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Vilsack: Obama, farmers take same track

President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday followed a road map laid out by the nation’s farmers, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

In an interview Wednesday morning with Brownfield, Vilsack paraphrased the President, saying the chief executive wants to spend less and spend wisely; President Obama acknowledges that the U.S. needs to take the lead globally in innovation and in building while getting serious about deficit reduction. That, said Vilsack, is the same formula used by agriculture.

“If you look at farmers and ranchers around the country they recognize they can’t be overburdened with debt; they’ve reduced their debt significantly, they have embraced innovation so they’ve become far more productive,” said Vilsack, “and as a result, we have seen significant increases in exports, which helps the bottom line for farms and ranching operations.”

Specifically, Vilsack cited President Obama’s references to renewable fuels, exports and pending free trade agreements.

“The President also mentioned that we’ll not just solely rely on free trade agreements, we’ll continue to look at multi-lateral arrangements as the Trans-Pacific Partnership discussions take place,” said Secretary Vilsack, referring to negotiations currently taking place among nine countries.

Vilsack is also heartened that the President acknowledges the need for rural broadband development.

“Farmers and Ranchers can make real-time information decisions that are best for their operations with the information that broadband can provide,” said the Secretary.

AUDIO: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (10 min. MP3)