infrastructure all is the thirty first and i stayed secretary of agriculture as a leader in global food systems

can just a universally welcomes opportunity to bring the nation's top agricultural official the campus soderberg is visit the kansas state continues division of hosting at least one us secretary of agriculture from each president's cabinet cynthia nixon administration it's a market continued that tradition today the research education and conservation in countless a measure these usda kansas state have served all people every day in manhattan the usda has five research divisions and over a hundred employees many of whom are our faculty are having a boy in the store faculty i would rehearse not to mention the kansas department of agriculture the nation's first department of agriculture which was founded and eighteen sixty two and calls manhattan home with a hundred and twenty five employees the usda like at a mistake going to continue to serve our world an alliance of started over a hundred and fifty years ago it could be done and it couldn't

be more perfect for some paper to join us here today to share his perspective on the changes in our country and around the world in today's landon lecture quote leave it better than you found it lessens of public service i learned on the farm please help me welcome a rousing welcome for us secretary of agriculture sector is sonny perdue thank you so much and president miers o'shea warriors here to be here at kansas state to this literal lecture series is known for a number of years now and i am a truly a i'm thrilled to be here once again on campus to see all the things you're going to visit we're students and that drew protests sites and the landon lecture series and i wanna thank you for assuming this role as leadership was great university but also your great leadership is the fifteenth chairman joint

chiefs of staff thank you for your service and keeping us safe for me i say so america and he didn't confess you'd know i'm melissa asked to protest by this lecture series i don't know that i consider and i asked when the chairman of the senate ag committee invites you to display the line that lecture series general myers you know it's not just not necessarily an invitation it's a command performance so up i regret that the senator roberts is not a living with us here today but he's doing his job across leo way and working with our customers and japan others are continuing to help to make agriculture although they can be around the world so i appreciate very much his serve is imitation and his participation his contribution to our nation through service there and certainly and ayers chairman of the senate

ag committee so on i also had a wonderful visit glasgow spring with sandra moore i am here as we turn africa and bath and again with the commission roger marshall who mentor for riley only a memorial day celebration which are very moving and no visa j se llama sale you're proud of as well in our flank on the collier and his family for providing transportation here this morning and other fellowship and a relationship that we can have as a seasonal works to make kansas everything they can they would talk about a lot of exciting new potential opportunities here in kansas and we look for to working with him as well as well as lieutenant governor maryland mr frahm dr jack in the class kid who's a role a warrior for agriculture they're well known certain within usda as and across the country there are so many distinguished leaders and yesterday the landon lecture series its of its really is an honor now we're

going to say that's on the bearded they were displayed and this and that and to have though at the opportune speak to this service group will and beginning with really the one for whom this so series was named your late governor all landed in nineteen sixty six it's been a great history and a great great series of lectures sir out that period i know that they're malign his daughter cynthia kassel will typically just a common and rather she's now they will be with a survey to order know that she's an outpost there thanks and for work this patient in the course of our country as well so thank you senator for your contribution to kansas and the united states and it's like the patrons also this of the series here lisa exist or continue happening things like this just don't the spill happen own ongoing basis unless somebody really cares and the patrons of this is like a fully invest in the future you're making in continuing this series

so actually believe you're giving or your students and faculty and community leaders an opportunity to hear from speakers through whoa hold diverse the perspectives on many issues and really that's a when you think about what the role of a university assembly that still roll you can't really gained a full and well rounded education of exposure they're for points of view in different ideas about appreciate the land series of being able to continue that as well the open exchange of ideas is going for the bedrock of rust western civilization for many years now and i think it's a built in the very foundation of america and i don't want to say that polio think universes need to embrace that and to encourage and facilitate so are our founding fathers created this could cost issue with checks and balances and they knew that open a mechanic change your ideas and different views and there was a really the way to make the public will

always there the best way to have a truly other government built on that individual freedom and concern of that great experiment started in the us seventeen seventy six as we see around the world the spots and dictators of tries to snuff that out in many places and the silence and the voices is not march in lockstep with our own we see the sad examples around the world and that was going on even today and you know the tireless struggle to strangle owes ideas of ideas because they fear losing power and control and balance in this series is an investment in the solid higher educational experience it will hopefully enable your students to understand it's ok to think differently in outside the box about many years as i've truly believe it's an investment in our county i say it's of america as that exceptional nation which i believe we are so one of

