Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told the House Ag Committee trade is the way out of a bad farm economy. Testifying yesterday for his first time as Secretary he told lawmakers the farm economy is in “dire straits”.

And Perdue says there will be less help for farmers this year than last…

He says the farm bill safety net is working, but trade is the answer.

Perdue suggests keeping key wins in the now-defunct TPP and even extending them to a trilateral NAFTA, Asia trade effort, while protecting trade-important U.S. herds with vaccine banks for FMD and highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Meanwhile, Perdue defended his move to elevate the undersecretary for rural development to be closer to him and criticized the media for portraying it as an elimination of the post.