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Release No. 0439.05 Contact: USDA Press Office (202) 720-4623

**Transcript of the Florida Farm Bill Forum with Agriculture Secretary
Mike Johanns and**

**Moderator Gary Cooper of Southeast AgriNet Orlando, Florida -
September 27, 2005**

(Pledge of Allegiance is recited.)\
\
(National Anthem sung.)\
\
MODERATOR: Thank you. Please be seated. (Applause.)\
\
Well, we\'ll go over the ground rules for today\'s forum in just a
moment, but first of all, Mr. Secretary, welcome to the Sunshine State.
Briefly, folks in this room are very aware of what others around the
nation often forget, and that is that Florida is a top 10 state in
agriculture, and has been for a long, long time \-- expects to be for a
long, long time to come.\
\
We do appreciate your presence here, to hear Florida\'s concerns about
the upcoming Farm Bill. Secretary Johanns was born and raised in an Iowa
dairy farm. He comes from agricultural roots. He knows was early
mornings and late nights are all about on the farm. He was elected mayor
of Lincoln, Nebraska before becoming the governor of Nebraska. And
we\'re not going to waste a lot of time on introductions, but we would
like to hear some opening comments from you, Mr. Secretary.\
\
SEC. JOHANNS: I\'d love to do that. Well, let me just say it\'s great to
be back in Florida. If I might just acknowledge and thank some people,
to get started today. Let me start out with our moderator. You\'re going
to see pretty soon here that Gary is kind of the enforcer. What that
means is that when you get to the end of the time, Gary will be saying,
\"Time\" \-- or something. But Gary Cooper, from Southeast Agnet, is our
moderator today. Gary, thank you very much.\
\
Sitting right here, front and center, is Charlie Bronson, the Florida
commissioner of agriculture and consumer affairs. And, Charlie, we\'ve
enjoyed working with you and your staff and appreciate the fact that you
are here with us today.\
\
I also want to say thanks to the Navy ROTC from Poinciana High School,
the Color Guard. And I thought they did a great job. And Diana Anderson,
who sang the National Anthem \-- didn\'t she do a beautiful job? I
thought she was great. (Applause.)\
\
We love to involve in these Farm Bill forums the 4-H and the FFA. You
see the green colors out there for 4-H and the blue jackets for the FFA.
But we had Hannah Schmidt from 4-H and Brady \-- I believe it\'s
Revels\-- from the FFA assist us in the Pledge of Allegiance.\
\
I also want to thank the USDA State Farm Bill Forum Committee, and the
Florida Fruits and Vegetables Association convention organizers for
their help in putting this forum together.\
\
I wanted to offer just a couple of quick thoughts before we get started
today on some of the things that are very topical, and then talk about
the forum itself.\
\
First let me start with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Of course you had
experience with Katrina, very personal experience, because some of your
counties were battered by Katrina as it moved across the southern part
of Florida on into the Gulf. We\'ve been working on Katrina. We\'ve also
been working on Rita. We\'re a major part of the recovery effort.
Already we\'ve devoted about \$170 million in emergency assistance for
agricultural producers. But even before the hurricane hit we had
prepositioned food in warehouses so we could access that. Since then
we\'ve delivered about 15 million tons of food out of the USDA into the
affected areas. People, especially in New Orleans, but really across the
hurricane paths in many cases just simply lot everything. And so we have
now signed up about 500,000 people for food stamp benefits to kind of
restart their life, if you will.\
\
We also have housing across the country, and we placed about 5,300
Katrina evacuees into housing situations, again to help them get back on
their feet. And we\'ve had over 4,000 Forest Service employees in the
area helping with the first response.\
\
We released our numbers recently, as you know, on Katrina relative to
storm damage. We emphasized at the time those were preliminary numbers.
The other thing I would say is since those numbers were released, just
in the last 10 days, Rita came through. And we know we\'re going to have
crop damage from Rita, so we are working to put those numbers together
so we can get an idea of the amount of damage to agriculture, if you
will \-- and, again, I emphasize this is crop damage.\
\
Now, if I might just offer a thought or two on the Listening Tour. This
is our twenty-second forum across the country. Today will be my
sixteenth forum, so I\'ve done the majority of the forums myself. But
the deputy has been out there doing forums, we\'ve had undersecretaries.
It\'s been a great opportunity for us to hear what\'s on people\'s minds
relative to agriculture.\
\
I myself have an agriculture background. I grew up on a dairy farm in
Iowa \-- you look puzzled, like, Where in Iowa? \-- so I better clear
that up. I grew up near Osage, Iowa. Now you\'re smiling \-- you still
look puzzled. So I better tell you where Osage is. Osage is south of
Stacyville and Saint Ansgar, and it\'s straight east of Manly. So now
you know where Osage is at. (Laughter.)\
\
I said at the time of my nomination for this position by the president
that my life was really shaped by those years that I spent in that dairy
farm. I want to see the opportunity for young people who have an
interest in agriculture to get involved in agriculture.\
\
When I wore that blue jacket myself, we had a pledge, and it started
with, \"I believe in the future of farming.\" Today I think it is, \"I
believe in the future of agriculture.\" I do believe in the future of
agriculture. But we need to make sure that what we do with farm policy
is the right approach.\
\
As we\'ve done these forums, we\'ve started to hear some themes, if you
will, that are fairly consistent. The first theme that we have heard is
that when it comes to rural development by and large people think we are
doing a good job. In fact, I have not heard a negative comment on rural
development. The president\'s initiatives have really truly made a
difference in this area. Whether that is a low-interest loan for a
sewage treatment plant or a water facility or it\'s a wing on a hospital
that we help finance \-- or maybe it\'s new fire trucks \-- whatever it
is, people are seeing that that investment is making a positive
difference in their communities. And so when it comes to rural
development, we\'ve seen some very, very positive comments.\
\
Conservation we also get generally very positive comments. And, again, I
think people can see that we\'ve made a difference there. So a little
bit of dissension maybe in some areas where people feel that maybe the
payments we make for conservation lands raise the amount that they pay
for grassland for cow\\calf operations, for example. But other than
it\'s been pretty supportive.\
\
Now, in the area of subsidies, we\'ve asked the question, do you think
the distribution of farm payments is fair or equitable? \-- or a
question of that nature \-- you\'ll see it on the material we handed
out. And, believe me, we\'ve gotten a tremendous amount of debate in
that area \-- tremendous amount of debate.\
\
In the Midwest we have people that literally come up and say, \"We need
payment loans.\" As we move into the South, we don\'t hear that \-- we
hear very much the opposite.\
\
I\'m very interested hearing your thoughts here, because you would not
have the extent of program crops, if you will, that you would see in a
Midwestern state, a state like Iowa or Nebraska or North Dakota or South
Dakota. So I\'m very, very interested to hear what\'s on your mind and
what you are interested in terms of farm policy. I do want to wrap up my
comments today. I brought greetings from a good friend of yours, a man
who asked me to do this job, and a man whom I\'ve now worked with very,
very closely over the last nine months and even before then \-- first
when we were governors and then when he became president of the United
States, and I will tell you a man that I\'ve grown to admire and respect
a lot. He works very, very hard every day on your behalf. So I bring
greetings from the president of the United States. Can we run that
greeting?\
\
PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH (from audiotape): Thanks for letting me speak to
you at this Farm Bill Forum. America\'s farm and ranch families provide
a safe and abundant food supply for our people and for much of the
world. You represent the best values of America: stewardship of the
land, hard work and independence, faith, service and community. Mike
Johanns understands the importance of America\'s farmers to our country,
which is why I chose him to lead our Department of Agriculture. I\'m
proud of his work, and he will lead our efforts on the next Farm Bill.\
\
Secretary Johanns and I believe the first step in this process is to ask
each of you how today\'s Farm Bill is working and how it can be better.
And as we look to improve America\'s farm policy, we will continue to
focus on the following goals.\
\
See, America has about 5 percent of the world\'s population, which means
95 percent of your potential customers are overseas. So one of our goals
must be to ensure that America\'s farmers and ranchers have access to
open global markets. A second goal is that we want future generations to
have plenty of opportunities to go into agriculture.\
\
Thirdly, we need cooperative conservation that encourages good
stewardship of our land and natural habitats.\
\
We also need to act wisely in delivering help to our nation\'s
producers. And we must promote cutting-edge agricultural products and
research.\
\
And, finally, we must ensure a good quality of life in rural America.\
\
The Farm Bill is important legislation that meets real needs. The next
Farm Bill should further strengthen the farm economy and preserve this
way of life for farmers and ranchers of the future. Hearing your advice
is an important step towards meeting these goals. I thank you for all
you do for our country, and thank you for listening.\
\
SEC. JOHANNS: Great. There\'s the greeting from your president. Ladies
and gentlemen, at this point I\'m going to turn it back to Gary. But,
before I do, what I want to tell you is that the next period of time is
really yours. I\'m going to sit here and listen as long as people want
to offer their opinion at the microphone. So mostly what I\'m going to
do is sit back and take some notes. I may offer a few closing comments
at the end of our program relative to some issues that you might raise.