the reasons i think that kansas state university is still is a great university i think it helps to make america stronger exceptional measure because of its investment in agriculture general myers talk about abraham lincoln's understanding of the benefit of the american economy and agricultural economist contribution of that so kansas state has had a rich rich history and perpetuating they're really being the first lame brained university created after the avalanche red activating sixty two while other universes at art existed and were true about a land grab at kansas state was the first one founded as a direct result of that so tay statin usda have had a long and fruitful partnership serving both the agriculture committee here in kansas and around the world research projects include many important things that contribute our safety

and our health and our future productivity as well take things like stem rust disease and wheat and developing training and that research into eagle eye issues like estes say well helping to understand more about those dreaded pathogen diseases that way collaborating an international legion own secrets in court the consortium and then isolated gene that gives rice the resistance of that rice blast film tips which currently results and crop losses that could pass with a dampening sixty million people these are telling you may not hear about on a daily basis but their own going in the labs and then and they're delivering applied research and extension service throughout the state that go viral across our country across the world that contributes to our productivity and our economy our health safety and our food security so you're involved with other research universities as well in a multi state effort serve it were

to deal with one of the scourges our current culture that's an opioid abuse in rural areas as well as pioneering in the four nutrient management scheme the right source at the right tam the right rate right place to protect inmates assaulted reduce our new chairman all phosphorus nitrogen and improving our war calling these are all things that kansas state is doing i applaud you for that is you also work that bring out the best in our youth in our youth programs true for each program we know i was heartened to say when the raging wildfires destroyed property and kill thousands of beef cattle here last year in southwest kansas it was four h clubs who stepped into care for those younger survivors and their children raised those orphan care says what for eighteen for each service is all about so journalists always have tried to

mention a few allies in the west all the way he's a kansas state parties of usda to serve agricultural community in america or talking about today as well more cool retro more partial cause i think it has a direct correlation with the way i view public policy my role in that both as a former governor and as the amount of secretary of agriculture and dealing with like fishes and they're dealing with how we determine oh where we go next and public policy so i did title is the president miers mention the title of a message is to leave it better than you found lessons in public service i learned on the farm in the form of a great place to learn life lessons i certainly understand and recognize that so if you'll allow me the partial privilege just to share a few lessons that shape the way i look at public service and public policy and i think that first lesson really goes to the heart of responsibility and stewardship and that's in

four for all of us because we're part of the family and national family a global family here looking out for one another and we share a sense of accountability to one another marius memories of working on the farm a relief center about the daily chores we were diverse front row crop farm as well as a dairy farm and i remember probably around the age of six is what i can recall first feeding those young players and surely there for a bucket or a bottle in helping to grow them to maturity there were replacement heifers are the things that we did know that was a thing and they end up i'd love to tell you that well i did that out of my sense of responsibility and frankly a girl no one reason is because my dad he told me and i got a choice but that when i was eight i get their promotion right on the ward in a wagon my father loved fruit crops drug crops

vegetables and they love watermelons and cantaloupes and and when i was about twelve by ten or twelve assorted that really drive a tractor plowing planning a most fun of things with what i learned about the wall a lot of agriculture thinks that matter soul on fire for the rest of my life to understand how be silly in order you have to do things in agriculture to survive and that's the really the way it is with live and at stores built and made sense of responsibility though scares had to be fed every day reiner share marco and they were counting only if i did not know about part than they were the ones that suffer so well as i set out all things necessarily a deeper level critical thinking that was my motivation but my father had other ways to motivate maine luca already begin to think about a different level i recall there a very valuable lesson that my father taught me probably when i was in that metal a teenaged age when you typically begin to think you're smarter than your parents i think

most of us are going through that stage and some of you may be there now but you learn i was in the teens and they make decisions about the farmer father political reform supply company in order lab for one thing you'll swear we were reading we own land they are but we also rented land around from neighbors and landowners around us in he won in a horde of the land for feels that we were renting and the ad a look at the expense and also knew that we were on and the idea that really save us and help our operation well i went to massive that we will only have these lands ramon annual basis and you told me to put law more not feel that we read it we made it and how that next year and while we land they feel that we own local some of them made it just as badly of taken the soul samples and i know that we need some lamb and some respond to those of a farmer we own here and

