Perdue, adding to his list of life’s adventures

George E. “Sonny” Perdue III has been nominated by the incoming Trump administration to fill the Cabinet level post of Secretary of Agriculture. While we could question some of President Trump’s other selections for high level office, we have no reservations about this pick. Perdue, who served the great state of Georgia as governor from 2003 to 2011, didn’t attain his knowledge of agriculture from sleeping in a Holiday Inn last night, rather, he was literally born into into the business. While his mother was a teacher, his father was a Houston County farmer. Perdue went on to earn his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Georgia, serve in the U.S. Air Force and practice veterinary medicine. Somewhere in between all that he managed to play football at Warner Robins High School and UGA. His political career? Well, most folks around here know about all that so we won’t waste the space. Needless to say, he’s been dabbling in politics since the 1980s.

As far as agriculture is concerned, Georgia may have the most powerful delegation in the country, particularly Middle Georgia with the addition of Perdue as Ag secretary. Perdue’s first cousin, Sen. David Perdue, sits on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and chairs the Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources. Rep. Sanford Bishop is the Ranking Member for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies. That subcommittee has funding jurisdiction over the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Farm Credit Administration and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Rep. Austin Scott sits on the House Agriculture Committee and is chairman of the Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit. Another Georgian worth mentioning, now working in Washington, D.C., is Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau who was based in Macon at the Georgia Farm Bureau before leaving last January.

Now Perdue, the last of Trump’s Cabinet picks, must go through the grueling Senate confirmation process. We will stick our necks out here and predict the senators will have a tough time finding anything to dislike about Perdue. But Washington being Washington, we’re also sure they’ll find something to spend a few hours of their time talking about. We did have to ask Perdue, however, why at 70, he would accept a new challenge like this one and put himself through such a process? “Seventy,” he said, in a phone interview Thursday morning, “is the new 40 in my book. Mary and I both are looking forward to this opportunity. I think it’s a very unique opportunity to have to serve our nation. We had a wonderful opportunity and enjoyed every moment of it as governor, but this is a unique opportunity to cross the country to support what I think is one of our greatest industries and most productive industries in our county, and that’s agriculture.”

For those who’ll miss Perdue’s regular appearances around Middle Georgia, don’t fret. While Sophie Tucker sang, “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘em Down on the Farm (After they’ve Seen D.C.?”) (liberties with the title taken), Sonny knows his way back to his Houston County home. You can bet on that.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Perdue, adding to his list of life’s adventures."