Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 10/19/18

Perdue also told reporters Thursday that he plans to heed Trump's directive to slash federal spending by 5 percent — and thinks USDA can find even greater savings than that.

The president's call to action follows a Treasury Department report on the budget shortfall for fiscal 2018, which totaled $776 billion — 17 percent higher than the previous year — driven in large part by a decline in corporate tax revenue following the Republican tax overhaul.

"USDA will absolutely participate in that," Perdue said after the school lunch event.

Potential money pots: The fiscal 2019 budget blueprint Trump sent to Congress requested a 16 percent cut to USDA discretionary spending, though lawmakers rebuffed the proposal in appropriations legislation.

It is still unknown whether Perdue's decision to relocate USDA's Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture out of Washington next year will save any money because the department hasn't released a cost-benefit analysis.

Perdue has said there isn't enough data yet to project how many staffers will leave. So far, 139 cities in 34 states have applied to be the relocation destination.