The White House has yet to send the formal nomination documents to the Senate but President Donald Trump’s nominee for agriculture secretary, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, is meeting senators this week. The courtesy calls are a combination of get-acquainted sessions and a chance for the nominee to quell any doubts a senator might have. There is no confirmation hearing scheduled yet, says a Senate Agriculture Committee spokeswoman.
Farm groups have greeted Perdue’s nomination, announced on the day before Trump took office, like a reunion with an old friend. “I’ve worked with him in the past and that was a good experience and we’re looking forward to working with each other,” said president Zippy Duvall of the American Farm Bureau Federation. In an essay in The Guardian, Ricardo Salvador and Norra Gilbert of the Union of Concerned Scientists grant that Perdue has experience in agriculture but say he has “close ties to big industry and a track record that bodes poorly for the interests of the broader constituency of the USDA: The American people.”
“Not all farmers have the same bottom line, so whose will Perdue prioritize?” ask Salvador and Gilbert. “Perdue’s track record suggests he will prioritize policies and programs that aim to intensify production and exports of commodity crops like corn, soy, wheat, cotton, peanuts and rice for global markets.”