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USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue Meets With Arizona Farmers

USDA secretary perdue
(Photo by Valentino Reyes - USDA-NRCS)
USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue meets with owners of Francis Roses Farm in Litchfield Park.

The head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is in Phoenix this week meeting local farmers and ag officials.

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue came to Francis Rose’s farms in Litchfield Park Thursday.

It was the second stop on a Valley tour that started in Mesa with Arizona Department of Agriculture officials. There Perdue participated in a roundtable discussion about Arizona’s growers.

In the rose cutting warehouse, he said getting to meet farmers one on one helps get those rural voices heard at the national level.

“I’ve been instructed to get out and talk to people on the ground, and find out how we can help them, what are their needs, what are their impediments, what are the regulations that diminish their ability to be thriving American agriculture,” Perdue said. 

Arizona’s Rural Development Director was recently appointed by the administration – the Farm Service Agency director is yet to be announced.

Perdue will speak at the Western Governors Association meeting Friday.

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Casey Kuhn was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2015 to 2019.