Sonny Perdue

WASHINGTON — Sonny Perdue, a farmer’s son who built businesses in grain trading and trucking before becoming the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction, is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Agriculture Department, The Associated Press has learned.

Trump intends to nominate Perdue, according to a person familiar with the decision but not authorized to speak publicly about it. Agriculture secretary is the only Cabinet post for which Trump, who will be inaugurated Friday, has not announced a selection.

Perdue, 70, who comes from the small city of Bonaire in rural central Georgia, would be the first Southerner in the post in more than two decades. He is not related to or affiliated with the food company Perdue or the poultry producer Perdue Farms.

Agriculture secretaries are often from the Midwest, where corn and soybeans dominate the markets. U.S. farm policy has long been favorable to those crops, and congressional battles over massive farm bills every five years often divide along regional lines. Southerners have pushed for subsidy programs that are more favorable to rice and cotton, which can be more expensive to grow.

The last three agriculture secretaries were from Iowa, North Dakota and Nebraska.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said Thursday in a statement that he wants to talk to Perdue about “the unique interests of Midwest agriculture,” including trade and regulatory burdens.

“Nebraskans feed the world and our agriculture secretary needs to understand what we bring to the table,” Sasse said.

Perdue began his political career as a Democrat in the Georgia Legislature in the 1990s. After switching his allegiance to the Republican Party, he was elected governor in 2002. The victory over an incumbent Democrat completed Georgia’s shift to a solidly Republican state