what won't you let us do that and that i'll never forget how he looked at me so intently on what he told me during that period time isn't sunny but this album is indeed understand this right now whirl stewart's anisa really this life all the same way and whether we own it or whether we ran it really the bottom we found that's an image and up something was drilled in the main as a young teenager who thought he knew better about a life lesson suddenly my brilliant idea to selfishly help us no damn it was almost comical teaching moment for our father and being the godfather they was took advantage of it we're saying now the young talented chores because i was told to i knew the main responsibility that did what you're supposed to do and when you're supposed to do it in the way you were supposed to do

mama kept him a teenager but i knew better the father sees that teaching moment us only understood responsibility at a deeper level i understood i thought i knew the main responsibility earlier but then i understood the meaning of something greater bigger than myself and that was stewardship the simple lesson of leave it better than you found it serge your responsibility was one lesson i learned on the farm our second lesson comes from that state remain on this day is trust and faith in our declaration of independence closes with a powerful sundance and you may recall it serves and for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of the land providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives our fortunes and our sacred honor the phrase in the middle the final silence and they stand trial for words

it quote with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence or founders knew that there were something greater out there than ourselves when a farmer plants a cd takes a lot of trust and faith and i surely where the rubber meets the road or something's a farm a community and a crop and that only god can make it rain and michael cropp grow our nation's lowest founded most americans including men like george washington thomas jefferson were farmers those words in the declaration of independence about relying on divine providence were not just political rhetoric the founding fathers lived out those words every planting season they could sit in the ground and had faith that it would grow it was not just a blind feeling of hope this works it was trust leighton a former lives our creator a firm reliance is often tested on the farm as we know when things do not progress like we hope they would and many times i don't you learn the lesson

of persistence i was about eight years old we had a terrible drought in georgia matt follow like all the farmers in the area had people getting up every day and doing what he could kansas knows the devastation of drought it's insidious and it's devastating and it's demoralizing but farmers are resilient they must bounced back when hard times hit them us persists and persistence proves the authenticity of trust faith in that firm reliance you probably heard the saving amount and saying the mountain moving fight persistent performers as having that now moving fight even when the mounds don't move last year you know we'll here to kansas the cattle farmers were devastating wildfires the fires raged across the prairie land wiping out cattle quayle while life in a spare it happened almost in a blink of the eye you can almost visualize how to happen that quickly and i could move that fast in the month of

july nineteen ninety four another person experience housed at mass on the law of the land and having put myself through college grown sweet corn awarded him the taste that experience and he had had his first crop of sweet corn in the ground and it would just look beautiful it was just a perfect growing season and everything was ready to be harvested july nineteen ninety four tropical storm alberto stalled over middle georgia where we lived and dump twenty four inches of rain in forty eight hours on our farm while he he tried with the bags to get out and harvest set proper sweet corn that was gonna pay for his college education buying up to his knees he soon realized it was going to be fruitless to do that and had a lead that corn crop of sweet corn crop turns hard and the feel and turn in a cafe so southwest georgia

was flooded homes were destroyed families were uprooted the flooding made it impossible to harvest the corn and do other things during that period of the time we begin in the fields of corn or dried up and my son experienced that moment what all farmers know can happen to them just three weeks ago as you recall her cane michael roared into the gulf coast of florida left a wake of death and destruction almost incomprehensible cotton and pecan brittle be bumper crops here this year farmers were looking for the coming out ahead and really getting back even in america our show cotton crops were roaring pecan trees laden with pecans were uprooted like pulling a danny lyon out of a thing on the ground in pine trees ready for that twenty five year harvest having been on the ground there were snapped like toothpicks and all happened suddenly

meteorologist also was coming but there was nothing you could do except to hunker down and pick up the pieces cotton farmers are told me with tears as they had a bumper crop that harvests some other crop that was yielding three bales of cotton to the acre and six hours later after her again they couldn't kill bill where they had harvested where they could not that's what farmers and you're that's what they persist their wildfires inherent kansas the western mountain states hurricanes and floods in texas louisiana southeast tornadoes in prairie fires in the midwest drought are all facts a life that farmers face year in year out but farmers are resilient and persistent when i was governor of georgia and letters hammond two thousand seven we experienced another extreme and severe drought idea remember looking as a road across my homeland soybean fields curled up withering away with lee's running in curling mayor michael own

