President Donald Trump is set to address the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention next week in New Orleans, his second straight trip to the group’s gathering.
A Farm Bureau spokesman confirmed to Agri-Pulse that Trump plans to speak at the convention’s closing session on Monday. A White House spokesman also confirmed the trip, saying Trump “looks forward to touting positive impacts of the recently-signed USMCA, as well as the recently passed Farm Bill.”
The trip will mark a back-to-back trip to the convention for Trump, who also addressed the group last year in Nashville. In his speech, he called for a new farm bill that protected crop insurance as well as pledged to produce a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico that improved on the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Both outcomes have been achieved to some extent; Trump signed the new farm bill into law in December and signed the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal in November. Congress has yet to take up the new pact.
In his speech, he quipped that he was disappointed last year’s gathering was the 99th annual convention.
“A hundred is so much cooler, I have to be honest,” Trump joked. “So I’ll be back, I think. Next year, I’ll come back.”
This is the third trip to an agriculture convention for Trump in the last year. In addition to his trip to Nashville, he also spoke in October at the National FFA Convention.
Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue is also scheduled to be in attendance.
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