Pres. Trump p nice to see you. Nice to see you. Thank you very much. Everytything good . Farmers doing good . Thank you, President Trump. Think you very much, all. We are here to announce dramatic action to support our nations open. S as we it is happening fast and with better numbers than anyone would have thought. I want to express our gratitude to the producers across the country who have kept our nation fed and nourish as we have battled the invisible enemy. It is an invisible enemy. It is tough, but we are going to win and we are going to win very big. We can never forget all the people who have been left behind that have died, for some reason that should have never happened. Should have never happened. You know that, i know that. And the e people that caused the problem, they know that too. Thats too bad. You remind us that the American Farmers, the backbone of our country, they are really a great friend of mine and i appreciate all the support and i know they appreciate our support. We are glad to be joined by secretary sonny perdue along with ivanka, who has been working with sunny to deliver assistancece to farmers and neey families. Im also grateful to the president of the American Farm bureau federation. Thank you very much. Thank you. The president of the National Cattlemens beef association, marty smith. Thank you. Margie. And several of our great agricultural producers, it is nice to meet all of you. It is really good to meet you. Zippy, you are doing ok . U have my condolences, i hope. Zippy was married to a great woman. For purposes of the record, you still are. You always will be. Right . She was a great person. She was a great person. From day one, my administration has been determined to protect our nations incredible farmers. We enacted historic tax cuts and helped family farms stay in the family. What we did is we passed in the tax cuts, the death tax. The inheritance tax. Small farms and ranchers and even businesses, you dont have to pay it. Its a big deal. Instead of losing your farm, you keep your farm. I think that was a big deal. What do you think . Maybe your farm is so big, it doesnt qualify. We eliminated that horrible death tax. Most of the kids, many of the kids lost their farms. They go borrow to pay the tax and they ended up losing the farms. You dont have to pay that tax anymore. Thats one of the reasons the farmers like me, i guess, but hopefully, thats not the only reason. We eliminated crushing washington regulations, kept our promise on ethanol, and replaced and negotiated our badly broken trade deals to filly give you a fair and level playing field. When china unfairly targeted our farmers, we provided 28 million in direct assistance. It came from china, not from our government. You know, that happened. They pay for it. We did not pay. They have this misconception. They like to say this as much as possible. China devalued theheir currencyn order to pay it. We did not pay it. What we did is we helped, i went to sonny. We had 12 billion two years ago. We had 16 billion last year. This year, you will hear about what we are doing because it is very substantial. Through the paycheck protection program, we have approved billions of dollars in relief to farmers as part of our unprecedented Coronavirus Relief efforts. So the paycheck has been a fantastic success, as you know. Now we are standing strong with our farmers and ranchers once again. In normal times, roughly 40 of fresh vegetables and 40 of beef grown and raised in the United States is distributed to restaurants and other commercial food establishments. As you know, the virus has forced many of our nations restaurants to temporarily closed. This has taken a major toll in our farmers and growers. Some of whom were dealing directly with restaurants. I didnt realize that until yesterday. Big restaurants will sometimes deal directly with farmers. No middlemen, no nothing. Its a big business. For this reason, my administration is launching a new initiative, the coronavirus Food Assistance program. We are providing 19 billion to support our nations agricultural producers. They maintain the health of our critical Food Supply Chains and provide Food Assistance to american families. 19 billion. No other president has done this, zippy. I tell you, you go back to abraham lincoln. There is no president who has treated the farmers like trump. I dont know. I hear we are doing well with the farmers. I cant imagine i want to find out who wouldnt be. Who wouldnt be with trump, but its an honor to do it. They are great people. These are great, great people. As part of this program today, we are announcing 6 60 billion direct payments to farmers and rahers. 16 billion is going to the farmers and ranche. It is authorized by the cares act and the Commodity Credit Corporation charter act. We fought hard for this. These payments will compensate farmers for losses related to the global pandemic, cauaused by china. We will be providing billions of dollars for corn, cotton, soybean, and specialty crop farmers, cattle ranchers, every category. I think we have almost every category. If we dont, we will add them. If we left something out, but we have a lot of territory. Dairy producers, pork producers, and more. I read yesterday where we take some cattle in from other countries because we have trade deals. I think you should look at terminating those deals. All right . We have trade deals where we take in cattle. We have a lot of cattle. In this country, and i think you should look at the possibility of terminating those trade deals. If a country has been a great country and a great ally and friend, you have to do that. There are some countries that are sending us cattlfor many years and i think we should look at terminating. We are very selfsufficient. We are becoming more and more selfsufficient. Probably one of the reasons i got elected. Signups will begin on may 26 through your