Northey attends White House farmer roundtable

by | Apr 26, 2017 | 5 Ag Stories, News

President Donald Trump hosted a “Farmer Roundtable” at the White House Tuesday. The president heard concerns from farmers across the country about what hindered economic growth in the agriculture sector.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey was one of those farmers who attended the meeting.

?During the meeting, it was clear the President understood the importance of a legal and reliable workforce to agriculture and is committed to ensuring a workable immigration system for agriculture. And, on trade my take away is that the President understands how important trade is to agriculture and will not risk undermining the advancements we?ve made in ag trade as they work with our trading partners to address other concerns,” Northey said.

The Farmers Roundtable featured more than a dozen farmers and representatives of the agriculture community who discussed a variety of topics with President Trump and Secretary Perdue including agricultural trade, regulatory reform, rural investment and infrastructure, labor issues, and the Farm Bill.

?The people who are on the front lines of American agriculture don?t have the luxury of waiting to tend to their crops and livestock, so there was no better time to convene this meeting of the minds than on my first day,? Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said. ?President Trump has made it clear that addressing the needs of rural America will be a top priority, and the message that we want to send to the agriculture community is that we are here, we are working hard, and we are on their side.?

Other participants in the roundtable included:

Lisa Johnson-Billy, farmer and former Oklahoma House member, Lindsay, OK
? Luke Brubaker, Brubaker Farms, Mount Joy, PA
? Hank Choate, Choate?s Belly Acres, Cement City, MI
? Tom Demaline, Willoway Nurseries, Avon, OH
? Zippy Duval, President of American Farm Bureau Federation and a farmer from Greensboro, GA
? Valerie Early, National FFA Central Region Vice President and former 4-H member, Wykoff, MN
? Lynetta Usher Griner, Usher Land and Timber, Inc., Fanning Springs, FL (also farms in the state of KS)
? A.G. Kawamura, Orange County Produce, Newport Beach, CA
? James Lamb, Lamb Farms and Prestage Farms, Clinton, NC
? Jose Rojas, VP of Farm Operations for Hormel, Colorado Springs, CO
? Terry Swanson, Swanson Farms, Walsh, CO
? Maureen Torrey, Torrey Farms, Elba, NY
? Steve Troxler, NC Commissioner of Agriculture and farmer, Browns Summit, NC