Been exhumed for todays luncheon. We are pleased to have secretary of agriculture sonny perdue, we welcome him for the first time to the press club joining our distinguished century long roster of speakers. Remarks, iegin his would like you all to please put your phones on silent. Back in the day we would say turn them off, we want them on silent now so you can live tweet live npc is nbc live. We would also like to take a moment while you are silencing your phones and turning off other potentially a fiscal tory or distracting devices to introduce our head table. We would like you to hold your applause until after the full head table is introduced and then you can erupt in applause. Starting from my left and youre right, mark heller. He is an agricultural reporter. Marion, senior White House Correspondent at and lex white house watch. Tamara holleran, washington correspondent at the atlanta journalconstitution. Rich, the Deputy Communications director for secretary perdue. Stevens anstey, the deputy secretary of agriculture. We have fc Fisher Martin to my executive and culture of the npc have miners, which put together this event. Skipping over our speaker for a moment, we have abby livingston. Washington bureau chief at the texas tribune. Cameron hansen, founder of community out of pr. Talk, hese tim our Communications Director for the department of agriculture. Eggen ferguson Ellen Ferguson thorton,finally mace the director at the American Farm bureau federation. Thank you for being here today. [applause] also like to acknowledge additional headliners who are responsible for organizing todays event, lisa, jamie, heather, lori, and joe. Press club staff, especially lindsay and phil. For our cspan and public radio audiences, please be aware that in the audience today, they are members of the general public. Any reaction you hear is not from the working press or even the unemployed press. Getting to our speaker, sonny perdue, who joins us today. Secretary perdue, who can be found on twitter at secretary sunny has a lifetime involvement with agricultural. Georgia would later elect him his first theres the first republican since the era. Between that, he served in the u. S. Air force, christ to captain, and even a doctorate degree from university of georgia. He ran a private practice. Years in thed 11 Georgia State senate before becoming governor. He has run Small Businesses. It was that background he brought to a nationwide listening to her he recently completed. Would like to see in the next farm bill and how he and the department of agriculture are trying to inspire the next generation of farm and agricultural leaders. Me in what coming to the National PressClub Secretary of agriculture sonny perdue. [applause] much. Nk you very since i have never run for president , this is my first time at the press club. It is good to be here with you all today. Aboutf you have talked welcoming me, i am happy to be here. Example ofhe best your hospitality was this cookie here. The georgia bulldogs, we are hoping they would be in the National Championship as a former bulldog there. Im going to speak from some remarks. They have told my Communications Guy i was going to say this, he asked me not to. Stammering is a since you write things down, im going to read from prepared remarks. Everyone from our janitor to the general counsel, everybody will be good today. I want to start with a , maybe for thes press club it may not be so provocative. Something like no other federal Cabinet Department can claim, because every single day, every single american, every single district is directly and tangibly affected by the work of our department of agriculture. I think the last time i checked, weust enjoyed a great meal in this country, those that come and be with us, as well. To attend the g7 ministerial in italy a few weeks ago. There is an International Discussion about gmos. I made the comment that millions of your citizens come to our country, i dont think they bring their lunch with us, and they come all the help here. That was not necessarily persuasive for the eu people. We know that even people who send their kids to school with lunch are affected by usda policies, as well. Supermarket, affected by usda. I checked, we have to live, we have to eat, and we have to breeze that we have to breathe. Then come those services that capture carbon and make sure the air is clean. The u. S. Forest service affects us, as well. May be thele bipartisan cornerstone of this town. When it comes to personal daily touch, the usda has in the lives of everyone the on this order, i would submit to you the usda matters. Thats why im fascinated with the job, i am honored to be serving as the 31st secretary. We look forward to telling you about what we are trying to do in the department today. Given all that importance, you may feel like i should come with some flashy policy proposal today, but i resolved to my heart before this job that what people want from the government a room offering bring brcas of showcase aendas, but they want to see government that works for them. Governor. Do that as in georgia there was a governor who once ran on the slogan hes a workforce, not a show horse. I didnt use that, but i probably ceded to that description, as well. People want the government to work. Thoseks, and doesnt do things that they say. When i pledged the men and women of the United States what i would do is make usda work for them by turning it into my aspiration of the most efficient, effective, customer focused, the best managed department in the federal government. Thats what i want to talk to you about today. How do we plan to do that . That is a great aspiration. I spoke to one group and gave them that aspiration. I said we want to be the amazon of federal government. They say thats pretty strong. I said yes it is. We either