Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 12/7/20

The leaders of major farmer and commodity groups met with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team for USDA on Friday — virtually, of course.

Building trust: “It’s my responsibility to try to build a bridge of trust with the new administration that’s coming in,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, who participated in the Ag CEO Council meeting Friday. It wasn’t his first contact with the transition team. Duvall told POLITICO he received a call from Robert Bonnie, head of the Biden review team for USDA, on a recent Saturday and they spent about an hour on the phone talking about various issues.

More markets, please: Leaders pressed the need for better market access during the meeting, Duvall said. “We know that there were a lot of federal payments this year and we need to have strong markets so we can make our money in the marketplace,” he said.

More aid in 2021? Duvall said it “still remains to be seen” how much aid agricultural producers will need in 2021. It all depends on Covid-19, trade conditions and commodity prices, he noted.

The council raised many of the issues that it flagged in a briefing document for the transition earlier this fall, which contended that the economic health of agriculture is “poor and deteriorating” despite record government payments. Other top issues presented include a Covid-19 vaccine, trade agreements, biofuels, research, rural broadband, labor, infrastructure, sustainability and climate.

A farmer ag secretary? Duvall said the group did not weigh in on whom it might prefer to lead USDA under Biden, but he said he told Bonnie that the Farm Bureau would like to see someone who has farmed in their adult life. “If not, then someone that has a deep knowledge of the issues,” he said, noting that a lot of people fall into that category.