By MELISSA HART

Michigan Correspondent

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue travelled west to east in Michigan last Thursday, touting a new USDA interactive one-stop website for farmers and listening to the concerns of agricultural stakeholders in the state.

Michigan Farm Bureau began the day hosting Perdue for breakfast, where he unveiled Farmers.gov which gathers the three agencies that comprise USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation mission area: Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Risk Management Agency.

Then, the Michigan Turkey Producers gave Perdue a tour of a turkey processing facility before he went to Zoetis with Gov. Rick Snyder for a town hall meeting. He and Snyder concluded their day with a presentation at FarmLogs in Ann Arbor and a roundtable discussion with several of Michigan’s ag stakeholders, including Ken Nobis of the Michigan Milk Producers Assoc. and Pete Lemmer of Greenstone Farm Credit.

The roundtable also included those representing grain marketing, precision ag, sugar beet production, organic producers and soybean growers. After each participant offered their concerns about agriculture and, short on time, Perdue addressed internet infrastructure, saying he is excited about the interest in the importance of rural broadband networks.

He also related that good productivity in precision agriculture is dependent on technology and data-gathering with access to good broadband. “Broadband will be a huge push for us, and we have been intimately involved in those discussions on the infrastructure bill,” he said.

Perdue discussed a potential bill that could come before Congress this year, as it relates to the permitting process. “The best thing about the infrastructure bill is that the goal of the President, and I believe as a former governor I would take this over the money, is shortening the permitting process,” he explained.

“With the things that have taken five, seven, 10, 15 years to get permitted, the goal of this administration is to constrict that within two years. Time is money when it comes to projects.”

Perdue touched on renewable fuel as well, saying while it is a goal of the USDA to help grow its demand, he conveyed he was disappointed in meeting with corn growers and the Renewable Fuels Assoc., regarding what he sees as inflexibility in their long-term vision of what’s happening in the industry.

“I understand the ethanol industry has been on the defense for years, with people trying to nibble away at it, but it’s time for people to look forward to the vision of no volume mandates, and you better be winning some friends and fellow conservatives in that process and looking at how it can grow,” he said.

When Perdue unveiled the new USDA website he said, “As I’ve traveled to 32 states in my first nine months as Secretary of Agriculture, I have consistently heard people express a desire for greater use of technology in the way we deliver programs at USDA.

“It’s my goal to make USDA the most effective, most efficient, most customer-focused department in the entire federal government, and Farmers.gov is a big step in that direction.”