go big or go home. Are you going to aspire to be the Postal Service . We want that kind of delivery. Tools and solutions for people out there today. To me, everything we do starts with the people we serve. How i ask me all the time like being in washington as secretary of agriculture. My answer is always i love the job. Some of you got that. They wont let me tell a word from georgia, if they did, i would love it even more. Bc, in is here in washington, d. C. , our people, our customers, the constituency of the usda are not in washington, d. C. Since taking office we have traveled over 30 states, six countries, the molding u. S. Agriculture. Her tour,tes to one into the northeast were we traveled about 2200 miles and we have at least two more planned for 2018. We do that because i believe people are seriously interested in leaders who will listen. America, and the public out there, certainly our constituents are crying for people to hear them and hear their voice. Let me give you some examples and my experiences from the road. Being out in so many listening sessions and spending time with andles whose livelihoods lives depend on the usda. 150 people got out on a cold monday morning in upstate new york, crowding into a dairy barn to hear my vision for the fpga for the fda. 200 people busted out the seams of the machine shed. 150 people on a sunday afternoon session in the central out Central Valley of california. 800 folks showed up and filled a gymnasium in montana. People filled the front lawn of Farm Bureau President in rural massachusetts on a gloomy thursday afternoon. People filled a rodeo floor in kansas city with virtually no notice. 100 people piled under a tent in a cornfield when our outside of springfield, illinois. 120 college kids interested in a future in agriculture came to visit and had a roundtable in tallahassee, florida. It goes on and on. Thats the example of the kind of hunger we see out there and ow we as a government, particularly the department of agriculture relate to people on the phones, the fields, communities of america. I dont say those things to tell you how busy i have been, i say them to let you know that people want to hear, they want to see people out there working. They are emblematic of how hungry the American People are poor people in this town to to keepecause they want talking to them and to listen. Their issues and work towards common solutions. I think it is fair to say that the demand was picked up. Was pentup. Folks found an honest listener , one whonest broker wants to hear from them, to listen to their issues, their problems, and hopefully work to solve some of them. This gives me a unique perspective of putting two different worlds. The world of washington and politics. Well. Ere, alive and the other world is the world of real people outside of this area, that dont know about what goes on here. I dont want to put your feelings, but they dont care too much. Ien i travel across america, dont get questions about the things everyone in washington seems to be talking about. I dont get asked about the latest scandal not even the president ,s twitter account. Those are the things that seem to be important to people in this town which are never mentioned when i listen to people outside. Those are not the things on the minds of the American People generally. 150 people get out on a freezing new cold morning in rural york to talk to me about agriculture. 60,000 young people joined me in convention. For a you know they are pretty serious about what they should do and whether aspiration are for their lives and how they can participate in the american dream. What are they saying . One of the very top issues is trade. Many are anxious about trade. Because of this, exports are responsible for more than 20 of the u. S. Farm income, almost over . 20 of farm income dollars arrives from foreign sold products. It also drives rural Economic Activity and it supports more than one million economic jobs or on both on and off the farm. The bill calls for a new position under secretary of trade and Foreign Agricultural services. That position was not created until we got here in may. I thought hearing from members from congress and putting my conversation, and the people in the field that i believe the trade was important. I know from my sprint it is important. We created that position and invited the president nominated ted mckinney from indiana to fill the position. He has hit the ground running. We met this morning to hear about his latest trip to colombia, panama, and brazil. In a few weeks, he has logged 30,000 Miles Airport wise. He is hitting the ground running. Total aboutrted 140 billion. Thats why 17, thats up from the previous year. The third highest level on record, even lower commodity prices. When you look at exports in dollar terms, you have different price points to deal with. Point in the lowest commodity pricing, one of our lowest points. Exports are third highest on record. The most recent trade forecast 18,cts 140 billion in fy which is on track with fy 17, and would be the fourth best year on record. Surplusall agricultural is expected to grow to more than 23 billion in 2018. Our president is concerned about our trade deficit. To remind him every time i am in his presence that agriculture delivers to a trade surplus, and he needs to recognize that. We also have great individual victories that you have read about. Usd backded in getting into china for the first time in 13 years. Riceened china to american for the first time ever. We still working out smaller details. We got you a sport back into argentina for the we got u. S. Pork back into argentina. The European Union dropped their requirement that Citrus Growers be surveyed for citrus canker, which eases the entry of u. S. Citrus in the market and saves growers thousands of dollars