The Farmer's Daughter USA

Hi, I'm Amanda! My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm also a practicing attorney.

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Who Is Sonny Perdue?

January 23, 2017

I’ll admit when I heard that Sonny Perdue was nominated as President Trump’s pick for the USDA Secretary I was a bit underwhelmed. Perdue’s name had been floated around for months, I wasn’t personally familiar with him, and all I knew was that he was the former governor of Georgia.

But now that he has been nominated and I’ve done a bit more research on him, I’m actually pretty excited at the possibility and his potential in this position.

Perdue grew up on a small farm in Perry, Georgia. His mother was a teacher. After high school, he attended the University of Georgia where he obtained a veterinary degree. Following which, he served in the Air Force. Upon return to Georgia, he started his career as a veterinary.

His political career started as a county zoning commissioner. Perdue was then elected as a state representative and moved up to a state senator. At the time, he was also…. a Democrat. After finishing out his time in the Senate as a Republican, he then went on to serve as governor of Georgia.

DTN has put together an excellent summary of Perdue’s accomplishments and roles in agriculture. Here are some highlights:

  • Founder and Managing Member of AGStar, a grain elevator with 11 locations in Georgia and South Carolina;
  • Board member of the National Grain and Feed Association;
  • Secretary of the Georgia Agribusiness Council;
  • Former President of the Southeast Grain and Feed Association;
  • Perdue Partners, a trade company

Perdue’s impressive resume highlights that he has a lot of experience in a wide swatch of agriculture. He has scientific knowledge on animal agriculture, understands the economic realities related to grain products, a working background with chemical inputs, knows how to run an agriculture business, and has executive experience. As a bonus, Perdue’s familiarity with Georgia agriculture should lend itself well to specialty crops (a big deal in Michigan), because the state is well-known for its peaches and onions.

While some people have offered criticism that Perdue held a prayer vigil in Georgia while the state was facing a particularly difficult drought, I hardly find this a fault. The government had already worked on water conservation methods before the vigil. Not to mention that many farmers, especially in Georgia I imagine, are people of faith. Such a gesture is hardly meaningless to them.

As another fun fact, Growing Georgia pointed out that Perdue, if confirmed, will be only the third person serving as the USDA Secretary since it was established in 1889 that actually worked in agriculture as an adult.

I look forward to following Sonny Perdue’s confirmation process and, hopefully, we will see him working at the USDA very soon.

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Filed Under: Government Affairs Tagged With: federal government, USDA

Comments

  1. Ron Yokota says

    January 23, 2017 at 11:38 am

    Sounds good! I hope the liberals do not hold his scientific and agricultural background against him!

  2. Kim says

    April 24, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    I just hope they keep Herbster out of any office. Have had personal dealings with him and he’s on it for himself, not for anyone else.

  3. Ehmi says

    April 24, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    Also the first ag. Secretary since the 50s who is not from California or the Midwest. I used to work at USDA and rumor was that the position generally alternated between the two and when one was secretary, the other would have many of the under/ deputy positions, to keep the peace.

Hi, I'm Amanda. My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm an attorney and I'm passionate about agriculture!

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Amanda | The Farmer's Daughter USA
I'm a proud farmer's daughter & advocate for modern agriculture. U.S. farmers are leaders in sustainability.

Amanda Zaluckyj
Just a reminder. #agriculture #usagriculture #far Just a reminder.

#agriculture #usagriculture #farmers #usfarmers #farming #farmfamilies #sustainableag #sustainableagriculture #sustainable #sustainability #farmerscare #homegrown #localagriculture #knowyourfarmer #shoplocal #madeintheusa #madeintheus #americanagriculture
Happy Thanksgiving! I realized this morning that Happy Thanksgiving!

I realized this morning that it's been 20 years since I performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What a trip!

I hope you and yours have a lovely day! 🦃
Honestly, what is she even doing?? #Mischa #dogsl Honestly, what is she even doing??

#Mischa
#dogslife
She's got me. #dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime She's got me. 

#dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime
Some of you see this picture and appreciate the vi Some of you see this picture and appreciate the view. Our grain cart driver (mom) just sees that scary hill to drive up. 🫣

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #harvest23🌾
Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today. 🤣

Oh, lawyer jokes. Listen, if you can't make fun or yourself and have a little fun, what are you even doing?
It's true. My puppy. 💜💜 It's true. My puppy. 💜💜
The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the b The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the beans still have very high moisture content. It's so high the granary won't accept them. So we'll have to dry them.

The big concern with soybeans is that the pods won't pop open. If that happens, they'll be discarded  out the back of the combine with the other plant material. Obviously not what we want to happen. After testing a bit, enough were opening that we felt like we should just get started.

Slow going, but at least it's going!

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #fearfree #cleanfood #foodsafety #dietfads #FactsNotFear #cleaneatingdiet #foodlabels #truth #cleaneating #Harvest2023
We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture content.

We're currently about 4 weeks behind. But we can't start because our crops are still too wet. The moisture content is the amount of water in each kernel or soybean. If there's too much, they can spoil in storage. If it's really too high, then combine has a hard time handling it.

For corn, the sweet spot is about 15%. We have a dryer system on the farm that can help finish the kernels to the correct moisture level. But the dryer takes a lot of energy to run, so its cost prohibitive if the moisture content is too high. And if we try to sell the crop when it's too wet, we'll take a price hit at the grain elevator. So either the granary dries it, we dry it, or Mother Nature dries it. Right now, it's still too wet for after-harvest drying.

The other complication is that IT. JUST. KEEPS. RAINING. That doesn't help because the corn doesn't have a chance to dry out, and it maintains that moisture. We need some warm, dry days to speed up the process.

So, for now, we're still waiting...

#harvest23
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