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“It’s nearly impossible to fire a federal worker,” Mr. Mulvaney said. “I know that because a lot of them work for me and I’ve tried and you can’t do it.”

At Minnesota’s Farmfest, it was clear that Mr. Perdue’s Southern charm could go only so far. His answers to questions about how the trade war with China would end were curt, and his quip about whining farmers left some with a sour taste.

“We shouldn’t have to whine to get paid,” said Joel Schreurs, a farmer from Tyler, Minn., who questioned Mr. Perdue at the event. “They should be grateful that we’re taking one for the team.”

Last week, Agriculture Department staff members in Nebraska left the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour after receiving a threat from an angry farmer. According to an organizer of the event, farmers have been venting to the government employees who attended the annual tour about depressed crop prices, falling farm income and difficulty gaining access to credit.

“This is a stressful time in agriculture,” said Joel Jaeger, the general manager of Pro Farmer. “There’s certainly a lot of stress in the farm community.”

But many farmers continue to support Mr. Trump and express hope that the president knows what he is doing in his dealings with China. A July survey from Farm Journal found that 79 percent of 1,100 farmers still back Mr. Trump despite the lack of progress in negotiations with China, however his support dropped to 71 percent in August.

For now, Mr. Perdue largely remains an effective emissary, with the industry still hoping Mr. Trump can pull off the kind of trade deal he has been promising.

“He’s one of us; he’s a farmer,” Brad Kremer, a Wisconsin farmer who is the treasurer of the American Soybean Association, said of Mr. Perdue. “I think he’s got a tough job in a tough administration.”