Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 10/24/18

Trump will give a speech to a crowd that's expected to top more than 65,000 people at the National Future Farmers of America Organization's annual convention in Indianapolis on Saturday. Perdue, who routinely attends FFA events and invites members along on his own travels, also plans to make the rounds at the convention, a USDA spokesman said. FFA is an agricultural education program for students in middle and high school.

A bit of presidential history: It's an FFA tradition to invite the sitting president to deliver remarks. Trump is the first president since George H.W. Bush in 1991 to attend, the organization said, with Vice President Mike Pence and former first lady Michelle Obama appearing in pre-recorded greetings last year and in 2015, respectively.

Trade on the brain: Less than two weeks out from Election Day, Trump will likely focus on promoting his trade agenda, even as major trading partners like China, Canada, Mexico and the EU maintain retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods. Farm groups have urged the administration to remove U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, as well as end the trade dispute with Beijing, which has led to a combined $113 billion in U.S. goods being hit with countertariffs.

As harvests are underway throughout the U.S. grain and soybean belt, there are reports of plunging shipments to China and slower growth among U.S. manufacturers like Caterpillar.

Sticking with Trump: The trade battles don't seem to be spurring farmers to abandon Trump in droves, however. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told reporters Tuesday that his own doubts about the president's trade agenda have been allayed by the administration's deal with Canada and Mexico to reboot NAFTA, and its plans to start trade talks with Japan, the U.K. and the EU early next year.

"During the period up until USMCA, and the doubt that farmers had, I still didn't hear anyone saying they were done with Trump as a result of trade negotiations," Grassley said. "I think they thought his goals were right. Now that he's succeeded, I think it reinforces the fact that they're going to stick with the president."