Perdue Calls For Private Investment in Ag Innovation

Rick Worthington

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue joined John Hartnett with SVG Ventures recently to discuss private investment in agricultural innovation and how it will be needed to feed the world's growing population.

“We’ve seen the potential threat that really couldn’t be contemplated any way. I would submit that the efficiency of our food supply chain led to this dual track of producers and processors and packagers, and even logistics, serving two different markets: the institutional food service market whether it’s restaurants, hotels, conventions or schools and colleges, and the other – another dual track that efficiently served the grocery store market,” Perdue said. “So when we saw the one supply chain from a demand perspective close almost overnight, that created some serious misalignment of supply and demand that we had to be extremely nimble in trying to realign to direct, so that that production would not go to waste.”