What are your biggest questions or concerns that USDA can address in 2020?

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USDA Secretary Perdue will take a couple questions from community live at Farmer2Farmer on Thursday morning.  What are your biggest questions or concerns that USDA can address in 2020?

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Don't blame the guy trying fix the trade imbalance. Blame the previous administration's who got us so backwards. China wanted to buy everything from China and cut us out before ***** got in.

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How bad has China been hurt with these tarrifs? And, how much suffering will China's heads allow their people to endure before they give in?

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What are the chances of *************** speaking to the farmers at Commodity Classic in SanAntonio.

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As a western producer would you touch on the thoughts process and justification of how MFP 2.0 came about? You had said early on that you had to grow a crop to qualify for MFP payments, yet when it was all said and done cover cropped acres earned as much as western producers did on their actual crops. The answer to this question may provide perspective to not only those in western states, but also in the midwest as to the thought process of USDA.

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For hemp farmers, what is the likelihood of increasing the harvest window from 15 days up to 30 or 45 days? Also, what’s the likelihood of increasing the maximum THC to 1.0%?

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Given the high cost of production and low margin enviornment in agriculture today, do you truly believe there is a viable future for young producers in the U.S.?

Also, the Dept. Of Agriculture sees an estimated  annual $20-$30 billion budget and Dept. Of Defense sees an estimated $500-$700 billion dollar annual budget.  What are you doing as the United States Secretary of Agriculture to persuade the U.S. congress and the President of the U.S. that the countries biggest defense mechanism is food security? I think another $100 billion invested in U.S. agriculture annually would do more for this country than building more bases around the world or bribing foreign leaders.

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When will the USDA publish honest grain numbers.

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Demand, would like to see a strong viable long term biofuels program in the USA. Domestic usage still not where it could be.

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Why is it every county FSA office has its own culture, plays by their own rules, and dosent want to pay legal fees when it takes appeals to get paid. Why is it they constantly attempt to steal 10k or 8k or 4k, I've been shit out of 40k this year alone from little BS like that. What's the deal with the pressure from Washington to not spend money that leads to them actively discriminating. Why is it they don't want to administer programs as prescribed by law. How come they push money off for months and months until they are coming to take your tractors? You boys worrying about MFP, they told me last week "cotton wasn't eligible". When did that happen? And now it's oh you get an Unharvested factor for WHIP. I don't care if Nebraska is swimming, I didn't get any from the first cat 5 hurricane so I get some for the second one in 3 years and I get to share with you boys with the big bins and big farms. Yea it's super fair. China is the least of my concern. FSA and it's slip shod game of playing keep away with the money causes far more problems than China for me.

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Why should people not in compliance with farm program prior to tying it to crop insurance not receive mfp I’m guessing trade war affects them as much as everyone else

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Please emphasize call your legislators daily , ask USMCA being voted on today ! Especially ***** . 250000 / day could have impact !

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I would like to ask for something he can have a direct impact on.  More timely USDA and insurance stuff to be done.  Been waiting since beginning of October for crop insurance check and still nothing.  Waiting on a CSP check from NRCS that has never been this late.  Then the FSA has simply been short staffed.  They seem to be a bit late or rushed on most things lately.

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I'm reading on Wikipedia that **************** was elected state senator as a Democrat and won by a widemargin in the 80s.  He then changed his party while in office. Then he won the gubernatorial position as republican, something that hadn't happened in over 130 years in Georgia. My questions for ***** is tell us about your walk through political affiliation.

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Are there any discussions regarding re-entering TPP? Our withdraw from that trade agreement puts American farmers at a distinct disadvantage when trading with the other 11 countries included in the partnership. Pulling out of negotiated trade agreements and then all but eliminating our biggest purchaser of soybeans seems like a poor strategy and is definitely bad for US agriculture.

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Is it possible to put EPA in compliance with the Law on the RFS. And not let them run independent without confirming to the Law.

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Due to the flooding this spring many US farmers had a shorter growing season than typical which made it difficult for corn and soybeans to reach full maturity. Is there any way that the USDA could increase support for alternative crops, such as pulses, through easier access to crop insurance as well as incentives for local elevators to actually purchase these crops?

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The Market Facilitation Payments (MFP) have now exceeded the cost of the bailout of the auto industry. Why weren’t some of those funds used for a longer-term set-aside program so we could reduce corn/soy acres, which might help prices, and allow farmers to focus on soil health, transitioning to organic, etc? MFP seems like a poor bandaid where a set-aside program could be a longer term solution to overproduction and eliminate poorer soils from being farmed.