georgians after we done everything we could with conservation efforts of water use and understand we were getting very low mr reza wars land on that was a water source we're almost five million people and we did everything we could but we couldn't make it rain so i call on georgians to join me in prayer in fact i can name right there on the capitol steps i'm old fashioned prayer meeting asking god to send the rain you may have heard about it is that there are many in the media that you're laughing about the governor of georgia and i'll tell you didn't laugh farmers do unless god unless he dismayed at writing my raising was not really based on my faith it was practical an ordinaire office for years and just returned from washington where we met and over policies about drama water crisis you're my time as governor and after intensive meeting in washington was a power there was no bureaucracy in atlanta or in washington they say you can

actually make it rain i just always my responsibility escalated to the person who could we also like we had our backs against the wall from town the time like the gathering storm clouds and could not get any darker things are bleak when things looked bleak yes and then reflect what winston churchill said young people in a speech to his alma mater barrow school was october nineteen forty one in england was engaged in the war in europe but germany united states had not yet entered the war and in the preceding months in england itself very much alone in the struggle and you recall at the pleading of the united states to the united states help but churchill was the like the tide was turning just is optimism in this way than the spirit he told the students quote you cannot tell from appearance is how things will go sometime imaginations make things go out for worse or they are yet without imagination not much can

be done and he continued and concluded to the students as owl say the same thing you did a never again an never give him never never never and nothing greater small larger petty never given except to convictions of honor and good sense that my friends is the bedrock of persistence persistence is hanging on and never giving in which sure what is the ridge tops older thing is that persistence as the next lesson i learned grown up woman for you gotta be an optimist to be a farmer i've talked about events around our nation that have demanded resilient persistent attitude persistence is rude inflate and covered with a pop soul of optimism when a farmer plants to see the farmer has faith that it will grow but there's also an expectation that will grow that's optimism you've heard

illustration by the glass half full or glass half empty i learned to be an optimist the road through life is not always a smooth ride sometimes you might find yourself in a ditch or persistence is pushing the car out of the ditch optimism is believing that the road ahead will be smoother as i was growing up even during the hard times always felt that my parents believe that i'll have a better and brighter future than my head and that rubbed off me and that's my aspiration from our fourteen grandchildren and that's why we do what we do these are some of the lessons that i learned growing up on the farm i repeat responsibility and stewardship trust and faith persistence and optimism those four lessons i learned while growing a farmer what influenced me in public life and service today in public policy as a public official i serve the beauty people as secretary of agriculture

serve the people but faithfully diminishing the policies of our congress and administration our president the usda we initiate a new motto soon and found again there because i thought it was needed and what our mission was ana says to do right and feed everyone with a world population is expected to hit nine million billion people by twenty fifty seat everyone part it's pretty much an imperative we don't have a choice and is that the right argot work on everyday personally and professionally and how we do that i will ensure do you wall responsibility with my accountability you must you're just for this job and this responsibility that usda is the most effective and the most efficient and the most customer focused department and the federal government i literally will usda be most affected the barman in the united states government so one interaction usda alton get accurate information in a timely manner or research programs in collaboration

with kansas state or other lane graves across the country to be the best anywhere else to be there the next generation of farmers and ranchers producers and consumers so when they stepped out with that all optimism a willingness to persist in making a go of it how one our veterans programs are new farmers programs are women agriculture programs of all assault or the progress for beginning and to reformers as well of information they need in their hands and the research and the help that we can provide available to them our research programs to be on the cutting edge that's what your doing here you probably know them making some changes to loosen researchers at a washington dc the closer people upset that they serve your folks in kansas have been encouraging the man doctor mccluskey has been a helpful in telling your experience in kansas there one of agricultural heroes was known

