CLEVELAND, Miss. — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture George “Sonny” Perdue III said Friday that addressing the 82nd annual meeting of Delta Council was almost like coming home.
“After a few weeks in Washington, it’s good to come somewhere where people speak my language,” the former Georgia governor said. “I don’t need an interpreter; I can understand you, and you can understand me.”
Perdue, the country’s 31st agriculture secretary, said it is funny how some Northerners perceive Southerners.
“I had a New York Times reporter come to Georgia after I was elected. They came down there to try and humiliate and embarrass and tell the world what a country bumpkin Georgians have elected.
“He said, ‘You know, can I ask you a question?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ He asked, ‘Is “y’all” singular or plural?’ and I said, ‘It’s singular, of course.’ He said, ‘How do you explain that?’ It’s easy; it’s singular, because the plural form is ‘all y’all,’” Perdue said to thunderous applause.
Perdue, who spent Thursday and a good part of Friday touring the Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, said the business side of Delta Council’s work is very important to its 18 counties. The council, formed in 1935, began its mission by focusing on economic development.
“You’ve assembled the best and the brightest, the hardest-working folks from agriculture from business and related professions,” he said. “They look for ways to improve the lives of their citizens. Isn’t that what civic responsibility is all about?”
From agriculture to research, from flood control to damage mitigation and from transportation issues and workforce development, the council has been a vital advocate for rural residents of Mississippi, he said.
“The size of the crowd this morning is a testament to the fact that you understand the work of the council is critical for your own prosperity and the future progeny of the council area here,” Perdue said.
Perdue, who grew up on a farm in Bonaire, Georgia, was a veterinarian before entering politics.
He served as a Georgia state senator from 1990 to 2001 and was elected governor in 2003, becoming the state’s first Republican governor elected in 130 years.
He went on to serve two terms.
Perdue said the landscape of rural America has changed rapidly.
“According to our most recent figures, just over 46 million Americans live in what we consider rural communities,” he said. “That’s about 14 percent of the total U.S. population, but they live in about 72 percent of our land area.”
That provides for plenty of elbow room and also plenty of room for growth, Perdue said.
The rebounding economy nationally has not brought prosperity back to many rural pockets of America, and rural America is at its lowest population level since 2010, he said.
“Today, sadly, nearly 85 percent of America’s persistently impoverished counties are not in inner cities but in rural areas,” he said. “One in four children live in poverty — a rate we have not seen since 1986.
“It is my absolute intention to address — and the president’s intention — to address that,” he said.
President Donald Trump has asked all leaders of the administration to focus on job creation, and “the USDA in particular, we’re going to focus on job creation and economic vitality and prosperity in rural America,” Perdue said.
He said that his department has embraced four key principles: “Collaborate,” “Eliminate,” “Innovate” and “Sell-ebrate.”
Regarding collaboration, he praised the Delta Research and Extension Center as an exceptional example of state-federal partnership.
Trump held an agricultural roundtable at the White House and signed an executive order establishing an inter-agency task force on agriculture and rural prosperity, Perdue said. Perdue chairs the task force, which has 180 days to present “firm, actionable” recommendations to the president.
He dismissed the notion of the federal government overreaching into the lives of Americans.
“We’re not going to be your adversary; we’re going to be your facilitator as we help grow rural America again,” he said.
For “Eliminate,” Perdue said Trump has created a regulatory reform task force in every agency that will look at regulations that kill jobs and stifle growth.
“At USDA, I’ve got one person dedicated to cataloging all the existing regulations and asking some pretty simple questions. ‘Does the regulation make sense? Is the result worth the requirements on people? Will it help jobs and the economy?’” Perdue said.
“If the answer to each of these questions is not ‘Yes,’ then we’ll have to ask, ‘What’s the regulation for, and why do we have it?’” he said.
On “Innovation,” Perdue said, “I believe farmers and producers and foresters and ranchers are ultimate innovators, designers and builders.
“If America’s manufacturing had the same degree of basic research, applied research and the wonderful delivery system of the extension service, we would not be talking about the demise of American manufacturing,” he said.
Perdue said the country’s aging infrastructure needs to be addressed, and Trump has proposed $1 trillion in infrastructure improvements. Every $200 billion spent on infrastructure creates $88 billion in new wages for American workers and increases the Gross Domestic Product by more than 1 percent, he said. An increase of 1 percent in the GDP adds 1.2 million jobs to the country’s workforce, he said.
As for “Sell-ebrate,” he said selling American agricultural products to a hungry world is his top job.
Pursuing free and fair trade practices and agreements will pay off for U.S. farmers, Perdue said.
He has established an undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs. That person’s job, he said, is to ask every day, “‘Where can I sell American products today?’”
“Ladies and gentlemen, you grow it, we’re going to sell it, and I mean that,” Perdue said.
He said every dollar in trade generates 1.7 dollars in business activity, and every $1 billion in U.S. exports will support 8,000 U.S. jobs. In a given year, more than $135 billion of agricultural products are shipped around the globe, he said.
Perdue said Delta Council and others in rural America can work to make a difference.
“You’ve got my heart, soul and my rolled-sleeves hard work to make sure rural America gets its fair share and prospers over the next decade,” he said.
•Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
