US agriculture secretary to address Wisconsin town hall

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary is set to make a stop in Wisconsin.

Sonny Perdue is scheduled to speak at a town hall session at the World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy Center on Tuesday morning. He plans to spend the rest of the day touring a Verona elementary school, a Fitchburg apple orchard, UW-Madison and a USDA cereal crops research lab in Madison.

Perdue’s appearance comes as Wisconsin dairy farmers wrestle with a host of problems, including declining milk prices, rising suicide rates, an industry transition toward a factory farm model and Trump’s trade wars.

State data show Wisconsin has lost 551 dairy farms so far this year after losing nearly 640 farms last year.

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