Perdue at United Fresh: We'll help boost produce consumption

CHICAGO — Touching on trade, farm labor and food safety regulations, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue defended Trump administration efforts to help fruit and vegetable growers deal with the tough issues they face.

Speaking the morning of June 26 at the United Fresh Produce Association conference, Perdue — who grew up on a diversified central Georgia farm — said he often trucked vegetables and watermelons to the Atlanta farmers market as a teenager.

“I have a real childhood affinity for your business, for your occupation and for your industry,” he said.

Perdue said fruits and vegetables are important to his own health and the well-being of the country.

During a recent checkup, Perdue said his doctor advised him to eat five fruits and vegetables a day, get exercise and cut out sugary drinks.

Fresh fruits and vegetables have been the victim of the country’s “fast food pace” of living, he said.

“We have got to help young people in schools and others understand the value of fresh fruits and vegetables,” he said, noting pending work on the 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Perdue said the farm bill will include funds for the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Grant Program, which will give some food stamp recipients financial incentives to buy fruits and vegetables.

“We look forward to working the Congress and all the stakeholders to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption,” he said.

Labor and trade

Perdue said growers need a legal, reliable and stable source of labor to get the produce from the fields and orchards to supermarkets.

That isn’t easy, he said. The H-2A guest worker program is very cumbersome and requires working with multiple state and federal agencies, Perdue said.

“I don’t think you ought to have to hire a lawyer or an accountant to hire a farm worker,” he said.

Perdue said the Trump administration is working to streamline the H-2A guest worker program, but he said not all fixes can be done administratively.

“Farmers need long-term legislative solutions to ensure that our food, our fresh fruits and vegetables, continues to be grown in the United States of America,” he said.

On trade negotiations with China, Perdue said that President Trump wants to stop China from stealing intellectual property from the U.S.

That isn’t happening only to high-tech electronics, he said, recalling that in 2013 six Chinese nationals were caught trying to steal corn seed from an Iowa field in order to send it back to China to reverse engineer the genetics.

“So let’s not call it just ‘unfair trade practices,’ let’s call it what it is, just plain stealing,” he said. “The president’s message is simple — we cannot allow China to continue that kind of behavior.”

Perdue said President Trump has pledged that the federal government will take the steps necessary to protect farmers from the brunt of China’s retaliation as the U.S. defends its interests.

Audit fatigue

Perdue closed with a challenge to fresh produce industry buyers to eliminate redundant audits that are weighing on growers.

Perdue observed the recent collaboration between USDA and the Food and Drug Administration to harmonize the USDA’s Good Agricultural Practice audits with the FDA’s Produce Safety Rule. The USDA’s harmonized GAP audits also are in the process of being benchmarked with the Global Food Safety Initiative.

“USDA and FDA joined together to streamline, harmonize and integrate produce safety requirements for farmers,” he said. “When these two massive federal bureaucracies actually get together to make your life easier, that’s almost as big as President Trump meeting with North Korea.”

Perdue challenged buyers to simplify their food safety requirements for growers as well.

“Audit fatigue is no respecter of public or private sector,” he said. “It’s even worse for growers when they’re pulling in and providing the same information over and over again with one group expecting a little bit different here and there over and over again for minor differences in those audits,” he said.

“I challenge you, especially your retail and wholesale institutional buyers, to follow our example. Get together and come up with a single integrated set of regulations and requirements,” he said. “Let’s give our producers a single set of rules and requirements to help in food safety,” he said.