U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will be the keynote speaker for the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Delta Council on June 9 in Cleveland.

“We are so pleased that agriculture’s friend from Georgia, Sonny Perdue, will be the featured speaker for this year’s Delta Council Annual Meeting,” said Delta Council President Harry Simmons of Yazoo City. “Secretary Perdue has an impressive background as an agribusiness man and two-term successful governor of Georgia, and we look forward to the opportunity to meet with him and hear his thoughts on the future of America’s agricultural industry.”

Perdue, a native of Perry, Ga., served in both houses of the Georgia Legislature before being elected governor in 2003, the release from the Delta Council said.

He now serves in the administration of President Donald Trump as the nation’s 31st Secretary of Agriculture.

The Delta Council also will honor more than 140 high school seniors as Delta Honor Graduates on June 9 with the ceremony beginning at 9 a.m., located ‘under the tent’ next to the Bologna Performing Arts Center. The top Honor Graduate will be selected by higher education officials and be presented a $2,500 scholarship during the 10:30 a.m. business session at which Perdue will speak.

“The Delta Honor Graduate event is designed to raise the level of awareness of parents, teachers, and our local communities of the importance of bringing these bright young minds back to the Delta after they have completed their formal and advanced education,” stated Cass Pennington of Indianola, who serves as chairman of the Delta Council Education and Health Policy Committee.

The tradition of a fried catfish luncheon will conclude the program for the 82nd annual event on the grounds of the Quadrangle on the Delta State University Campus.

Sponsors for the 82ndAnnual Meeting include: BankPlus, Catfish Farmers of Mississippi, Cotton, Inc., Sanders, Inc., Mississippi Corn Promotion Board, Mississippi Rice Promotion Board, Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board, and Southern Ag Credit/Mississippi Land Bank.