in production costs. Market has been expanded for resumingping potatoes, imports from idaho for the first time in 11 years. Imports ofalso on u. S. Distillers dried grains. They announce south korea lifted its ban on imports of u. S. Poultry and products including fresh eggs. All of those are good news, but we want more. Im a grow it and sell it back. People think we should restrain in agriculture, i think if American Farmers produce it, the u. S the usda should be helping o sell it. Uspect more than a few of you will ask me about nafta if i dont address it now. Clausnded to ask santa for a perfect final trade deal, wrapped up and put on the tree for American Farmers. Then i remembered the north pole might be too close to canada for those things to turn out well for us. Aside, i do remain optimistic about the future of our trilateral trading relationship. This is noty, original with me, you look at mexico, the United States, and canada. I think we live in the best neighborhood on the planet. To have a deal that would take advantage of those relationships logistically in the common north america makes all the sense in the world. We know agriculture. Has benefited from nafta. We believe with some remodern i , some some readjusting tweaking, it can continue on. That is very important for our department. We know that President Trump is a top negotiator, we know he puts America First. At the end of the day, i believe we will wind up with a renewed nafta that is there for america, that is better for america. Mottopartments official because of the economy, the economy of agriculture and how it fits in, this is the official motto of the usda. Agriculture is the foundation of manufacture and commerce. Thats a pretty powerful statement when you think about it. The relationship between the agriculture economy and the overall economy. We too were a lot of great facilities. We tour a lot of great facilities. I was at one in illinois that created manufactured sprayers. And agriculture blows you away. They have a sprayer with optical sensors that detect noxious weeds and sprays the chemical on it. Those are the things happening in america that many people dont understand. Is, a healthye agriculture economy is imperative for the rest of our economy to thrive, as well. Our producers will do their part in the progression. We need a fair, functioning nafta agreement. As far as trade goes, we are making terrific progress. I feel comfortable we will reach a deal. We put some tough things on the table, as we should. I think we will reach a deal for everyone. We know we will get a farm bill coming up soon, 2018. I believe the chairman feel like they are on track. They have done a lot of work in the area. Grassley s we are behind, but senator grassley have a lot of opinions. We are on track for a good farm bill. I dont think there is going to be a revolutionary deal. I think the 14 farm bill will be more evolutionary. There are a couple of places that didnt make it quite as good as many people had hoped, the dairy industry, and the cotton industry. I think we will see things to address that. Work. Ieve it will the usda is going to provide the background, the resources, the feedback. Allear from the heartland, these listening sessions, so members of congress that are responsible for the farm bill can make good on a fax base, facts base, data driven farm bill. We are working on what we think is the right approach or the usda and the relationship to congress. We will provide them with what we believe are the basic bedrock principles that make a good farm bill. I think some of these principles are the direct result of what i heard from the people of agriculture during my travels. They are the ones that live with these policies. They are the ones who have to execute the policies that we create. I think they have some of the best ideas and what works for previous farm bills, and what doesnt work. We will be talking about those principles across all of our missionaries. Usda and all the responsibilities. The 2018 farm bill will have a radical departure in changes. We will make improvements in some of those areas, ultimately up to congress to decide what they want us to implement. To provideady whatever counsel congress may believe and require as our opinion on these things. You may remember on the day i was sworn in, President Trump signed an executive order for agriculture and rural prosperity. Any purpose of any farm bill is to support Rural America, which is the act bone and breadbasket of this country. When he signed the order creating task force on agriculture and rural prosperity, he asked us to chair that. Had a relationship with other agencies with how we can make a difference in Rural America. When you look at the numbers, much of america has recovered or is certainly in the beginning stages of recovering from the great depression, but that doesnt seem to be true for Rural America. Progress is lagging behind. While the population is growing in urban areas, suburban areas, the population across Rural America is stagnant or even diminishing. We have to do a better job. Its the responsibility of the usda to do a better job in providing the hope and Economic Opportunity for those Rural Americans, those involved in agriculture. Chores, during our chores, we listened, gathered information, we came up with a report after the 180 day timeline to submit to the white house. It will be released soon. They are reviewing that now. Willve specific execution ask and execution of election items that we want past. We think we can help america succeed and thrive, that includes things like access to capital, infrastructure improvements. I dont want to preempt that, stay tuned. Know, i know they brought reorganization of the usda. Part of that was approached the way we deal with Rural Development. We elevated our Rural De