and you having speak here in march of circa nineteen seventy now almost forty years ago he made this observation a slender let landon lecture series and a quote many agricultural officers when they receive universe degrees want to stay in the office or an experiment station they try and avoid going out in the field say the problems faced by the farmer he went on to conclude many ever say to specialize or training and suffer from scientific coalition they get great research is a usda year kansas state and i believe the research will even more effective if the team has closer to the constituents and the farmers are by sir i want our information system to be affected look at organizations like many of you probably protest play with like amazon you go on a clip it to a couple of buttons and two days later or what your visit your doorstep soon your credit card works and that's affected that's effectiveness policy in

effect about rates for high school and college graduates to consider agriculture as a real opportunity to rear purdue university station of the published a study a few years ago about the great employment opportunities in food agriculture renewal natural resources and the environment policy us affectively recruiting the best and the brightest for careers in agriculture policy in effect a forest management program for the us forest service which falls under usda with a fire fighting fakes in the two thousand eighteen omnibus bill we finally got a toll of managing things ahead attack rather than trying to catch up when our focusing on managing our forest run constantly reacting to fire while on fire emergencies alysia federal prosperity that affects all of us i believe we will see a huge and transformative leap and broadband availability and broadband high speed connectivity they just a few of the most effective programs in us government hour was to be the most affected also has to be the most efficient

when ronald reagan was governor of california he came as your third a singer speaker of the landon lecture series he told about establishing a blue ribbon panel to look at state government operations when i was governor of georgia we had much the same colony other group of private sector people to look at private sector principles injected that could be injected into the state cooperation with coal new georgia commission one thing we learned is a good government is not it's not a sexy then get the headlines about voter smell the officials ineffectiveness from before even so good government when you move the lines to get driver's license reducing six hours under thirty minutes people notice and sometimes a stammer when i think about a lot farmers on their comrades being gathered by signals from satellites but they have to come to usda to fill out a paper form to protest late in our programs that's not affect evidence are not official i'm glad you all like

so our task our team the us david barr deputy secretary steve's inskeep with a leading transformation or information systems and technology alone usda to be the amazon of federal government along that line we have a quad transformation underway we have multiple agencies and the usda with many missions all these agencies have unique missions but they are still part of a large family of usda worst day billy working toward the goal that everyone understanding that where one usda that's not to detract from the mission of each agency within a usda but it does unite us as a family working together to deliver that most affective the most effect of fish and customer service work for our services are customers american public finally as i indicated that was the usda as the most customer focused agency in the federal government in the us government you know if you was to be as efficient as amazon the

nlrb is as customer focus is one law greeks are restaurants to collect a few months ago we had a customer experience some of the usda are not invited that leader from jack foley who had known there is a georgia company as well as other companies they're known for their best customer service you know it's unfortunate that government as a whole has developed such a customer and friendly reputation i don't expect that to be the case a usda the lessons i learned on the farm that's what drives me there today usda so i go back to that listener feels a leader boehner found while reason that that this job is really because of the future of my aspirations for fourteen grandchildren a beloved part of helping their future be better and brighter an open your future be better and brighter aussies for each fifa kids hear when kurds are about their

future to tell an anomaly leaders today but nasa more of in the future but they could be leaders today have a certain sense of urgency about leaving about and are found on a close another lesson from my childhood the reflection on that sense of urgency you know we had the farm help their owner of a farm when i was growing up the works out the sides are our closest neighbors are live live next oil that would play with each other and we were best friends lowe's boys was a young african american named palace he was just a couple years older now we were best buddies we did everything together but when alice was about ten years ago he passed away i was too young to understand or to know what happened but i did it was my first response personally with death and how that affected me isn't a hero or how long i cried over losing the best way in hollis i remember it was devastating to me personally

polk's life comes to us one moment none of us has promised the more or even the next minute for that matter i've been blessed to learn some great lessons growing up on the farm stewardship and fight persistence and optimism and your secretary of agriculture once again i want the usda to be the most efficient most effective the most customer focused apartment in the federal government actually will leave it but i found it and i always want us to do right and the everyone publish you've got less kansas state university and god bless america but they're funny for to us secretary of agriculture the eleventh secretary of the usda to give away and the mikes are on public issues at kansas state university perdue has served as the secretary of the usda since april twenty fifth two thousand seventeen prior to that he served as governor of georgia from two thousand three to two thousand eleven he's been an air force captain

