USDA Confirmation and Commentary from the Farm

Getting back in the food blog saddle with a nice post-election/tractor commentary (below) from a local farmer, Danny Rohrer.  As Danny predicted, Sonny Perdue (not related to the poultry company) was confirmed today to be agriculture secretary.

Perdue will be in charge of “around 100,000 employees and the nation’s food and farm programs, including agricultural subsidies, conservation efforts, rural development programs, food safety and nutrition programs such as food stamps and federally-subsidized school meals”, etc.  Purdue has his work cut out for him starting tomorrow, as “Trump has proposed a 21% cut in USDA programs and has harshly criticized some international trade deals, saying they have killed American jobs. But farmers who produce more than they can sell in the United States have heavily profited from some of those deals.”^[1]

Now, from Danny:
“While I do vote most every election and work the polls on election day, politics bores me. My attention span is very short for political debates and news conferences. And it does not matter if I agree or disagree with the speaker. I did not watch the inauguration or parade. However, there was an aspect of the parade that interested me. This was the first time ever that farm tractors were included in the parade. Every brand was included. There were the minor small tractor brands of Mahindra and Kioti. Then there were the big tractors. There was Challenger, which is not really sold in this area. Massey Ferguson, once the most popular brand worldwide, but now is a minor brand and one of my favorites as that is what I grew up with. John Deere had the most tractors in the parade, and two of them came from Gladhill Tractor Mart which has stores in Frederick and Damascus. There was a Case IH tractor that came from Hoober. I was at Hoober’s Chambersburg store yesterday.

The biggest beast was the New Holland tractor. It was supplied by Forrester Farm Equipment in Chambersburg, who I also deal with. While I did not watch the parade live, I did watch the rural tractor brigade on u-tube. From the video, I could not tell if Farmall and McCormick tractors were represented, but I’m guessing they were. There was one aspect of this that disappointed me. I saw an interview with the salesman from one of the tractor stores. What disappointed me was him saying that a premium price would be asked for the tractor just because it was in the parade. The good point is that none of that machinery brand is on my farm.

There is one other aspect of the post election that I really like. The US Department of Agriculture was founded in 1862. There have been quite a few secretaries of Agriculture who have been born on farms. But in that century and a half, only two of the secretaries actually made their living by farming. Until the current nominee, Sonny Perdue, who will be number three. Mr. Perdue grew up on a farm, went to college and became a veterinarian. This part I don’t understand, after spending so much money and so many years of studies, he gave up the profession and returned to farming. He later owned a grain and fertilizer business, kind of like our local farm elevators.

Mr. Perdue is from the state of Georgia, as is current National Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall. So, two of the biggest names in American Agriculture will be Sonny and Zippy. At least those Georgia farm boys have pretty cool names.

At the market this week pork and lamb will be frozen. Most beef will be fresh. Here are a few interesting cuts for the week. I have smoked bone in pork chops, the same cure as the bacon. There are 2 packs of baby back ribs and two pork fish. There will be thick bacon and some nice smoked ham steaks. I have beef/pork, bacon, and cheese hot dogs. I have dried beef, which makes great gravy. I have several packs of lamb sausage, and several packs of goat chorizo sausage. There will be ground goat. There will be baked ham salad. I have one beef hanger steak. Janet will have her jams. Joan will have some baking. And there will be lots of eggs.

Eat fresh. Be well. And I will see you at the market.”