10-21 NWR Rural Democrats

This is your Northwest report for Friday, October 21st, I'm David Sparks and one of agriculture's top Democrats says he would like to see his party court the backing of more voters in rural America. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke at a Washington Post event where he touched on a wide variety of topics ranging from the nation's opioid abuse to his tenure as secretary where he is the only remaining original Obama cabinet member. While rural America has traditionally been a Republican stronghold Vilsack says there are votes for the taking. "I think the Democratic party has to look inward a little bit and has to begin understanding that rural voters are still up for grabs. I don't think you can assume that they are monolithic in terms of their political persuasion. I think what happens in rural areas, there are a lot of folks who are Democrats but who, if they live in a rural, predominantly Republican area, may not be very vocal. But if you have a candidate who speaks to rural voters, that empowers voters at the local level to get active.

Elsewhere, "The convention hall will come to order." And with that, FFA National Pres. Taylor McNeil officially opened the 89th National Convention in Indianapolis. This year there is record membership and potentially record convention attendance. More than 60,000 FFA members and guests are expected to attend the four-day event

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Finally, according to Reuters, A U.S. district court judge in Kansas this week said lawsuits brought by U.S. farmers against seed company Syngenta AG over sales of biotech corn seeds not approved for import by China can proceed as a class action, according to a court filing.