local Farm Service Agency offices. Youve got to go sign up to pick it up to get the money. We will start issuing payments within one week of receiving your application. So thats a lot of money. You are talking about a total of 16 billion plus 3 billion. You knknow, we bought last weekend, it is already in distribution, 3 billion worth of product for the food lines. This is already distributed. I see they are handing it out. I see where they couldnt have food, theyre having a hard time. We have these incredible ranchers and farmers that have so much food. I said, lets spend thatoney and gigive it to our farmers and ranchers. It worked out really well. Theyve already got it in supply. Thats already on the lines. I saw them handing it out today. A couple of days ago, actually. Its fantastic how quickly it worked. In addition, this Initiative Includes the new farmers to families Food Box Program, which ivanka and secretary perdue helped officially launch it on friday. Through this effort, the department of agriculture will work with local Food Distribution companies. We have a lot of great distribution companies. I got to meet some of them. 3 billion worth of food from the American Auto x and to deliver from the food eggs and charities that serve needy families. We have already allocated 1. 2 billion to farmers to families, funding through 100 98 contracts withistribution companies, many of them are Small Businesses impacted also by this horrible plague. Its a plague. Here today are a few of the American Farmers who can tell us why this program has been so susceptible. So essential and successful. Scott is a cattle producer. His business has been badly impacted by the virus. He says this initiative will provide a bridge to help them move forward. We have been helping them in a lot of other ways. This was a great help. Please come forward. Thank you. My name is scott. The producer in southwest virginia. We have a catering business and do farm to table along with raising livestock, produce, and custom hay. We were able to benefit from the paycheck protection program. This will help us getting into the new growing season. Talking to farmers across the country, farming is something that is always unexpected. We have to pay of it at any time. With Something Like this that has implemented the supply chain, producers and consumers, thats why having a program like this is beneficial to all of us. Thank yall. Pres. Trump you love that business. You would not trade businesses for anything. What is it with farmers . They dont wantnt to do anything else. They would not trade it for anything. [indible] pres. Trump thats true. They go out and buy bigger tractors. You guys are great. Robert raises crops and livestock. He believes this program will help countless farm families get by. Our economy is opening up really fast. Please come up. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. Im a first generaon farmer from south side of virginia. We raise tobacco and be beef cattle. We are a diverse operation. We are diverse because we always expect the unexpected. We want to make sure we can stay in business. We did not expect this. I will tell the American People, your farmers and ranchers are working each and every day to make sure that those Grocery Store shelves stay full. Its administrations like president trumump and the fourth that he has had with the programs that have been put in place, the one we are talking about today, it is not a risky program. It is not a rescue program. It will help farm families be able to make good lives in the months and weeks ahead. Its also there to let you know that this country is the supporting them. This country relies on what these farmers and ranchers do everyday. I want to personally thank President Trump, the administrati, and all those who worked hard to make sure that farm families stay there, stay whole, and the American People will never have to worry about running out of food. Thank you. Pres. Trump i love his accent. [laughter] i love that accent. Is that originally from virginia . Yes sir. Southside virginia, 20 miles north of North Carolina. Pres. Trump they like trump. Thats a great area. The farmers were targeted by china. We started negotiating tough with china. What i did is we have taken in tens of billions of dollars of tariffs. We had to distribute the money to the farmers. We are taking in a lot of money. How much did the farmers lose two years ago . What d do you think the impact 12 billion. Thats ok. We will take 12 billion out of our tariff money. It was many billions more than that that china paid. Never paid us . 10 before that. Before trump, they never paid anything. I said, we will take 12 billion out of the tens of billions of dollars we will talk. We will give it to the farmers. The beat, you were shocked. These farmers would not have been in busine. We took 12 million, we give it to the farmers. We said thank you to china. The next year i said, what is the number . We determined it was 16 billion. The farmers were targeted. 