But other than that, it\'s all yours, and I can\'t wait to hear your
thoughts and your opinions. Thank you very much.\
\
MODERATOR: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. As he mentioned, it is now time for
comments from the audience. And we\'ll go over \-- the ground rules are
as follows \-- please pay attention and follow them. He called me the
enforcer, but I see Charlie and a couple others out there as big as I
am, so I\'ve got a lot of help here.\
\
Comments today should address one of six question areas or comment areas
that have been published in advance as they relate to the upcoming
discussions for the next Farm Bill. These six areas include the
competitiveness of U.S. agriculture in global and domestic markets; the
challenges facing new farmers and ranchers as they enter agriculture;
the appropriateness and effectiveness of the distribution of farm
program benefits; the achievement of conservation and environmental
goals; the enhancement of rural economic growth; and, finally,
opportunities to expand agricultural products, markets and research.
Audience comments will be limited to two minutes each, to allow for the
maximum number of people to comment. A red-yellow-green-light system is
in place to help with time limitations. I believe you might be able to
see the back of that little box on the podium \-- it\'s the timer.
They\'re keeping the time in the back. I\'ll be watching that, and I\'ll
signal you if you go over time \-- hopefully you can wrap it up very
quickly.\
\
Inappropriate outbursts won\'t be tolerated at any time during the
proceedings today. For those who are here who may have questions or
needs regarding other USDA programs or services not related to this Farm
Bill discussion, there are specialists on hand in the back. And there
are boxes for those who don\'t speak today to put their comments in if
you go too long or if you don\'t make it to the podium. And those are
going to receive the same weight on the secretary\'s desk as the ones
made in person.\
\
Also noting the time limitations on today\'s forum, it\'s important to
note that comments can also be made by mail or Web site, www.usda.gov.
Comments received, as I mentioned, from those methods will go through
the same analysis and receive the same weight as those offered in person
at these forums.\
\
This Farm Bill forum is being recorded and transcribed for documentation
purposes. Therefore it is very important when stepping up to one of
either of the microphones on the floor that each person first clearly
state your name, who you\'re with, who you represent, and your
connection to agriculture or connection to these Farm Bill discussions.
Also, to help keep it focused, we\'re asking you to indicate which of
the six comment areas you are addressing.\
\
Those are the rules of today\'s Farm Bill forum. Again, to repeat,
presenters are invited to address any of the six question areas
outlined, but after stating your name, your city, and which of those
areas you will be speaking to. Simply step up to the microphones
provided and wait to be called on before you begin. And we\'re ready to
get started. I believe our 4-H and FFA leadership might be our first
comments.\
\
MS. ERICA DOERR (sp): My name is Erica Doerr (ph), and I represent the
Florida FFA Association, and I will be addressing question number one.\
\
Good afternoon, and thank you so much for this opportunity. I\'m
speaking today on behalf of nearly 15,000 Florida FFA members in our
state. As a young person who has been directly involved with the
agriculture industry for many years, I have been able to gain a better
understanding for the need for younger farmers entering the agriculture
industry. In order for a continuation of young people choosing
production agriculture as a career, there are major issues within the
industry that must be addressed. When a young person is looking at a
career field they will pursue, there are many aspects to consider.
However, the concept of main importance is to choose a profession in
which you can provide the best life possible for yourself and your
family. Agriculturists as a whole face many challenges that can disrupt
the profitability of farming. To address this hindrance, farm policy
must be created and shaped so that today\'s youth can be confident that
farming as a career won\'t put them in the red.\
\
In most cases, when a farm policy is created the vast majority of those
affected by the policy are affected in a positive manner. However, there
are still a small percentage of farmers who maybe hit in a negative way
by the same policy. For example, with the implementation of the North
American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, many agriculture commodity groups
saw an increase in the marketability of their crops. However, a few
commodities have suffered a profit loss due to Canada or Mexico being
able to produce that crop at a lower price. In such cases farmers should
be able to count on the government to back them up so that their way of
life isn\'t threatened. The answer may life in the implementation of
policy, which allows for the federal government to provide assistance to
farmers that may be negatively affected by policy. This government aid
may come in the form of direct or environmental subsidies, or possibly
restructuring the makeup of a certain farm or ranch, so that they may be
able to product a different crop or grow their current crop in a more
efficient manner.\
\
Government assurance is essential in recruiting tomorrow\'s farmers.
Thank you for your support in FFA and agriculture\'s future
generations.\
\
MS. ABIGAL CRAWFORD: Good afternoon, Secretary Johanns and guests. My
name is Abigail Crawford, and I am currently serving as the 2005-2006
Florida 4-H state council president, along with the Florida Cattlemen\'s
Association \-- (inaudible) \-- master. I travel throughout the state
and throughout the nation to speak with youths and officials about
important issues and concerns regarding Florida agriculture.\
\
There are two issues with which I feel passionate, the first being the
unending need for education, for not only 4-H but all youth. Public and
county officials, farmers and ranchers, as consumers, we must remember
that agriculture affects everyone. Education is not merely sitting in a
classroom.\
\
Through my 4-H experience, I have learned a great deal about the
importance of the agricultural industry. I believe that if the Farm Bill
institutes more educational hands-on programs for youth across the
nation, it can cultivate a higher interest in agricultural careers.\
\
Secondly, urban sprawl. Every day there are more and more people moving
to my state from all parts of the nation. These families are searching
for small towns with the convenience of a large city nearby. I am an
eighth-generation Floridian. My family has been visiting around the
state of Florida every summer for as long as I can remember. This scenic
route which we have traveled for years and the cows we have watched grow
are no longer there. The pasture is now home to many families living
within 100 yards of one another. This is a huge problem with Florida.
Farmers are being approached by large developers and being offered
unbelievable amounts of money for land they lived on and farmed all of
their lives. Unfortunately, for some the offer is too good to resist.\
\
As you can see, these are two issues that are very dear to my heart. I
have personally witnessed farmland being developed, and spoken with
youth that have no appreciation for the land we live on and the food we
eat. Instituting programs that will educate the uninformed public and
keep our farmland productive is what it will take to preserve the next
generation of farmers and ranchers. I wish that all youth could take
advantage of the wonderful opportunity and become a Florida 4-H member,
because 4-H builds an interest in Florida agriculture and its future.
Thank you.\
\
MR. ANDY LAVIGNE: Good afternoon. Mr. Secretary, welcome to Florida.
I\'m Andy LaVigne with Florida Citrus Mutual. I\'m glad you\'re here on
a happy occasion instead of a hurricane coming through our state.\
\
As you know, Florida Citrus Mutual is a volunteer organization
representing 1,100 citrus growers throughout the state, a \$9 billion
economic impact on the state of Florida, with 750,000 planted acres of
citrus employing 90,000 people. In addition to those numbers, they
don\'t include the tens of thousands of acres adjacent to our groves
that act as greenspace, water recharge, wildlife corridors for the
densely-populated state.\
\
I\'m going to address questions three and six in the list that you sent,
and we also address the other ones, but those are the key ones we have.\
\
We\'re honored that you\'ve chosen to come to Florida and get input from
Florida\'s diverse agriculture industry on how to improve or modify the
federal Farm Bill in order to meet our needs, the agriculture producers
of the state.\
\
First, Mr. Secretary, on behalf of Florida\'s citrus growers, I want to
thank you and the Bush administration for the attention and creativity
shown to our industry during the three hurricanes that devastated the
citrus-producing regions in 2004. I\'d especially like to thank those
folks \-- John Johnson, Brad Karmen, Jim Kelly, and all your FSA
employees who really went out of their way just to help the citrus
industry. In addition, we greatly appreciate your attention and
commitment to the eradication of citrus canker, compensation to those
growers who have lost their groves due to the program. That commitment
is monumental and greatly appreciated.\
\
The first issue is one of risk management. As in any business venture, a
sound risk management plan is vital to the operation\'s long-term
success. In U.S. operations, a key component of that risk management
program is a federal crop insurance program. This is a program that is
less than effective for U.S. fruit and vegetable growers. Because of the
high value and perishable nature of fruits and vegetables, it is
imperative that the Farm Bill look at modifying how those crops use the
insurance program as a risk-management tool. One concept being
circulated is that he premium portion covered by the government be set
at a different rate than that of subsidized commodities. This would
enhance participation and level the playing field for fruit and
vegetable growers within the Farm Bill.\
\
Second, the conservation programs. Many of America\'s fruits and
vegetables are produced near highly-populated areas of this country. And
while providing a necessary part of the dietary needs for our citizens,
these farms provide key environmental and conservation benefits to those
areas. In environmentally-sensitive states like Florida, fruit and
vegetable operations provide means to provide water quality, water
retention, water recharge, as well as greenspace and wildlife corridors.
Flexibility must be incorporated into the Farm Bill\'s conservation
title so vegetable operations can participate at a higher level, both to
stay competitive and viable in difficult urban rural corridors.\
\
Third on research. Cutting-edge research is key to the long-term success
of America\'s fruit and vegetable industry. Our growers have experienced
an unprecedented onslaught of pests and diseases over the last decade,
costing growers, consumers and the government billions of dollars.
