Sonny Perdue
I want to say something in a tough-love kind of way about crop insurance. Let's face it: You don't buy insurance on your house hoping it will burn down. Neither do we want to buy crop insurance and hope our crop fails so we can file.
We have to get out of the mindset that, 'If I invest $1 in crop insurance, I want to make sure I get a $1.10 or plus out of that.'
Floods, droughts, and natural disasters are a fact of life for farmers, ranchers, and foresters. They have persevered in the past, and they will adapt in the future - with the assistance of the scientists and experts at USDA.
In Georgia, agriculture is one area where Democrats and Republicans consistently reached across the aisle and work together.
I haven't run across anyone in Georgia who is not regretful and repentant of man's inhumanity when you talk about owning one another.
I'm going to be the unapologetic chief advocate, chief salesman for American agriculture products around the world. You grow 'em, we're going to sell 'em.
I think overall, from a deputy, from an undersecretary standpoint, the goal of a good leader is to get diversity across there. Geographical diversity is important. Industry diversity is important: you can't have all corn growers... Not only that, you've got gender diversity, you've got racial diversity.
I want the USDA to look like America, and I want it to be the best, most effectively managed agency in the U.S. That starts with good people.
I call it people-to-people politics and thats what politics should be about, reaching out and helping one another and touching one another about what were going to do.Collection: People
I believe Georgia should aspire to nothing less than greatness And I believe greatness is within our grasp.Collection: Believe