{"id":170239,"date":"2019-04-22T10:27:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T15:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=170239"},"modified":"2019-04-22T10:28:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T15:28:16","slug":"ag-secretary-sonny-perdue-coming-to-nd-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=170239","title":{"rendered":"Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue coming to ND this week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-128523\" src=\"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/PerdueSonny.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"119\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/PerdueSonny.jpg 119w, https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/PerdueSonny-96x175.jpg 96w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 119px) 100vw, 119px\" \/>Jamestown (NDFU)\u00a0 The North Dakota Farmers Union reports that\u00a0 news that Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) will be hosting U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue this week in the Red River Valley is welcomed news for family farmers. While the Secretary will see new ag innovations being developed in our university system, it\u2019s important he also sees the state of agriculture in North Dakota.<\/p>\n<p>The North Dakota Farmers Union,\u00a0 is asking Sen. Hoeven,to\u00a0 please remind the Secretary that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Net farm income is expected to be almost 50% less this year than in 2013, making it our sixth consecutive year of depressed farm income.<\/li>\n<li>Total farm debt is at its highest levels since 1981.<\/li>\n<li>Direct farm loan delinquencies at the Farm Service Agency are the highest they\u2019ve been in nine years.<\/li>\n<li>Farm bankruptcies are up 93% in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that encompasses North Dakota.<\/li>\n<li>Perdue\u2019s department, USDA, projects net farm income to remain flat through 2027.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The letter from NFU President Mark Watne to Hoeven adds, that unless these facts change, we will lose farms in North Dakota this year, especially the bottom 20% that have already restructured their loans for two or three years running and still can\u2019t cash flow. This isn\u2019t rhetoric. This isn\u2019t a partisan issue. Every farmer in the state has been impacted by the administration\u2019s trade policy and by low commodity prices.<\/p>\n<p>Watne addes, every farmer in our state hopes the trade situation will turn around. Every farmer hopes commodity prices will rise to cover the cost of production. Every farmer hopes the cost of seed and fertilizer will come down. The problem with that thinking though is \u201chope\u201d is not a strategy. Hope doesn\u2019t pay bills.<\/p>\n<p>Without good yields and the Market Facilitation Program payments that were made last year to offset lost income from the trade war with China, many farmers in our state would not be preparing for spring planting. The farm bill safety net isn\u2019t designed to offset an economic slump of this length and severity.<\/p>\n<p>Watne says, &#8220;I\u2019m confident that Sen. Hoeven, a former ag lender, understands the severity of the ag economy in our state. We need his leadership in Congress and Secretary Perdue\u2019s leadership to address this economic disaster that looms large in North Dakota.&#8221;<br \/>\nStatments to Sen. Hoeven and Secretary Perdue, Says, &#8220;It is time for an economic disaster package that includes all commodities impacted by low prices due to trade and energy waivers. During tough times in the past, other ag leaders have stepped up to deliver necessary support for farmers and ranchers. The time to act is now.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jamestown (NDFU)\u00a0 The North Dakota Farmers Union reports that\u00a0 news that Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) will be hosting U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue this week in the Red River Valley is welcomed news for family farmers. While the Secretary will see new ag innovations being developed in our university [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":140310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170240,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170239\/revisions\/170240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/140310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}