a veterinarian and a success in the world of agribusiness but contrary to what many think he is no relation to the purdue chicken empire i'm kate mcintyre secretary purdue will take questions from the audience right after this you are listening to kbr presents on kansas public radio we're ninety one five lawrence and ninety one three junction city were unaware that kansas public radio dot org where you can find most previous episodes of kbr present archives for you to listen to any time so if you missed my conversation last week with filmmaker kevin willmott whose film the blood klansman has just been nominated for six academy awards you can hear it there you can also find a complete schedule for k pr and katie are two with news and talk from npr and the bbc support for k pr prisons on kansas

public radio comes from the whole center for the humanities lecture series presenting political optimism in the age of trump a discussion with author walter mosley thursday night seven thirty pm in the kansas union ballroom the public is welcome today and kbr present it sonny perdue the us secretary of agriculture speaking at kansas state university on november first two thousand eighteen his topic leave it better than you found it lessens in public service i learned on the farm for the next twenty minutes or so secretary critic takes questions from the audience at k states mccain auditorium good morning secretary lew one is how our minds honestly here it is stay in our social economic spiral through various farmers' pain and he's a lecturer says manager and future leaders in our culture in the room today

what you see is a larger struggle for future leaders in our culture as we try and how to overcome the struggle again i think many of the qualities of talk about laura miller farmer takes so it takes persistence thinks optimism and take say a culture of candid i think that's what leslie and farmers have seen in there for a long time never never never give up the churchill said and that's what farmers have to do it on one basis it takes to understand that our guns our customer base is changing a while we can while we have to rely on the lessons of the past week to look to the future of understand the good different culture demands are consumers today won't know not only their food is healthy and safe and an affordable and freshest i will know everything that went into it out with the social media today there are a lot of love this misinformation we don't learn in agriculture the great communicators we ought to be proud of our stewardship we ought to be proud of the way we produce the safest most healthy most

affordable food supply in the world and we ought to be a community we need to communicate that through various means today so i think the challenge is communicating well we've been operating transparently no longer can we stand by the farm gate and say you know i just go and you read it we got to get out here and the marketers of what we do and will be proud of how we do it that's why it's important to be socially minded in new chair runoff in other types of things animal welfare issues and other things to do things honorably and in there in a good way so i think those of the challenges is agriculture as consumption changes we go do things in a different way in that regard being more open more transparent all right one senior mechanical engineering at my question was obviously kansas and many other cities economists are focused around agriculture and in your position worse

in fact on a profile on the white house website asked a city at american government to remove every obstacle in give farmers ranchers and producers every opportunity to prosper i recently was a lecture series and adam rants about some concerns that yet regarding the current administration's trade war and from trade international trade agreements and how they may affect chances and farmers nationwide nato's joint back to his current policies and i'm just curious to hear what extent and when will american producers and farmers see the results of these policies and that is a knockout what are you doing to further also to help the americans for sure that big question obviously there's lot of concern and anxieties or is they expect over trade

disruption policy for reverberate growers and they need help marketing that's one rolls of usda to his credit i think cinema ran up both were concerned about the market disruption of terrorist that i think sets of them we spoke we sing some of vindication a validation of the president's strategy regarding a renewal and a better and you'll the nafta agreement that many people selected been great for a number of years and agriculture it had been it's even better now than you the usmc agreement on all we were new the korean agreement and walked in that market and we're now moving to the european union and to japan other big customers there that we analyze it with rural china remains a question mark of the united states in aggregate i say its agriculture is willing to deal with german trade with china anytime china recognizes its protocols and processes and procedures of a legally take a training intellectual property even crises here in kansas if you're a member of corn

season and owl those gunman and china needs to play by the rules farmers are honest people we want people to be compliant play by the rule also with china decides that it was a play by international rules of fairness and free trade we want to trade with the minute i think president trump's policies are getting that message across and make the chinese economy is understanding that it needs is huge consumer base here when you look at a three hundred and fifty billion dollar trade deficit the president's very concerned that that's transferring web wealthier and building up a second power that wants to dominate the world economy it's a long day and i think what we see with these policies the president trumps negotiating strategy people understand we were no longer just be the patsies of an actual trade that will be the dominant force going forward and that's what he has a minus for the future of young people in agriculture i think we have another question