16 billion by china. I took 16 billion out of the tariffs. They were many tens of billions, more than that. We give it to the farmers. Right . This year, the same thing. It has been pretty amazing. The farmers are doing fine. One of them said, i do better this way. They dont want to do better that way, they just want a level playing field. We took care of our farmers and ranchers. Thank you, that was great. David hickman is a vegetable grower who runs dublin farms in virginia. Potatoes will be among the produce distributed to local food banks through the farmers to families program. Please come up and say a few words. Hi, david. Thank you. Im David Hickman with dublin farms in virginia. We are a fifthgeneration operation. Fresh market potatoes, red skins, yellow, white. This program is going to help us tremendously with the movement of potatoes the summer. For us, we have six distributors who are our current customers. They are doing the Food Box Program. Our potatoes will be in some of these food boxes. We have submitted bids for five pound boxes to go directly to the food banks. Yellow and white potatoes. It will certainly impact the virginia potato business. Pres. Trump you have five pound bags. What other sizes . We have a packing operation. Five pound bags, tend pound bags, 50 pound bags, than 2000 pound bags that go to other packers. Other business goes into terminal markets also. Ths depeent on restaurt business. We are anxious to see our restaurants get back up. Certain sizes are used primarily for food service. Pres. Trump is potato a big business in virginia . Regionally, its a big business. Our area is called the eastern shore. Pres. Trump how does that compare with idaho . We are very small compared to the idaho production. We fit a niche between north florida and North Carolina spring production. Pres. Trump is it different . The idaho potatoes are russet long potato. We grow redskin potatoes and round yellow potato. We fill a different market. Pres. Trump that is very good. It is interesting to me. Our potatoes go right from the field to the store. In idaho, they store them through the winter. We grow green beans for fresh market, largely dependent on restaurants. We also grow corn and soybeans. On my home farm, there has been potatoes planted there since 1887. That is unusual in the country. Different parts of that field has been farmed potatoes. Pres. Trump beautiful. We appreciate what you are doing for us. Pres. Trump great job. Giving me a little attic education on potatoes. I wonder if the media enjoyed that. I dont think so. Thats ok. [laughter] [inaudible] pres. Trump be careful. I might. We are going after virginia with your crazy governor. [laughter] they want to take your Second Amendment away, right . Nobody guarding your potatoes. A healthy economy is vital to maintaining a healthy society. By working together, we can restore our economy, seld the vulnerable, care for the needy, deliver worldclass health care, and think with the virus. I have to say, the job you do it so powerful and important. The American Farmers are very critical to the success of that mission. Before i finished, i would like to ask the city to say a couplee words. He is at the forefront of so much of what we do. Come on it. Up. Thank you. I remember four years and several months ago, i won the election to be the president of the American Farm bureau. Candidate trump called me. He said, i will be a friend to farmers. Im here to say thank you. You have lived up to those words that you made to me those day that day. I represent all the farmers across the country. My son and i are thirdgeneration farmers. We run a 400 beef cow operation. We grow chickens. The farmers across america are very appreciative of what you have done. You have stood behind us during the trade war. You stood behind us during all the difficulties we went through. Now with the pandemic, you stood behind us again. You made the comment, we dont come for a handout. We want a level playing field. We want to make money from the markets. We appreciate, when we are going through difficult times, they stand behind us. The pandemic has made us realize one thing. We live in a land of plenty. The food chain is just as important to us as our military is. We have to be able to feed our own people. We cant afford to be fed by other countries. That makes us a National Security issue. We know that you realize that. I think the American People they have had to see empty shelves. We all realize how important that chain, that food chain is. The farmer is the very first link. Without that support, we would not be there to produce. Our farmers are still farming. Stillfarming you will get some great stories. Over 50 Million People with that that hashtag. Talking about what farmers are doing. We want to thank you and secretary perdue for your hard work. The staff has been an excellent work putting this program together. We want to thank congressman inking about agriculture. Many thanks for helping the people that feet American People. We look forward to continuing to work with you, mr. Trump. We appreciate it. Pres. Trump ths true. I called him. I had never spoke to him. I got good support from the beginning. We have e come through. They feed, feel, and sustain our nation. They are proud defenders of the american way of life. I stand by their side in this hour of need. The food chains are now back to almost working perfectly again. They had some interruptions which you knew about. We were able to take very bold action. You saw that. That action caused them to do what they had to do. They are in good shape. Very shortly, they will be in perfect shape. People were worried about that. The action we totook was very important. We did a good job. I would like to ask secretary perdue to say a few words followed by ivanka. Please. I remember very clearly, you called me a few weeks ago when you read about the effects of the pandemic. Once again, you directed me to help our farmers. What will it take . I want you to use all available resources at your disposal, just have as you have done before when china retaliated against our farmers. You instinctively know that american agriculture, farmers and ranchers have been the bedrock of our American Economy since the founding of our nation and they still are. We talked about Food Supply Chains. You knknow that instinctively. I want to tell you, ive never seen another predent recognize that value a among the folks standing here and representing farmers across the country. We are very appreciated appreciativehat we dont have to push the rock up the hill. When it comes to President Trump, you have to catch it. We appreciate that very much. We dont have to sell you on the value of agriculture. The program we are announcing today will be of bene