The United Fresh Washington Virtual Conference featured representatives of the Trump and Biden campaigns for a look at ag policy. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s former chief of staff, Ray Starling, credits President Trump for putting together a quality team at the USDA. Starling also brought up trade relationships. “To put it bluntly, President Trump was the voice in the wilderness calling for a check and balance on our trade relationships when other efforts hadn’t shown much progress.” U.S. Dairy Export Council CEO Tom Vilsack served as agriculture secretary during the Obama Administration and represented Joe Biden’s team. Vilsack focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, infrastructure, immigration and ag exports. “We used to be able to say the U.S. has a $25 billion trade surplus in agriculture and today, we’re looking at reductions in that surplus. It could be the first time in 60 years we haven’t had an ag surplus.” Hear the full story.