the morning's <unk> while some cases they force for a while they use a much for jim hubbard as you under secretary for the us forest service also thank you very much for the state forestry division us forest service and you mentioned the wildfire several times through the relationship of the usda and the department of defense we now for an eighty six volunteer rolf artistic prostate cancers that our first responders to the wild fires that women experience also i think our servers and in that regard it's your wages investigations that are alive away came as state forester from another for services on the land grant system so thank you for me hands of the worker will fight you i think your

remarks are a good indication we can do it alone and while we've been to i'd be self sufficient ideas for service for a number of years you know are good neighbor authority now relies on our state partners far while far knows no boundaries words public private or of forest service land or blm or anything it just races across and so congratulations on the number of first responders they're our goal is to be good neighbors and more than just name only but to really work his neighbors were helping neighbors just like farmers and ranchers do already and the fire service so i appreciate the relationship that's one reason we chose jim hubbard and you mentioned there are new chief as well vicki christiansen was also way they stayed for a server her career most of her career and so we will have relationships is just like oh good research yet have collaboration and working together and that protocol for how we

respond and i appreciate that appreciate comments about appreciate a relationship where engaging in with our state park i suppose i think they're going but i tell them it's you just heard sonny perdue the us secretary of agriculture produced ok kansas state university on november first two thousand eighteen as part of the landon lecture series on public issues his topic leave it better than you found it lessens in public service i learned on the farm or do with a successful farmer agribusiness man that mariane and the governor of georgia for two terms before being named secretary of agriculture in april two thousand seventeen purdue was the eleventh us secretary of agriculture to give a landon lecture at a state thanks to robert nelson and they taste a division of communications and marketing for audio of this event i'm kenny macintyre you're listening to k pr presents on

kansas public radio or have more kbr present coming up right after this as gabe the icy chill of winter with the exotic sounds of the tiki torches in concert from or twenty thirty it must always in lawrence jp years retro cocktail hour presents another classic exotic along with polynesian appetizers until he dresses like an island vacation and you don't even have to leave town join us with the tiki torches in concert saturday february twenty thirteen eight pm to get information and retro cocktail fork we are recognized as a business model of kansas public radio is your business professional practice organization needs to get its messages are at considerable business marketing partnership with kbr more information sent sponsorship not kansas public radio don't often the butt

butt butt butt butt butt butt but the point of the point i'm j mcintyre you're listening to uk pierre presents on kansas public radio if you missed last week's k pr present my conversation with lawrence filmmaker kevin well like who's just been nominated for an academy award for his work on the black klansmen it's now archived at our website in fact most k pr prisons are available for you to listen to any time day or night so if you missed the programme want to hear it again or share it with a friend checked out the k pr prisons page on our website kansas public radio dot org you can also listen to k pr present on the k pr app however us and whenever us and

locally produced programs like a pr presents are only possible because of listeners support them if you're not already a member you can take care is that on our website as well just go to kansas public radio dot org and click on support and thanks usda and federal employees have returned to work after the government shut down including those who work at the farm service agency offices across the country harvest public media's as her homemade visited one and found that farmers are eager to sign up for a crucial safety net programs and federal workers are sifting through a big backlog of paperwork in greeley colorado fsa employee shelley woods shows off three large stacks of folders that require immediate attention teaser family's breadwinner and anything to paychecks turned her into a nervous wreck it was great coming back it's just trying to get caught out a few farmers used up by including ron firmware rolling in the market facilitation programs which pays

producers were affected by the ongoing trade war well the government shutdown these guys are and here's so i am now in the extension to try to report my production so we were waiting to report are there shoals which is what i'm in here for today we were inherent to service you know knowing that deadline were was in place and they couldn't even tell you munich of male surf band that no one was kidnapped on anything the us department of agriculture extended the deadline to apply for payouts and tell valentine's day asked her hoenig harvest public media the federal government shutdown started on december twenty second and lasted until january twenty fifth according to his farm service agency staff the month of january is typically a slow vermont for the agency it's in the spring when they see more activity as farmers for crops in the ground congress and president donald trump need to strike a deal before february fifteen at which point the stopgap

