U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Secretary Sonny Perdue posted an op-ed piece on Monday for USA Today, and defended the presidents tough policies with China. The piece, in a nutshell, said that China has been trying to steal American innovations for too long and the time has come to fight back.
On Monday’s AgriTalk, host Chip Flory asked Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) what he thought about the piece, and whether he believes the president is doing the right thing.
“The answer is no, but they are going to go on with their efforts whether I like it or not,” said Grassley. “But the president did run on a platform of renegotiating these agreements and he is doing what he said he was going to do—and all I can do is give the proper caution.”
Grassley was the lone member of the Senate Ag Committee to not vote for the farm bill, which he says was for good reason.
“I want to make sure that we have a cap on what one farming operation can get from farming programs, and I want to make sure the people getting those payments are real farmers,” said Grassley. “The exact opposite of what I am trying to accomplish is what comes out of the House where they even took income restrictions out of the bill.”
He said he doesn’t want to see the system designed to help make a farmer rich, but to help them when they need it the most.
Also, on Monday’s AgriTalk, Greg Peterson, aka Machinery Pete, joined the program to talk about a busy week at auction. He highlighted several combines and gave his pick of the week. You can find more information at MachineryPete.com
For the full AgriTalk conversation click the player below.
