Luther Strange focusing on farms as Senate campaign heats up

With Alabama's U.S. Senate campaign heating up, incumbent Senator Luther Strange is focusing on the farm.

Specifically, the senator has honed in on the 2018 Farm Bill even as his Republican Senate opponents continue canvassing the state for support less than one month before the Aug. 15 primaries.

Strange met with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, the former Georgia governor, on Friday during a meeting with farmers and agriculture industry officials Friday in Point Clear.

"I've committed to farmers not only here but across the country that we want USDA to be a partner in the productive capacity of our great American agricultural system," said Perdue, who has been publicly promoting in recent days the return of U.S. beef to China after a 13-year hiatus.

Perdue was confirmed as Agriculture Secretary in late April.

Said Strange, "We're lucky as a country that someone who understands the Southeast and the issues we face is willing to take on the job."

Perdue, while meeting with farmers in coastal Alabama, highlighted the need to include cotton farming interests into the Farm Bill.

His visit to coastal Alabama comes one day after the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal 2018 funding bill for the USDA that makes cottonseed eligible for the Price Loss Coverage program. The move is viewed as a boost for cotton farmers, who have suffered economic hardship due to depressed commodity prices.

While in Point Clear, Perdue said, "farmers were letting me know that there are needs out there that the Senator and his colleagues need to be addressing in the 2018 Farm Bill."

Strange also joined Perdue and Alabama Farmers Federation President Jimmy Parnell to tour a row crop and sod farm in Daphne, and to inspect damage from Tropical Storm Cindy last month.

Earlier in the day, Perdue met with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for lunch at Mama's on Dauphin in downtown Mobile.

For Strange, the Perdue visit was the third event in July in which the senator has focused on agriculture-related issues. He has pointed out that he's the "first senator from Alabama in over 20 years" to sit on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Strange met with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt earlier this month while the two visited a farm in Bibb County.

One week ago, he hosted Republican Kansas Senator Pat Roberts at a farm in Autaugaville to discuss the Farm Bill and its potential impact on cotton and peanut farmers.

At times, the farm focus has coincided with campaign events. Strange was absent from the July 15 candidates' forum in Robertsdale while he met, instead, with Roberts.

Strange is in Baldwin County this weekend - as are most of the Senate candidates - for a fish fry hosted by the Eastern Shore Republican Women in Fairhope.

Strange, who was appointed to the Senate seat earlier this year by former Gov. Robert Bentley, is competing against nine GOP candidates in next month's primary. A runoff, if needed, is Sept. 28. The general election is Dec. 12.

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