Developing disease resistance to pest and diseases will help growers
address these challenges. This is especially pertinent to perennial tree
crops such as citrus that get diseases such as citrus canker where the
only solution is to burn the trees, and the grower won\'t have a crop on
that land for seven years.\
\
Also, through research, enhancing the nutritional benefits of fruits and
vegetables is a key benefit. With the health challenges facing
America\'s consumers, increasing the consumption of fruits and
vegetables will benefit not only the health and wellness of those
consumers, but the cost of health care that has to be paid for by the
federal government, America\'s businesses and American citizens.\
\
Mr. Secretary, there are numerous other programs that may be modified or
added to the federal Farm Bill to benefit the U.S. fruits and vegetables
growers. As an industry across this country, we\'re working together to
further develop those concepts. We look forward to bringing them to you
and to Congress in the near future, and again we appreciate you coming
to Florida to listen to our ideas. Thank you.\
\
MODERATOR: Thank you, Andy. I believe my clock-keepers are on the ball
now, so we\'ll watch the clock a little better. Next up, Rick Roth.
Thank you.\
\
MR. RICK ROTH: My name is Rick Roth of Roth Farms. I want to address the
question of conservation programs and competitiveness. I\'m a
third-generation farmer from Belle Glade, Florida. I serve on the board
of Florida Fruit and Vegetable ever since I took over the family
operation in 1986. We produce lettuce, radishes, sugar cane, turf grass,
rice, sweet corn, green beans and nursery trees on over 5,000 acres in
the Everglades agricultural area. We\'ve been very progressive in
implementing best-management practices \-- and, yes, we have
participated in the EQIP program back in the late 1990s. I dare say, Mr.
Secretary, that our farm is one farm to visit when you come to the
Everglades agricultural area, if you want to see how farmers are
reducing phosphorus runoff on water that is potentially going down to
the Everglades.\
\
As a matter of fact, a week ago yesterday your new deputy
undersecretary, and mentor I\'m told, Merlyn Carlson toured my farm.
Today I\'m addressing you as a state director of the Florida Farm Bureau
Federation, having served on that board since 1997. My Farm Bureau
district is south of Lake Okeechobee, and we are the number one in the
production of sweet corns, radishes and oranges and sugar in the United
States. With all the blessings that come from farming in south-central
Florida also comes the extra regulatory burden and costs from farming
near population centers and near sensitive ecosystems. On our farm
today, our main farm, we pay an additional \$68 per acre in property
taxes due to environmental programs. We realize the budget restraints
and hurricane relief for the Gulf Coast will have a major impact on the
next Farm Bill. Here is my request.\
\
First, increase funding for EQIP and other conservation programs; set up
incentives to help all farmers, regardless of size, protect the
resource, offset environmental costs, and remain competitive. Secondly,
administer commodity programs, like the sugar program, without
prejudice. Remember the future of rural America is dependent upon the
strong and diverse agricultural industry. Citrus growers are taking out
trees exposed to citrus canker. They do appreciate your support. We\'re
asking you to send the checks. This is an investment in the agricultural
industry in Florida.\
\
Fourthly, renewable energy provisions in the recent energy bill are a
good start. We need additional financial incentives, such as helping us
to produce ethanol now to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.\
\
Fifthly, we\'d like to ask you to give the agricultural industry top
priority for fuel to prevent crop disruptions. Thank you, secretary, for
coming to Florida.\
\
MODERATOR: Thank you, Rick.\
\
I\'d also remind the audiences there\'s two microphones \-- feel free to
line up at either, and we can keep it moving along. So if someone wants
to step up while one\'s speaking, more power to you. we\'ll keep rolling
along.\
\
Next up, please.\
\
MR. GEORGE WEDGWORTH: Mr. Secretary, I\'m George Wedgworth, CEO and
president of the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative in Florida in Belle
Glade, and I welcome you to Florida.\
\
First let me make it clear that I only speak for the Sugar Cane Growers
Cooperative in Florida. We support the continuation of the present sugar
provision in the existing Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of
2002, with the following recommendations for additional provisions to
the Farm Bill that affect sugar directly or indirectly. Because of time
limitations, I will be brief.\
\
Our three recommendations are: recommendation one, the subsidies through
direct payments and countercyclical payments by USDA\'s traditional
program crops provide unintended consequences to U.S. sugar producers.
Manufacturers of high fructose corn sweeteners obtain subsidized corn
feedstocks, which has allowed them to have a substantial competitive
advantage over beet and cane sugar. This unfair subsidization should be
reduced or discontinued.\
\
Recommendation two: The present law affecting program crops disallows
the planting of fruits and vegetables and wild rice on base acres of
participating farms. We recommend that sugar crops also be excluded to
prevent the unfair economic advantage to sugar producers that also grow
program crops.\
\
Recommendation number three, marketing of sugar by producers who do not
avail themselves of adequate storage. To be responsible marketers,
historical cost, low prices and in many cases the cost to the government
as a result of forfeitures of sugar stocks. This can be avoided by
inclusion in the next Farm Bill\'s sugar provisions of a responsible
marketing factor. Marketing is defined in detail by the attachments to
recommendation number three. However, it is a factor that would be
applied to processor\'s annual marketing allotment that would encourage
processors to have adequate sugar storage to market their seasonal crop
fairly equally over a 12-month period. The details are attached for your
consideration. Thank you for this brief opportunity.\
\
SEC. JOHANNS: Thank you, Mr. Wedgworth.\
\
MR. MIKE YORAGALSKI (sp): Good afternoon, Secretary Johanns. My name is
Mike Yoragalski (sp), and I am proudly representing the Durant Senior
FFA Chapter of Plant City, Florida, and the Hillsborough County FFA
Federation.\
\
Secretary Johanns, USDA officials need to prepare the agricultural work
force of tomorrow by investing in the FFA and agricultural education
programs. American agriculture needs the leaders that the FFA and 4-H
programs develop, who understand how to set direction, influence others,
create teamwork and manage communication in the international business
world. FFA is opening the doors for students by offering over 300
careers in the agricultural field. As the Tennessee FFA president
states, today\'s FFA programs offer what may be the best combination of
personal, academic and career development available in public
education.\
\
The Farm Bill needs to help ensure agricultural programs in public
schools have the latest technology, materials and best instructors to
train tomorrow\'s agricultural work force. Let\'s not only address the
critical issues of today, but let\'s prepare wisely for the future.\
\
MS. KIM MASCARANES (sp): Hello, Mr. Secretary. My name is Kim Mascaranes
(sp), and I am actively involved in the Orange County 4-H program. I
thank you for coming here today.\
\
After Hurricane Charley and Francis in 2004, the Florida agricultural
industry sustained at least \$2.1 billion in damages, of which \$400
million was to the citrus industry. Since agriculture and 4-H in Florida
bring revenue of \$62 billion a year, I would like to see the 2007 Farm
Bill make provisions for greater assistance to farmers and producers
affected by natural disasters.\
\
We could achieve this by offering better disaster insurance benefits to
the farmers, and by increasing government assistance in anticipation of
the hurricanes. This would encourage farmers to stay in the agriculture
industry knowing that in the event of a disaster adequate financial
assistance to them has already been provided for in the bill.\
\
Thank you for letting me voice my opinion\
\
MR. REGGIE BROWN: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. I\'m Reggie Brown, the
executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange, and would like
to express our appreciation for the hard work of the ag marketing
service staff. And we\'d like to talk just for a moment about trying to
add some flexibility and some streamlining to the ag marketing order
process. It\'s a very useful tool to our industry here in the state, and
we have had a real challenge, as well as the other marketing order
groups across the country, in dealing with modern issues of the 21st
century and the marketing challenges of an internationally-competitive
world. We need very seriously to be able to get some adjustments in the
ag marketing act that will allow us to deal with the food safety issue,
which is critically on the mind of the American consumer and the
American farmer, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with the
department going forward to try and accomplish these goals.\
\
MR. JOE MANTEE (sp): Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. My name is Joe
Mantee (sp), Central Florida regional director for U.S. Senator Mel
Martinez, who welcomes you to Florida, and have heard many of the
concerns that you\'ve heard here today from the producers in the ag
industry, and he wants to tell you that he looks forward to working with
you and the president to resolve some of these issues as we move
forward.\
\
As you know, Florida is one of the most diverse agricultural complexes
in the country, and he wants to work closely with you, Mr. Secretary, to
resolve some of these issues. Once again, welcome to Orlando. Thank
you.\
\
MR. JEFF DORAN: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. Welcome to Florida. I\'m
Jeff Doran with the Florida Forestry Association. We represent about
2,000 of Florida\'s forest growers and users. Florida has 14 million
acres of timber. Over half of it is owned by private nonindustrial
landowners. We\'re the single largest agribusiness sector of Florida\'s
economy, contributing over \$16 billion a year.\
\
Urbanization, fragmentation, forest health problems and increased
harvesting pressures are rapidly altering privately-owned forests and
the way we grow trees. In spite of the burdens of federal rules,
regulations and policies, private forest lands in this country are
amazingly resilient, and we\'re still very productive. The 2002 Farm
Bill contained a separate forestry title for the first time in over a
decade. That guarantees us that forestry will continue to be a major
focus of future ag oversight.\
\
As the management of these forest lands comes under greater public and
environmental scrutiny, it\'s clear that the private forest landowner
needs to be fully aware of all the tools available to cope with the
