ARLINGTON, VA – Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward and Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain joined the latest episode of the USA Rice podcast for far-ranging conversations on everything from bioterrorism to WOTUS.
“Secretary Ward is the current president of the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture (SASDA) which recently concluded their annual meeting, and we wanted to get updates from him on big topics covered there such as infrastructure and terrorism,” said show co-host Michael Klein. “But we had a long list of other topics as well.”
Ward and Strain talked about specific infrastructure projects in their states, things they think should be addressed in the upcoming Farm Bill, climate change, trade, and Dicamba.
“One of the themes that kept arising was around uncertainty and how harmful that is for farmers,” said co-host Lesley Dixon. “Whether it was from a regulatory perspective, weather, or markets, farmers need as much certainty as they can get, and the Commissioner and the Secretary are both working to provide as much as possible for our community.”
“We really appreciate that these strong advocates for agriculture were willing to sit down and have such a candid conversation with us,” said Klein. “It was interesting to hear their assessments of infrastructure projects, climate change, and what keeps them up at night.”
New episodes of
The Rice Stuff are published on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month and can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. All episodes and additional information can be found on the podcast’s dedicated website at
thericestuffpodcast.com. The site includes a “Podcast 101” section on the “About” page for people new to the medium and a means to reach out to the show hosts and guests via the “Talk to Us” button.