Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue attends a Farmer’s Roundtable where President Donald Trump signed the Executive Order Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America April 25, 2017, at the White House in Washington, D.C.. USDA photo by Preston Keres
Fourteen farmers from across the country, including American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, are meeting with President Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for an agriculture roundtable discussion. During the roundtable, the farmers will discuss with Trump and Perdue the issues the White House believes are most pressing for American agriculture.
Farmers from California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania will be participating in the meeting. The invitees were selected by the White House to showcase the diverse nature of agriculture production in the U.S.
California will be represented by A.G. Kawamura of California, third-generation fruit and vegetable grower and shipper from Orange County; former secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture; current board member, Western Growers Association at the event.
Wenger
“It is an honor to have a representative of California agriculture invited to play an integral role in this roundtable discussion at the White House,” said Paul J. Wenger, California Farm Bureau president. “Farm Bureau looks forward to working with the administration and Congress on issues like trade, farm labor and regulatory reform, with the goal of boosting American agriculture and increasing access to American-grown food, fuel and fiber.”
The full list of attendees for this meeting is below.
- Luke Brubaker of Pennsylvania, dairy farmer and chair of the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board
- Hank Choate of Michigan, dairy farmer
- Tom Demaline of Ohio, president of Willoway Nurseries and vice chair, AmericanHort
- Zippy Duvall of Georgia, beef cattle and poultry farmer, president, American Farm Bureau Federation
- Valerie Earley of Minnesota, sophomore at the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences; National FFA officer (central region vice president), 2016-2017
- Lynetta Griner of Florida, owner/operator of Usher Land and Timber, president of the Florida Forestry Association
- A.G. Kawamura of California, third-generation fruit and vegetable grower and shipper from Orange County; former secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture; current board member, Western Growers Association
- James “Cookie” Lamb of North Carolina, hog farmer
- Bill Northey of Iowa, corn and soybean farmer and secretary, Iowa Department of Agriculture
- Jose Rojas of Colorado, vice president of farm operations at Hormel Foods
- Terry Swanson of Colorado, owner of Swanson Farms
- Maureen Torrey of New York, fresh market vegetable farmer
- Steve Troxler of North Carolina, farmer and commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
- Lisa Johnson-Billy, former member of the Oklahoma state house, small-farm background
This event is a historic occasion, as it is believed the last time a group of farmers met with a U.S. president this early in an administration was prior to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.
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