increasingly complex issues of growing trees and managing forests. It\'s
important that government and private industry continue to work together
to ensure the forest landowners are encouraged by the policies and
incentives instead of move restricted.\
\
The Florida Forestry Association believes that a combination of
research, extension, outreach and improvements and incentives within the
structure of private enterprise and the market system will continue the
success of America\'s forests. Under the forestry title specifically,
support of higher mandatory funding levels will play up in some of the
incentive programs, support tax incentives for non-timber values. We
think that water quality, carbon credits, environmental quality and
other non-timber values should be recognized as well; under the
conservation title, supporting higher levels of funding for conservation
programs and continuing to provide EQIP and WIP access for nonindustrial
landowners.\
\
Also, there\'s a thinning requirement in CRP that we feel like is a
primary concern to landowners when their timber can\'t be harvested
within the contract period. If we had some flexibility for two o three
years after that contract period to extend, it would help with the
serious market conditions that we face.\
\
The trade title, supporting greater funding levels for programs that
provide access to overseas markets \-- foreign market development
program \-- again, all of these are higher funding levels and more
opportunities.\
\
Research for extension and education initiatives at universities and the
energy title to support the opportunities to develop biomass and other
energy resources. Thank you.\
\
MS. RACHEL STEIN: Hello, Secretary Johanns, and thank you for letting me
speak here today. My name is Rachel Stein, and I am from Orange County,
Florida.\
\
Over the past couple of years I\'ve been very active in various
environmental activities through 4-H and our cooperative extension
office\'s master gardener program. This includes activities such as
forestry study, wildlife habitat evaluation, natural resource
competitions and gardening phone clinic. I think that the farm policy
can best achieve conservation and environmental goals through education
of existing and new farmers and the provision of financial incentives
for farmers practicing environmentally-friendly techniques.\
\
Environmental education is very important if disruption of natural
habitats is to be avoided. By simply providing classes on how a farmer
can reduce environmental impacts, through techniques such as using
biological controls, selective pesticides and biologically diverse
crops, farming techniques can work hand in hand with nature.\
\
Financial incentives can also work very well to promote
environmentally-friendly farming. Providing an incentive for a farmer to
let fallow and unused fields revert back to their natural state creates
habitats for wildlife and returns nutrients to the soil.\
\
Financial incentives can also prevent farmland from being sold to
developers and therefore becoming permanently useless to agricultural
needs. Since 1954, Florida has lost over 40 percent of its existing
farmland. With financial incentives, I feel that this rising percentage
can be slowed. I think that the use of these two techniques can greatly
impact the environmental changes that are visiting the state of Florida.
Thank you.\
\
MR. JIM GRIFFITH: Mr. Secretary, I\'m Jim Griffith. I came to Florida in
1946, and am probably the person in the room who has the Republican
credentials of having voted for Alfred Landon and Wendell Wilkie.
(Laughter.) I\'ve been growing oranges for 50 years. I represent about
100,000 acres of groves for others, as managing director of Citrus
Grower Associates.\
\
I want to urge creation within the Farm Bill of a source of funding to
supply income for farmers whose operation as efficient farmers requires
that they use practices and provide space for facilities which benefit
and help maintain the natural ecosystems which are available for the
benefit of this developed world that we\'ve made for ourselves.\
\
Let me talk locally about where we are. We\'re on the very edge of the
sand ridge that runs about 200 miles north and south in Central Florida.
It\'s the prime high recharge area for the Florida Aquifer, an aquifer
which underlies most all of Florida. It\'s the source of our drinking
water. Without it we would wind up being a desert. Therefore, we have to
find ways to maintain that land not in roofs and paved roads and
sidewalks, which we\'re doing today. But there have to be other ways to
do that. Locally within Polk County a group of us right now are looking
at how to use the rural stewardship program legislation created for us,
or just transfer of development rights to give that grower a one-time
shot with the value of his land as development property. But then
there\'s a need for something to go on and on forever more. I might
refer to Europe and their subsidies. They learned long ago there\'s land
where you couldn\'t do anything but farming. And now they\'ve paid the
farmer to stay there and not do anything but farming. I was always
amazed when I looked at their tax structures, no taxes. I\'m not saying
we need to get there, but within the Farm Bill, within what you call
EQIP today, your incentives quality assurance program, within the
natural resources service that opportunity is there. Build on that for
us, and give us something to persuade us to stay here one we make the
decision and then we make a living after we stay. Thank you.\
\
MS. EVONNA FREEMAN (sp): Hello, my name is Evonna Freeman. I am vice
president of the Orange County 4-H Council. And on behalf of the Orange
County 4-H program, I would like to welcome you, Mr. Secretary, and
thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to participate and see
our government in action.\
\
I\'m addressing question number four. The horticultural industry, which
as everybody knows is huge in Florida, and affects many parts of the
country, I think it would have a more positive impact on our environment
if more research were done to develop plant varieties that are more
resistance to drought, insects and disease, such as the work as the
University of Florida is doing on biotechnology. Thereby we would be
conserving water and reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides,
which would cultivate into less non-point-source pollution, which would
mean less pollution of our underground water resources. Thank you very
much.\
\
MR. JIM HANDLEY: Secretary Johanns, thank you very much for giving us
the opportunity here in Florida to speak today and give our opinion on
Farm Bill needs. I\'m Jim Handley. I\'m with the Florida Cattlemen\'s
Association. We\'re a producer group consisting of 4,200 ranching
families here in the state of Florida. Our membership represents about
92 percent of the cattle here in the state. We have a huge diversity of
crops here in Florida and on farms. To generate cash flow and to
diversity and spread our risks, many, many operations in Florida are in
the cattle business, along with the citrus business or the timber
business, or some combination . They have many entities on-farm, and so
there\'s a tremendous amount of opportunity within the Farm Bill to help
all of our people, everybody represented here. We cover approximately
four and a half million acres in the state, and we are primarily a
cow-calf state. As you know, we were devastated by the hurricanes of
last year \-- four hurricanes and two tropical storms hit us. We had a
deluge of rain \-- 60 inches in 40 days. And the programs that were
implemented to bring assistance to ranchers and livestock operations
were the LAP program, the Livestock Assistance Program and the ECP, the
Emergency Conservation Program. The Emergency Conservation Program was
implemented to help us with fencing repairs and damages to our livestock
structures and debris cleanup, and it moved forward fairly well.
There\'s certainly some limitations to it that we would like to see
change. But the bigger issue was our loss of forages, our hay crops and
basically water standing on pasture. It\'s a long-term problem.\
\
The program that was implemented was LAP, and that program really
wasn\'t or isn\'t designed to fit this type of event it has become
apparent to us. There\'s a few dollars that have been paid out, but
there\'s still a huge number of claims that have yet to be paid. But
there\'s several restrictions within LAP. Most importantly, it\'s based
on rainfall. If we had not had drought conditions prior to the bad
hurricane season, we would not have been eligible. I want to applaud the
state committee, Kevin Kelly, the state director, and his people \--
they\'ve done a tremendous job communicating with producers and keeping
our producers patient as here we are a year after the storms and still
haven\'t paid out. There are limitations on the payment number. And if
you took part \-- if you had a diverse operation, took part in one of
the citrus relief programs, it shuts you out of the LAP program. So I
would ask that in the upcoming Farm Bill we design a program that would
fit these type of storm events to help us get through that.\
\
Moving on, we have a tremendous need for research dollars here in
Florida. The University of Florida, as well as the USDA stations, do a
tremendous job supporting us, but there\'s just a limited amount of
funding. To work in a developing state where we are trying to maintain
such a unique environment, we need more research dollars.\
\
Conservation programs are vital. If we are going to preserve some of our
unique environment, we\'ve got to get some more flexibility into those
programs and make them more applicable in a broader area. The waiting
list in Florida is long for the conservation programs. We just need more
funding to allow more people to participate. Thank you very much.\
\
MS. MEGAN MASCARANES (sp): Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. Thank you for
being here today and letting me speak. My name is Megan Mascaranes, and
I\'m active involved in the Orange County 4-H program. I would like to
see the 2007 Farm Bill offer increased assistance to organic farmers, as
this method of farming has proven to be better for both our environment
and our health. Since synthetic inputs are prohibited, the organic crop
is more vulnerable to damage by pests. I would like to see universities
offer greater funding for continued research into environment-friendly
pest-control methods\
\
Since the transition from a traditional to an organic farm can be slow
and expensive, the organic farmer would greatly benefit from an increase
in the cost-share support from USDA\'s Environmental Quality Incentive
Program.\
\
If the Farm Bill could increase funding for market research and improve
marketing strategies for these organic products, especially in the
export market, it could be presented to the farmer as an extremely
lucrative option. Increased organic farming along with education of the
masses on the benefits of consuming organic food would increase the
supply and demand simultaneously, thus keeping the price of organic food
down. This would ensure decreased water and air pollution from pesticide
use, improve the environment and greatly boost the economy of our state.