funding bill expires if they're unsuccessful federal workers could be furloughed and farmers would again be without their assistance the us department of agriculture's food inspections continue during the partial government shut down despite the workers not getting paid harvest public media's amy mayer reports that one long term consequences could be fewer people looking to take on such federal jobs usda is responsible for food safety inspections at slaughterhouses and other plants that process red meat poultry and eggs in response to a shortage of inspectors in recent years the agency has worked hard to recruit new workers but jerry bronson a nebraska inspector and local union president says working without pay was hard on employees and may also discourage potential recruits you were from a look at a garden that he ate right now you know what harry were about our evolving you of a development work in your own knowledge

around there aren't we going to retire bronson says morale plunge during the shutdown and federal jobs once seen as stable and reliable may have lost their appeal amy mayer of harvest public media harvest public media is a public media collaboration focused on issues of food fuel and field it's based at kcur in kansas city kansas public radio is a member station and contributor to harvest public media earlier this hour we heard from sonny perdue secretary of the us department of agriculture perdue gave the one hundred seventy nine foot landon lecture on public issues at kansas state university the eleventh secretary of the usda to do so in his land the mikes are perdue talked about the importance of economic development in rural areas including the need for better internet access a new study from the us census bureau says there were all communities have significantly less access to high speed internet that disparity is even greater in rural areas with high rates of

poverty this creates a major problem for economic development efforts will finish up this hour of k pr presents with harvest public media's jonathan ahl who reports that the solutions will have to come from several different directions one that's gm's thomas is walking through a giant swiss need and sausage in the small unincorporated village of swiss in central missouri workers are putting bacon or special or the swiss need and sausages celebrating its fiftieth year in business and thomas says it's been very successful but they need to grow and that means more business online from far flung customs and i think that's the one area where we've won one is that yes that's what we're hoping to have faith in the future is whether

online ordering the that's where the problem comes in swiss has minimal internet access it's not high speed and it's unreliable thomas says it's her biggest barrier and we can get the orders that live on nasa's thomas says they invested in a satellite internet back but it's expensive and not reliable it's a common problem for businesses that are in rural areas or looking to locate there the lack of broadband service and no single unified effort to resolve the problem makes economic development much more difficult for regions that need to attract jobs the struggles go well beyond traditional rural economic sectors like agriculture brewer sciences a microchip manufacturer based in rolla missouri they look to build a plant in the nearby small town of vichy five years ago rob changes the company's network administrator he says the lack of good internet access was a major issue it did force us to redesign how some of our manufacturing systems worked to tolerate internet outages will sort out a backup

collection from a wireless i s p which is just bare minimum we need to continue production chances of that work for the local company owner being committed to locating in a rural area the business decisions would have made them look elsewhere to my writer says the struggles those companies face are played out countless times in rural communities across the plains and midwest he's the director of broadband development for the missouri department of economic development arbeiter says businesses looking to expand or located in a rural area start with a simple question do i have the basic infrastructure needed out the hole in my respect basic infrastructure now includes broadband now includes it didn't match the utility of today are binder says the answer often is what businesses want here and they look to places with better internet access while rural broadband issues are known and increasingly well documented the solutions are not as

clear marshall stewart leads the university of missouri extension and has adopted rural broadband as a pet project he says there's a historical example the rural electrification project during the new deal when eddie had audit it began to allow people to come much better job and to move product from the farm to the city and i think what's happening in into base for argues if another poem iteration of that robin today for real education was nearly a hundred years ago but stewart says the big difference is that we're left with vacation was a federally funded program the idea that there's going to be a sweeping federal effort to arm to just fun for the country that's probably not gonna happen our wholesale instead he says the solutions will be a combination of improved technology will make it easier and cheaper to get broadband to rural areas as well as targeted state and federal grant programs the usda announced in december it's offering six hundred million dollars in grants and low interest loans to help expand

broadband in rural areas but businesses will rely upon internet service providers roll co ops and local governments to apply for and get that federal money jonathan all harvest public media you can find this story and others about issues affecting rural kansas at the harvest public media website harvest public media dot org you've been listening to k pr presents on kansas public radio i'm j mcintyre kbr presents is a production of kansas public radio at the university of kansas