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For years, US agriculture has dominated the world market thanks to hard working American farmers, good soils, and, very importantly, good infrastructure. Can you address the topic of China investing heavily in South American rail, port facilities, and processing plants? At what point will we lose our competitive advantage from an infrastructure standpoint?

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Our local FSA and NRCS offices are staffed by people that really care about doing a good job, but it appears to me that there is a lot of consolidation that could happen between those offices that would improve efficiencies as well as make for a better experience for the farmers/ranchers. Has restructuring those offices been discussed since you’ve been secretary of ag?

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With dicamba being frowned upon, we need a new chemistry to combat marestail, water hemp, etc. How can we encourage and speed up herbicide manufacturers?

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What is the USDA doing to combat climate change? What plans or policies are in the works? How will this affect the ag industry in the future?

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USDA is calling unharvesred 2019 corn "on farm storage"  I would love an explanation as to how USDA can call this an "on-farm stored crop" when nobody in the financing sector would accept this as collateral for obtaining operating capital for 2020.   This is an unharveated crop and should not be considered in final report, therefore suppressing market prices

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Why is it that as consumers we have the right to know where all our products come from except our beef and pork? What can you do to enact strong country of origin labeling and stand up to the WTO?

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What are the plans of USDA if USMCA and China trade deal does not happen in the near future. MFP 3.0?

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I would like to see secretary pound the table In regards to trade with China and make sure they buy our wheat and soybeans first before giving up on tariffs. Our vessels I'm told are leaving ports on West coast for South America and getting re flagged and diverted to China. This is not right. Please ensure China buys direct from us. We can win trade wars.

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Since USDA and the independent farmers are great partners in economic and statecraft.  Can USDA extend Federal Health Benefits to qualifying farmers at cost?

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TPP was called a disaster from this president so we pulled out of it. He also said NAFTA was horrible so to this day we have nothing except a different named policy with minor changes that just sits in the house. He puts these rediculous tariffs on and says to this day that we are collecting big from China to pay for our subsidies. He tells us last month that we need to get bigger tractors and more land for this so called 40-50 billion deal that he made with China. Do you realize that this administration which includes you have lost what we have build up for our ag exports from the past 30 years! Do you not understand that we will not get back for another generation what we have lost? The only way this president will win this trade war is to unilaterally negotiate with what allies we have left. When are you and the other farmers that support this guy get your head out of the sand and stand up for AG! We have been screwed!

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Why do I need to report my planted and harvested acres to FSA when I already give my crop insurance agent all those numbers, which are then reported directly to RMA? If the FSA office needs those numbers why can’t they obtain that data from RMA? Most of my visits to the FSA office seem very redundant and unnecessary as RMA already has my data.

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When will the USDA modernize and used timely acreage information from FSA, and yield reporting that is accurately reflecting what is in the field, not waiting till the next summer to do the yield corrections?

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Why does the USDA release numbers in a report when there is no way they can really know if they are correct or accurate. It seems like they are more interested in controlling the market than printing facts

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"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out," said ***************************** ************ back in October at a dairy expo in Wisconsin.

If I had an opportunity to ask ***** a question, it would be twofold:

If the efficiencies in scale of a large corporate farm operation are favored over the small family farms - what is the expected impact to the nation's rural demographics and economies in 15-30 years. What steps can a small family farm begin today to be successful over the next 10 years.

Thanks

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My concern with the current USDA policies, is the direction of increased subsidies.  Whenever there is a financial crisis in Agriculture the government thinks the solution is to throw more money at us.  Our industry thrives in a capitalist market yet is regulated by a socialized system.  Subsidies encourage overproduction.   Margins are as tight as they were in the 80’s.  Agriculture is an industry that is going to need the next generation to get involved in, but is very discouraging financially.  I fear the family farm dynamic will disappear.  
Reduce Ag subsidies, let us run our industry like a business without handouts.  We will produce at market levels, and be more rewarded for the risk we take.  The consumer will probably have to pay a larger % for their food, but probably waste less.

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Given the strong dollar relative to the value of other corn and soybeans exporting countries, how can we expect to compete?  And what is your plan to address this?

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Is Mr.Secertary. Willing to Call out EPA. On the 15 million gallons of Ethanol that is mandated by Law to be used is fuel blending. as they delay and stall up holding the law.

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What are your biggest questions or concerns that USDA can address in 2020?

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