Thank you.\
\
MR. CALVIN COVINGTON: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. My name is Calvin
Covington. These comments are submitted on behalf of Southeast Milk,
Incorporated. We\'re a dairy-marketing cooperative based here in
Florida. We market about 95 percent of all the milk production in
Florida, and about 50 percent of the milk production in the state of
Georgia. And my comments are going to be addressing your questions one,
two and three.\
\
Three areas that we want to mention here in our comments \-- milk
marketing orders, competition and price supports.\
\
First, federal milk marketing orders are a cornerstone of federal dairy
policy. Granted milk marketing orders have created controversy and
discussion over the years, but however overall the orders have met the
intended purpose of providing consumers with an ample supply of fresh
fluid milk. Going forward, if federal milk marketing orders are
continued to meet this purpose, plus encourage dairy farmers and help
maximize U.S. competitiveness, we encourage you to consider the
following four items as you develop the 2007 Farm Bill.\
\
Number one, federal order regulations should not be legislated. The Farm
Bill may provide general parameters, but let the administrative and
public hearing process decide what is best for each particular marketing
area. A prime example of how the administrative process works better
than the legislative process is seen in the 2004 hurricanes that hit the
state of Florida. In about 45 days, USDA\'s Dairy Division worked with
the local dairy industry to develop, hold a public hearing, and
implement a beneficial program to help dairy farmers deal with the
hurricanes\' impact. We commend the Dairy Division for their efforts in
that.\
\
Second, there\'s significant regional differences in milk utilization
and needs. Individual federal orders need the flexibility to make
changes that better meet the needs of their specific marketing area. For
example, individual orders should be allowed after going through the
hearing process to have different methods of determining minimum prices
and pulling returns to dairy farmers. Let the local marketing area
decide what is best for producers, processors and consumers in the
market. Do not mandate one method for all, or limit what can or cannot
be done, such as with forward contracting.\
\
Third, speed up and streamline the process to amend federal orders. The
market changes quickly. Federal orders need the ability to change
quickly as well.\
\
And, fourth, the 2004 hurricanes significantly impacted both the
production and processing segments of the Florida dairy industry.
First-hand experience showed us the critical need for an ample local
milk supply. Higher fuel prices further show the benefits of a local
milk supply. Food miles \-- the miles food travels from the farm to the
consumer \-- is a growing concern. We encourage you to support federal
order regulations as well as any farm policy that promotes lower food
miles.\
\
The second area is competition. Consolidation is the norm in most
segments of agriculture, and dairy is no exception. One firm controls
over 35 percent of all fluid processing and one cooperative controls
over 35 percent of all raw milk. We encourage you to consider a separate
dairy title in the Farm Bill.\
\
And, third, we encourage your continued support of the dairy price
support program. This is probably one of the most beneficial programs to
dairy farmers, processors and consumers. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.\
\
SEC. JOHANNS: Thank you.\
\
MR. JACK STEIN (sp): Good afternoon, Secretary Johanns. My name is Jack
Stein (sp), and I live in unincorporated Orange County. I belong to 4-H,
through which I\'ve studied many topics, such as learning about citrus
growing, Florida ecology and consumer choices. I think that the next
Farm Bill should support the development and marketing of consumer and
community-supported agriculture, or CSA for short. CSA farms sell shares
of the farm\'s produce for customers who in turn assume some of the risk
for the crop production. The CSA farms produce a wide variety of
seasonable fruits, vegetables and grain that are harvested and delivered
locally to their customers. Our country currently has dietary problems
related to over consumption of processed foods. Receiving fresh produce
would help families incorporate healthy fruits, vegetables and whole
grains in their diets. Additionally, receiving locally-grown produce
reduces the need and expense of transporting produce from, across or out
of our country.\
\
We used to belong to a local farm, which would provide baskets of
produce each week for a reasonable price. This year, however, our CSA
farm eliminated the home produce program, because they did not have a
large enough customer base to be profitable. If farmers were to receive
financial incentives to help with education and managing of a home
consumer base, growing a wide variety of crops, including locally
favorable heirlooms, distributing their fresh product, they might be
more inclined to attempt a community-supported agriculture.\
\
Also important is the financial help in marketing CSA farms to local
populations unfamiliar with this way of distributing food. I think that
the next Farm Bill should support community-supported agriculture
education for local farmers, and help to aggressively advertise CSA for
a stronger local economy, a healthier diet, and great food. Thank you.\
\
SEC. JOHANNS: Thank you.\
\
MS. PAMELA HORTON: My name is Pamela Horton, and I\'m owner of a
Florida-based property management firm which manages several USDA rural
development financed affordable housing communities throughout Florida,
Georgia, Alabama and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I\'m here to address
question five: How can federal rural and farm programs provide effective
assistance in rural areas?\
\
I want to thank both you, Secretary Johanns, as well as the current
administration, for recognizing the important roles that affordable
housing plays in rural Florida and rural America. With all that is
currently being done, however, there is still much which can be done and
which is still needed to, one, preserve the existing RHS-financed
housing stock; and, two, meet the pent-up demand for new affordable
rental housing and home ownership opportunities for rural communities.\
\
Although rural housing is not currently a specific component of the Farm
Bill being discussed at today\'s Listening Session, it is believed that
most farmers, producers and stakeholders agree that Florida\'s farm
workers and other rural citizens, including our elderly, require
affordable housing options for agriculture to succeed. Far too often it
is either nonexistent or unavailable to these very low-income
households. To this end, I want to encourage you, Mr. Secretary, to have
the department support H.R. 3715, which has been introduced to
facilitate an exit strategy to current owners of existing Section 515
rural rental housing properties, and which will result in such housing
then being preserved for Florida\'s rural needy.\
\
Equally important is the need to maintain a Section 521 rental
assistance program, which is currently assisting approximately 10,000
hurricane evacuees during emergency appropriation, as well as tens of
thousands of rural citizens on a regular basis.\
\
Finally, it is requested that the department continue to foster and
enhance partnerships with state housing finance agencies so that the
home loan and rental program funds, as well as other loan sources, can
be layered and leveraged with USDA financing to make production of new
housing units feasible in Florida, as well as the rest of rural America.
Thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak on these issues.\
\
SEC. JOHANNS: Thank you.\
\
MS. HANNAH SCHMIDT: My name is Hannah Schmidt, and I represent Osceola
County, and I\'m president of the county council for 4-H there. And I\'d
like to address question number one.\
\
I believe one way the Farm Bill can ensure that the next generation will
step up to production agriculture is through education. And one way to
educate is to continue support for 4-H and FFA programs. I know I have
absolutely no farming background from my family, but because of 4-H I
was able to learn how to select, raise, show these animals \-- these
heifers and these steers. And because of 4-H helping me to do that, now
I have my foot in the door to step up and enter the production
agricultural occupation, if I so choose. So thank you very much.\
\
MR. BEN BOLUSKY: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary, Ben Bolusky with the
Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association, representing the
\$9.9 billion nursery and landscape industry here in the state of
Florida. We not only appreciate you being here, but also appreciate the
strong cooperative working relationship that you have with Commissioner
Bronson and the Florida Department of Agriculture on a wide variety of
issues.\
\
As you know, Florida is a specialty crop state, and it is a sentinel
state. And therefore we are susceptible to pests and diseases perhaps
more so or sooner than other areas of the country. Whether it\'s citrus
canker, pink hibiscus mealy bug, the Asian citrus psyllid, ralstonia,
sudden oak death \-- the list goes on \-- APHIS needs more resources for
its inspections here in Florida. In quarantine 37, which generally
prohibits the importation of plants from abroad in soil or growing
media, must be strengthened, because with the litany of the pests and
disease just read, obviously there has been some compromise.\
\
Critical to the continued success and growth and profitability of the
nursery industry and other segments of agriculture in Florida, USDA
investments in research projects are absolutely crucial. And they \--
since we work so closely with the University of Florida and with the ARS
facilities throughout the state, some of these critical areas in
addition to pest and diseases are water and conservation.\
\
Another issue, crop insurance. We acknowledge the dramatic improvements
that were finalized this year for the federal nursery crop insurance
program. However, when one USDA agency, APHIS, imposes a quarantine or
stop-sale order on plants that are not exposed or affected, the other
USDA agency, the Risk Management Agency, does not have authority to
cover those losses. We would like to see that addressed in the Farm
Bill.\
\
On the heels of last year\'s Florida hurricanes, we wish to salute the
job conducted by FSA by the Florida director of FSA, Kevin Kelly, by
John Johnson and Dale Moore back in Washington, Rita and particularly
Katrina caused an estimated at least \$370 million in the nursery crop
losses down in the Homestead area alone. To help address those issues,
two FSA programs we would like to see addressed in the Farm Bill. One is
the Emergency Conservation Program, which provides assistance to farmers
for debris cleanup. Access to this program by nursery growers is
severely limited. We would like to see eligibility expanded to cover
nursery shade house and greenhouse structure debris.\
\
And FSA\'s tree assistance program, which provides assistance to farmers
who lose crops off their trees \-- but it does not cover trees when they
themselves are the crops. We would like to see eligibility expanded to
cover field-grown and container-grown nursery trees with the tree
assistance program. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.\
\
MS. KATIE TINDELL (sp): Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. My name is Katie
Tindell (sp), and I\'m representing district 9 and the Durant Senior FFA
Chapter.\
\
Secretary Johanns, as an FFA member and future leader in agriculture, I
appreciate you being here today. FFA members are working hard to ensure
the future availability of natural resources by promoting Florida
agriculture and cooperating with local farmers and government agencies.
