Trump Reportedly Taps Perdue as Ag Secretary

Randall Weiseman Alabama, Aquaculture, Beef, Cattle, Citrus, Corn, Cotton, Dairy, Equine, Field Crops, Florida, Forestry, Fruits, General, Georgia, Livestock, Organic, Peanuts, Pork, Poultry, Seeds, Sheep-Goats, Soybeans, Specialty Crops, Sugar, Vegetables, Wheat

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Perdue

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly picked former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue to be Agriculture Secretary under the incoming administration. While the USDA landing team has yet to confirm the nominee, multiple media outlets attributed a senior transition official as saying Trump will nominate Perdue to the post.

The American Farm Bureau strongly endorsed the nomination of Perdue following the news. AFBF President Zippy Duvall, also from Georgia, says Perdue would “provide the strong voice that agriculture needs.” Perdue was part of Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during the presidential campaign. As Governor of Georgia, the now 70-year-old Republican’s key agricultural issues included water management and making changes to the tax code that were beneficial to farmers.

Perdue is a veterinarian-turned-politician who was Georgia’s first Republican governor in more than a century when he was first elected. If transition team officials confirm the nomination Thursday, Perdue will be poised to take the last remaining seat in Trump’s cabinet, and the long search for the next Agriculture Secretary would end just a day before Trump takes office. The search has included a handful of false reports of when and who Trump would pick. Perdue’s cousin, David Perdue, is a Republican U.S. Senator from Georgia. He said on Twitter Wednesday night he “could not be more proud of his cousin” as being named USDA Secretary.

(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)