Secretary Perdue Applauds USDA’s 2019 Accomplishments

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today applauded the accomplishments made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the past year. USDA has continued enacting President Trump’s goals of regulatory reform, streamlining government, and refocusing USDA to be customer oriented.

 

“At USDA it is our honor to work on behalf of America’s farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers. This was a tough year with historic weather damage and unjustified trade retaliation. Our goal was to ‘Do Right and Feed Everyone’ by implementing much needed farm bill programs, enacting President Trump’s Support Package for Farmers, and continuing to feed and clothe this nation and the world,” said Secretary Perdue. “As we look to 2020, we want to build upon trade accomplishments like the Phase 1 Deal with China, USMCA, and Japan, and open up new markets to help sell the bounty of American agriculture, all while removing the burden of government regulations from the backs of hardworking Americans.”

 

 

In May, Secretary Perdue stepped foot in Utah making it his 50th state visited since becoming Secretary. Since being sworn in, he has traveled nearly 160,000 miles, held over 220 town hall discussions and roundtables, and visited nearly 100 farms across the country listening to America’s farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers. Throughout his travels, Secretary Perdue has met with a number of folks who have had specific problems when it comes to working with the federal government. The Secretary has taken those concerns back to Washington, D.C. and has worked to deliver concrete solutions to the problems facing farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers. Watch this video to hear from some of the people Secretary Perdue has delivered for since visiting them and check out this Medium website to learn more about Secretary Perdue’s journey to all 50 states.

 

 

 

While continuing the push towards final passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is widely supported by the U.S. agricultural community, the United States also inked a trade agreement with Japan that will enable more than 90 percent of U.S. food and agricultural exports to enter that country either duty free or with preferential tariff access. USDA’s day-to-day efforts to break down barriers and seek export opportunities resulted in new or expanded market access for numerous U.S. farm products in 2019. Examples include securing full access for beef to Argentina and Japan, improving access for beef to the European Union and wheat to Brazil, preserving access for shell eggs to Mexico, opening the Tunisian market to beef, poultry, and eggs, opening poultry access to China, and opening the Indian and Vietnamese markets to U.S. blueberries. In 2019, USDA traveled on six trade missions promoting U.S. products around the globe. The trade missions included more than 170 U.S. companies, consisted of nearly 3,200 one-on-one meetings, and generated more that $78 million in protected 12-month sales.

 

Additionally, USDA staff around the globe assisted U.S. exporters in releasing hundreds of shipments that were detained at ports of entry in overseas markets. USDA’s many interventions ensured that more than $95 million of perishable products arrived safely at their final destinations. Among them were shipments of turkey to Chile, soybeans to Pakistan, citrus to Peru, almonds to Spain, beef to Germany, and even zoo animals (giraffes) to Taiwan.

 

 

USDA took several actions to assist farmers in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation and trade disruption. President Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a relief strategy to support American agricultural producers while the Administration continues to work on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets to help American farmers compete globally in the long run. Specifically, the President authorized USDA to provide up to $16 billion in programs, which is in line with the estimated impacts of unjustified retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods and other trade disruptions. These programs are assisting agricultural producers while President Trump works to address longstanding market access barriers.