We have helped spread the word of conserving water, protecting air
quality and implementing educational programs. AgVentures is one program
we use as a tool to educate elementary students and familiarize them
with agriculture production. There are many programs we can use to
provide assistance to the Farm Bill with appropriate funding.\
\
On behalf of the FFA members in this room, we are ready to help and
support the future of agriculture by marketing to the public and
consumers in Florida today. Not only do we believe in the future of
agriculture, but we also believe in leadership from ourselves. Thank you
for this time.\
\
MR. JOHN VAN SICKLE: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. I\'m John Van
Sickle, a professor in the Food and Resources Economic Department at the
University of Florida, and director of the International Agriculture
Trade and Policy Center. Our trade center was established from funding
made available to Florida by the specialty crop block grant program. Our
goals include objective, meaningful research on public policy and
economic issues related to the competitiveness and profitability of
Florida and U.S. specialty crops.\
\
Florida is the tenth leading state in agricultural cash receipts, and
the fifth leading crop-producing state; yet received less than one
percent of the government payments given to farmers in calendar year
2003. It accounts for more than 338,000 jobs, and \$62 billion in
economic activity. Agriculture is important to Florida, but faces many
challenges. The sheer size and diverse nature of agricultural production
in Florida, and in specialty crops nationwide, makes policy and trade
related matters exceedingly important.\
\
The 2007 Farm Bill provides opportunities to explore policy options that
could assist in maintaining or improving specialty crop competitiveness.
The California Institute for the Study of Specialty Crops at Cal Poly
commissioned studies with seven U.S. universities in different regions
of the United States. These include our trade center, Cornell, Texas
A&M, Arizona State, Fresno State, Washington State, Michigan State.
Specialty crop policy options for the Farm Bill are being explored in
these studies to determine their impacts on specialty crops. Now, these
studies will result in various reports on policy options and
consequences for the 2007 Farm Bill. We started the research in July,
and hope to conclude it by June of 2006. We will share our results with
you, and look forward to working with you to help the industry
understand the implications of this legislation.\
\
You\'ll find I believe this industry fully engaged in this debate. We
all share the responsibility of working with the best information and
environment to help shape policies that will help specialty crop
producers compete. Thank you.\
\
MR. CARL LOOP: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary, appreciate you being in
Florida and giving us a chance to have input on the upcoming Farm Bill.
My name is Carl Loop. I have a nursery operation in the Jacksonville
area \-- also am president of the Florida Farm Bureau. I\'m going to
touch on two or three of the questions, but also we\'ll send written
comment in more detail.\
\
While developing recommendations for the 2007 Farm Bill, we encourage
USDA to be forward-thinking in its planning and not be constrained by
traditional programs. The next Farm Bill should provide programs that
help farmers remain competitive in the global marketplace. We want to
keep farmers farming while promoting conservation.\
\
The Florida Farm Bureau strongly supports the concept of rewarding
producers who practice exceptional stewardship. Producers should have
access to programs designed to reach producers who voluntarily utilize
best-management practices to improve and enhance their farm and ranches.
The Conservation Security Program is a step in the right direction.
Producers in states like Florida must also be on the cutting edge just
to remain competitive. With this requires strong support for research
and technical support, and will require adequate funding for both.\
\
Florida farmers are facing significant development pressures caused by
the current state population explosion. This in addition to other
pressure is discouraging young farmers from getting into farming. We
encourage the USDA to search for and implement incentives for young
farmers to farm.\
\
The Florida Farm Bureau looks forward to working with USDA and others
searching for creative solutions or alternatives for meeting the goals
and the mission for the 2007 Farm Bill. Thank you.\
\
MODERATOR: Charles Hall, a visiting Georgian.\
\
MR. CHARLES HALL: Well, good afternoon, Mr. Secretary, appreciate you
being here, taking the opportunity to be here. I\'m Charles Hall,
executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers
Association. Fruit and vegetable production in Georgia is the second
largest commodity in the state behind poultry, and we represent about
\$830 million of farm value fruit and vegetable production.\
\
We commend you and your staff at USDA for promoting healthy eating
habits by the release of the USDA food pyramid and nutritional
guidelines, which says over 50 percent of our daily diet should be
fruits and vegetables. The goal of eating healthy foods and fighting the
obesity epidemic is clearly worthy and needed. However, when we look at
these guidelines and how farm policy is formulated and how funds are
allocated, there is clearly a disconnect between what we are
recommending for consumer consumption and how we are funding agriculture
in this country. Would it not make more sense to look at the food
pyramid as a guideline for research, nutritional program promotion and
support of the farm, of the United States agricultural production, in
order to make us a healthier nation, the direction we move our nation to
improve nutrition and reduce health care costs? We have submitted a
written statement that outlines several items of concern, including
agricultural research, nutritional programs \-- and I would like to
address payment limitations in our remarks this afternoon with regard to
the USDA disaster payment model and other models that sometimes create a
basic premise of one-size-fits-all. However, we know all farms are not
the same. It\'s not unreasonable for a tomato grower in Georgia or
Florida to have put in \$5,000 per acre production costs before the
first fruit is even harvested. However, when a disaster occurs our
growers are faced with the same \$80,000 payment limit that a corn
producer is faced with. The math is very simple: a tomato or vegetable
grower with \$5,000 per acre costs and an \$80,000 limit will cover 16
acres of crop, whereas a cotton or another grower with a \$500 per acre
cost will cover 160 acres of production. Future U.S. farm policy must
account for cost production differentiations. Agriculture is not a
one-size-fits-all industry.\
\
Mr. Secretary, we appreciate the opportunity to make these comments on
behalf of the Georgia growers. Thank you.\
\
MR. SHAWN CROCKER: Mr. Secretary, my name is Shawn Crocker. I\'m here
along with my bride Ahila (ph). Sorry I don\'t have any formal comments,
but I do want to make a few comments about what\'s been said here today.
I feel like I\'m a perfect example of what\'s going on. Just 15 years
ago I wore the blue jacket as a state FFA officer here in Florida. I
have moved on to maintain my family\'s operation here in Florida with
the cow/calf operation just adjacent to the back nine of this resort, as
well as a grove in the south part of this county. My day job requires me
to show up at Cargill\'s processing plant where I\'m their director of
procurement for their orange juice business. I\'m a proud graduate of
our land-grant institution, the University of Florida, and serve
currently as the president of Hillsborough County Farm Bureau.\
\
The issue I want to address is, number one, how can I as a 32-year-old
college graduate from a family farm stay on the farm? The day mom and
dad sent me off to college to really get out of production agriculture
because of the risks involved, but my passion drives me to want to get
back into the dirt. How can I get there? Mainly it\'s risks \-- risks on
my markets \-- obviously the Brazilian competitors that can produce it
cheaper, having access to adequate labor, or even research dollars that
give us mechanical harvesting or a variety that\'s resistant to citrus
canker or citrus screening. Two would be access to risk-management tools
that allow me to produce a product without a whole lot of risk of my
government regulation telling me that \"I\'m going to plow up your grove
if you don\'t come up with an alternative to citrus canker.\" So risk is
the number one that keeps me from expanding my operation \-- insurance
programs that allow me to, once I have my crops in the ground \-- kind
of a backstop to fall back on in case something does go wrong either
through hurricane or disease. So that\'s the issue that I wanted to
bring to you today.\
\
MS. ELIZABETH PIVONKA: Good afternoon. My name is Elizabeth Pivonka, and
I\'m president of the Produce for Better Health Foundation. We\'re a
national organization who works in partnership with the federal
government to try to increase fruit and vegetable consumption nationwide
for better health. I hope you\'re familiar with it, because USDA is one
of our partners, and we really appreciate that.\
\
I\'m also speaking as a dietician, and I\'m speaking as a mother, and
I\'m speaking as a taxpayer, and I will submit formal comments at a
later point in time. But my point today really is the fact that we have
now, thanks to USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services, the
strongest dietary guidelines that we\'ve ever had. I\'m very excited
about that as a dietician. What\'s terribly frustrating to me, however,
is that so little funding is actually spent on the promotion and
consumption of fruits and vegetables. And you probably will hear a
little bit more about that as you go over the next few months about the
fact that in our country today the one big gap between what people eat
and what they should eat \-- the biggest gap is with fruit and vegetable
consumption. It is the one food group that you can eat almost as much as
you want and not gain weight. So given the obesity epidemic that we have
in the country, given the rising health care costs we have in the
country, it\'s really in your best interests and the country\'s best
interests to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. In fact, we know
that people who eat more fruits and vegetables spontaneously eat fewer
other foods. So it\'s a really positive message and one that is
important for our country.\
\
There are three things in particular that I have in my mind that I would
like for you to consider moving forward with the Farm Bill. And one of
those is this whole idea of marketing promotions and marketing support.
