By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

Evergreen FS in Chenoa hosted US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue Monday afternoon during his five state “Back to our Roots” RV tour, giving the secretary a chance to hear about what’s happening in ag from the people who live it daily.

Perdue toured the facility before stopping for questions, which included one about fertilizer prices. Those prices have dropped in the past few years and when asked if he believed that was sustainable, Perdue said it was hard to predict, but that is just part of the risk of farming.

“The markets are the markets, and they’re international markets, so I would just advise our producers to take advantage when they can make a profit. In the private sector, I was in the grain business, and I told our customers, when they were asking about marketing prices, I said ‘You can’t go broke making a profit.’ So, let’s hedge those things in a way that’s profitable and use risk management tools like crop insurance and our other programs to make sure if things don’t happen as we hoped, to have that safety net there that can make sure you can do it again next year,” Perdue said.

Perdue will finish his tour today in Indiana.