President Donald Trump will return to Nashville on January 8 to speak to the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau at Gaylord’s Opryland Hotel.
“The American Farm Bureau Federation is honored to host our nation’s president,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in a statement released on the organization’s website last week.
“President Trump has said all along that he would make sure agriculture has a seat at the table when it comes to the top issues facing America’s farmers and ranchers. Now, it is our privilege to reserve a spot for him at our podium,” Duvall said.
“Duvall considers President Trump’s announced speech as a sign of the high regard in which the nation’s chief executive holds America’s farm and ranch families,” the statement continued:
“Farmers and ranchers and our rural communities are the bedrock of our nation. President Trump knows that, and his willingness to devote his time to talk directly with Farm Bureau members will be a memorable occasion,” Duvall said.
After three consecutive years of decline in farm sector profits, President Trump will speak to Farm Bureau members during a period of prolonged economic challenge across farm country. Profits have fallen and many farmers have seen declines in equity. Though the Agriculture Department forecasts that farm profits will be relatively stable in 2017, action on key issues on the president’s agenda could help farmers turn the corner as they head into the new year.
“President Trump is fully aware of the economic difficulties farmers and ranchers have gone through these past few years,” Duvall said. “The economic issues he has outlined, including reform of our nation’s tax and regulatory systems, match many of the issues on Farm Bureau’s agenda.”
President Trump’s executive order establishing the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity, led by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, highlights the importance his administration places on rural America, according to Duvall.
“President Trump has assigned his team to focus on important pocketbook and quality-of-life issues to strengthen rural America, and those issues are front and center on his to-do list,” Duvall said. “We look forward to hearing the strategies that he and Secretary Perdue share for taking agriculture and rural America down the road toward renewed prosperity.”
“Mace Thornton, executive director of communications for the bureau, said in an email Sunday that Trump is scheduled to speak Jan. 8 during a morning session,” The Tennessean reported.
President Trump was last in Nashville nine months ago in March, when he addressed a rally attended by more than 10,000 supporters at the Municipal Auditorium.
The Tennessee Star was there, and reported extensively on the earlier event.
The Star will be in attendance at the president’s January 8 speech to the American Farm Bureau Convention.