With the Five-a-Day program, we\'ve been in existence since 1991 at the
national level, and we\'ve got a \$5 million budget every year on
average. We\'ve gotten awareness of the need to eat five or more
servings a day \-- upwards \-- close to almost 50 percent \-- and we
know that people who are more aware do eat more. But we\'ve done that
virtually on a \$5 million a year budget. Just think of what we could do
if we had more funding to promote fruits and vegetables overall as a
food category \-- as a category of its own. Not that I\'m saying that
the Produce For Better Health will need to do that, but we would like to
have some marketing dollars, because all of the results that we\'ve seen
so far are based simply on leveraging the resources of supermarkets and
growers nationwide. See, that\'s one area where I think we could use
some significant support.\
\
A second one is the successful fruit and vegetable snack program that\'s
in schools today. It\'s in eight states, and we\'d love to see that
expanded nationally, because we know even from our earlier research that
adults eat fruits and vegetables largely because they learn to eat them
as children. And we know that kids do like fruits and vegetables when we
give it to them. There\'s this misperception that kids don\'t like
fruits and vegetables. But if you give it to them, good tasting fruits
and vegetables, they\'re tasting fresh fruits and vegetables, they will
eat them. So we\'d love to see that program expanded.\
\
And then lastly, as a taxpayer, the food stamp program I think is, what?
\-- about a \$27 billion program, and it\'s part of the Farm Bill. I
know we can\'t put certainly restrictions on that, but I think we need
to think about something \-- and I have no answers here \-- but I think
we need to think about some way of encouraging those food stamp dollars
to somehow encourage consumers to follow those dietary guidelines, if
you give them motivation, education \-- whatever it takes to really
focus those dollars to be more in line with the dietary guidelines in
the new MyPyramid. So thank you very much. Those are my comments.\
\
MR. CHARLES LAPRADD: Mr. Secretary, I want to thank you for coming up to
Florida. I\'m Charles LaPradd, agricultural manager of Miami-Dade
County, perhaps the country\'s most unique and diverse agricultural
area. I\'m also a victim of Hurricane Katrina.\
\
One of the main things I wanted to focus on is the cap that is on many
programs of \$2.5 million gross cap for many of the producers. And in
today\'s economics it\'s very hard for many of the producers to meet
that requirement as eligibility. Many of them exceed that because of the
high dollar value of some of the crops that they do grow. So they\'re
not eligible for a lot of marketing programs, marketing assistance
programs, and I\'d like to see some changes in that.\
\
Also, in regard to the marketing orders, the marketing orders are forced
on us by outside producers and importers. If they\'re enforced on our
growers here, then out-marketing orders will be forced on growers from
outside that program.\
\
And you\'ll receive written comments from Dade County as well.\
\
MR. LEX KROMHOUT: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. My name is Lex
Kromhout. I\'m a resident of Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida. I
want to speak to you from the context of several organizations I\'m a
part of. First, I\'m a citrus and cattle producer in Indian River
County. Second, I\'m a supervisory member of the Indian River Soil and
Water Board, and I\'m also on the rural lands committee of the Committee
for Sustainable Treasured Coasts.\
\
I\'ll start with the Committee for Sustainable Treasured Coasts and the
Rural Lands Committee. There for the last 18 months we\'ve been
wrestling with the issue of how to keep open greenspace and keep the
rural areas rural. And we\'ve come to the conclusion that there\'s only
one way to do that, and that is to keep the value in the land and to
keep the profits to the farmer. If you don\'t do that you\'re going to
lose the farm. And in the Treasure Coast area we are rapidly losing
farmers because of the development pressures that are coming up the
coast and coming down the coast at us.\
\
So somehow these programs have to do both those things \-- profitability
and value. There\'s several vehicles to use \-- carbon uptake, wetlands
water storage \-- a number of other ways to do that, if you need to get
out of the box and think about those alternatives and the impacts.\
\
Next, as a member of the Soil Conservation Board, we are faced with a
situation from canker that is causing some very serious concerns. In
Saint Lucie County, the county to our immediate south, Hurricanes
Frances and Jean have spread canker considerably as result of high
winds. They are now inspecting the Indian River County area. And the
impact in Saint Lucie alone \-- they lost land over 30 percent of their
citrus acreage. It\'s a sizeable acreage.\
\
If you look at the criteria for eradicating canker, it requires a
complete discing of that land and removal of the trees. The impact to
the water quality as a result of doing that eradication after it is
significant, especially in an area that is facing rapid development
also.\
\
In the Soil Conservation Service we\'ve done a considerable amount of
cost sharing, and that cost sharing is becoming a concern, and we\'re
beginning to wonder if it\'s worth doing at all, considering the
circumstances.\
\
So in those situations, I urge you to reassess the circumstances and
possibly redivert cost-sharing funds towards dealing with the issues
causing the problem in the first place. I dare say that in the
eradication effort we need to reassess the 1,900-foot rule. If we\'re
going to save the industry in that part of Florida, it is absolutely
going to have to be reconsidered.\
\
In closing, as a producer, I\'d like to say that I\'m supportive of the
trade agreements, but I\'m not. I\'m very concerned about what this
country is giving away. We\'re giving away America\'s agricultural base.
You can go anywhere in this country and you can see the impacts of that.
You look at the average age of the farmer \-- he\'s getting older, there
are fewer of them; and I, as an individual, am becoming very concerned
about the next generation\'s ability to have the environment and the
financial means to follow through. And I urge you from that standpoint
to do whatever you can to reassess the estate tax situation, so future
generations can continue to farm with what they\'ve got. Thank you.\
\
MR. JOHN WINFREY: Mr. Secretary, my name is John Winfrey, and I\'m a
senior field representative with the Florida Chapter of the Nature
Conservancy, and in that capacity I\'ve been working with agricultural
producers and your Florida NRCS staff, directly with mostly the
conservation programs, and of those the easement programs particularly.
And I\'d like to make a brief comment in the area of the adoption of
policies and programs that achieve conservation and environmental
goals.\
\
Now, as you have pointed out, and others too, we do have some great
conservation programs. And the Nature Conservancy in Florida has been
working, as I said, with agriculture producers, which has facilitated,
in cooperation with your NRCS staff, some WRP, Wetlands Reserve Program
transactions \-- and we have completed two Farm and Ranchland Protection
program easements with one in the works. And these programs are great
stand-alone. There are some improvements to them that would be very
beneficial in Florida based on our unique local circumstances. In my two
minutes here I don\'t have time to get into that. I want to make one
little more global comment, because while programs such as WRP and FRPP
are fine and wonderful programs, they do work piecemeal and not
comprehensively. And in the environment now of cooperative conservation,
what I think we really need to do in the 2007 Farm Bill \-- what we need
most is a strengthening of existing programs and creation of new ones
that achieve comprehensive conservation results at a landscape or
watershed scale, in partnership with states and local governments and
private resources.\
\
Now, I recognize that there are some mechanisms that exist today to do
that. However, the partnerships and cooperation provision of the 2002
Farm Bill was not implemented. Programs such as the Conservation
Partnership Initiative and the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program are
nice ideas, but they are under funded and in their infancy, and they are
not capable of taking on this mission for comprehensive conservation at
scale. So it is our hope that this 2007 Farm Bill will address that.\
\
I see I\'m out of my time, but I do want to compliment your NRCS staff
in Florida. They have done a wonderful job working with us, and they\'re
a great bunch of people and they\'ve done an enormous help and service
to us in our use of these programs. So thank you and thank them.\
\
MR. CHIP HINTON: Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. My name is Chip Hinton.
I\'m the executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers
Association. Our membership produces between 15 and 20 percent of the
nation\'s table strawberries, and we\'re a success story. In the past 20
years, our commodity has increased in value five-fold, and we\'re
positioned to double our value in the next decade, and that is largely
due to the research that has been conducted by our land-grant
institution, the University of Florida. We have been able to shift our
marketing window by over three weeks through new varieties, and that
provided us an opportunity to produce when no one else does, and
minimize our impact with a direct production-to-production standoff with
California.\
\
The point I want to make is that with over 240 commodities in the state
of Florida, we have an outstanding opportunity and yet a major challenge
in coming up with the technology necessary for us to have other success
stories with high value, low-acreage commodities. And the University of
Florida is ready, willing and able to take on that challenge, but has
historically had difficulty with the federal funding based upon both the
formula funding and less so with a competitive grants basis.\
\
For a number of years I served as Florida\'s (care ?) representative,
trying to have an influence upon the federal portion of the budget for
land grant. I often wondered whether the money we brought home paid for
my trip up there. But the reality is we get less than one to two
percent. We usually, because of the formula basis, come in between 47th
and 50th \-- sometimes we beat out Puerto Rico for the federal formula
funding basis. However, we are always in the top three in the nation in
competitive grants. Obviously because of the diversity of our industry,
the unique problems that we have of trying to accommodate crops from the
temperate, subtropical and tropical basis, all provide us with not only
an outstanding challenge but an outstanding opportunity to create wealth
at the local level. We don\'t want to cannibalize the formula funding
basis. That\'s not only important for a lot of small states, it\'s
important for us as well, even with the three to four million dollars a
year that we get from it. That is important, and it\'s earmarked.\
\
What we\'d like to do is see an increase in competitive grant funding.
We\'ve tried to do that more than once. We always lose out in the
funding end of it. I would challenge you to make a strategic investment
in our future by increasing competitive grants so that we can have at
least an even-footing chance to increase our research dollars. Thank
you.\
\
MODERATOR: We\'re going to hear from Ray Gilmore, and then we\'re going
to take about a 10-minute break after this one and be back for the rest
of the comments.\
\
MR. RAY GILMORE: Thank you, Gary. Mr. Secretary, my name is Ray Gilmore.
I\'m the director of public affairs for the Florida Fruit and Vegetable
Association. We welcome you to our meeting here today. I also serve on
the board of directors of the Produce for Better Health Foundation. You
heard from Dr. Pivonka earlier \-- her perspectives on nutrition. And I
just want to underscore her comments and emphasize the need for
marketing assistance in trying to get more fruits and vegetables into
the diets of Americans. Most Americans only get about three and a half
servings a day, far below the nine or ten that the new guidance would
dictate. Certainly you can go on MyPyramid \-- you can dial in your own
personal statistics. You\'re not going to get away with just three and a
half servings a day. So we\'d like to underscore what Dr. Pivonka said
about how additional marketing dollars that would go towards helping get
more fruits and vegetables not only just into schools, like in the
school snack program, but also perhaps through USDA Fresh and just
general assistance programs that would help us \-- you know, help our
producers better market our crops and try to market them to the
populations that need those fruits and vegetables in their diets. It\'s
a shame that when you have so few folks that are getting the dietary
allotment of fruits and vegetables that they need, and yet you\'ve got
so many producers here that want to sell them so many more that we
can\'t make those two meet. So your assistance to try to get more
funding for these kind of programs would be greatly appreciated. And
we\'ll be speaking with Secretary Bost later \-- next month in Miami \--
on that topic. Thank you.\
\
MODERATOR: At this time we\'re going to take about a 10-minute break,
give the secretary a chance to stretch a little bit. We\'ll be back in
10 minutes and open up the floor for more comments about the general
Farm Bill issues as well. See you in 10 minutes.\
\
(Break.)\
\
MODERATOR: May I have your attention please? Let\'s take our seats, and
we\'ll continue with the Farm Bill forum with Secretary Johanns.\
\
Folks, if you take your seats, we\'ll continue the Farm Bill forum,
please. If you all want to come back in, we\'ll continue. At this time
we\'re going to continue our Farm Bill forum. A couple of reminders.
Again, two minutes per comment. At this time though we\'re going to open
it up for comments about general Farm Bill comments or comments about
USDA, what you all would like to present. So, again, two minutes per
speech. And if you\'ll all just step up to the microphones, we will
continue. First up, yes, sir?\
\
DR. DICK HOLLOWAY: My name is Dick Holloway. I\'m from Orlando, Florida,
raised in Leesburg \-- small town in Central Florida. I appreciate the
opportunity of saying a few words about water. This is my second career.
I\'m a medical doctor, and retired three years ago and became very, very
interested in water conservation. Since agriculture uses about 60, 70
percent of the water in the country, it seems to me to be on point with
the EQIP bill, because without water conservation I\'m not sure any of
the rest of the ideas are going to be very valuable.\
\
There are two specific things that might be addressed. At the present
time, farmers must have a two out of the last five years irrigation
program on their farm before they can change to a more conservative
water use program. That should be looked at hard and changed, because in
many instances farmers are expanding their production, and the two to
five past years are not of importance to them on the new piece of
ground.\
\
The other is the percentage of money that farmers need to have in order
to finance the changeover to a more conservative water program such as
rain harvesting. And right now it takes a goodly amount of money to make
that change. The precedent for this is the microjet system that was
financed in part by the federal government back in the late \'70s and
early \'80s.\
\
I promised to stop long before the orange light goes on. I just wanted
to make those comments about water conservation in agriculture.\
\
MS. TINA BORRICK (sp): My name is Tina Borrick (sp), and I\'m a
vegetable grower in South Dade County, and I just want to speak to
vegetable crops in the state of Florida, because few people realize when
you get to the Washington level that the specialty crop that you\'re
discussing up there is the sweet corn, the green beans and all the fresh
vegetables that we talk that we want consumers to eat. So it\'s very
important that the funds can\'t passed down to the state of Florida,
since we are the only producer of fresh vegetables in the winter.\
\
And another one who said it better than I could, the president said that
we need cutting-edge research for vegetables. Our University of Florida,
our research center, it\'s very important that they can fund this. And
the green light never even finished. Thank you.\
\
SPEAKER: Good afternoon. On behalf of all citrus growers, we\'re a
Southwest Florida citrus-growing organization representing about 25
percent of the citrus industry in Florida, and we certainly thank you
for being here in Florida and visiting with us on some critical issues.
I know that I\'m going to be redundant in talking about the canker
issue. We\'ve had to destroy 1.5 million citrus trees in our region.
It\'s a big economic impact for the growers as well as the entire
Southwest part of Florida. We appreciate your partnership with us, and
we hope to hold you to your commitment to make sure that the eradication
and, more importantly, as well with that a compensation for the
destruction that we have to do in order to comply with the law. It\'s
tough to take out acres that are being taken out, but on the positive
side we appreciate your leadership and commitment to work with our
industry and Commissioner Bronson to get us through this tough time in
our industry.\
\
Also, regarding the ports and maintaining better vigilance, and
interdiction before we have situations like we\'re having to face here
with canker \-- anything that can beef that up from the budgetary
standpoint and the leadership and the personnel standpoint is extremely
critical for our long-term sustainability.\
\
And then, on the more positive side, the conservation. There\'s a great
synergistic effort going on between the USDA and the state department of
agriculture and the water management districts to do a better job in
water management and water quality. Again, we need some financial
support and aid in the new bills to recognize some of the conservation
needs of particularly water quality issues and things that we\'ve got to
address in order to be sustainable and to address our water management
needs.\
\
So we appreciate you being here, and on behalf of our membership, thank
you.\
\
SPEAKER: Mr. Secretary, again, welcome. We\'re delighted to have you
here in Florida, not only to be here to listen to the producers, but
also I really want to congratulate you for conducting these Listening
Sessions. I am delighted to see USDA engaged and you personally out
traveling around the country getting input from producers. I think it\'s
critically important.\
\
I think one of the \-- if I had a criticism of USDA during the last Farm
Bill, it\'s that the administration at that time did not get out and
meet with producers and really find out what\'s going on around the
countryside in developing that last bill. So looking perspectively and
forward, I think this is just an outstanding move on your part and the
department. So we look forward to working with you.\
\
Looking back at previous Farm Bills, you know the specialty crop
industry, fruit and vegetable producers here in Florida and around the
country really haven\'t been big users of farm programs. I think the
statistics that were brought out earlier by John Van Sickle show that
clearly from a dollar standpoint at least Florida agriculture doesn\'t
receive a lot of the assets that are included out there in the current
farm programs.\
\
That doesn\'t mean we\'re without our challenges. As you\'ve heard more
than once here today, we\'ve got challenges with invasive pests and
diseases. Our canker battle that we\'re fighting is a life-and-death
struggle for our citrus industry. It\'s a big issue. But there are
others as well in the area of invasive pests, whether it\'s Thrip palmi
or other pests that have come into the state over the years and added
costs to production in Florida.\
\
Globalization is an issue that we\'re facing. It\'s added a competitive
threat not only to domestic markets but international markets as well.
And then urbanization. We grow a lot of oranges and a lot of tomatoes in
the state, but we grow a lot of condominiums as well, and that pressure,
particularly around the coast, is forcing agriculture inland, and that
presents new challenges to the industry and to the environment as well.\
\
While we haven\'t been a big user in the past, I think looking
perspectively to the 2007 Farm Bill I think the industry is firmly
engaged in the process. We\'ve got a working group that we\'ve put
together of 20 organizations representing fruit and vegetable producers
around the country that are looking at programs in conservation,
research, nutrition and other areas, looking specifically into ways that
we can recommend to you and to the Congress on how this industry can \--
and I\'ll use the term \-- get us fair share of the distribution of farm
benefits in this next Farm Bill. So, again, thank you so much for coming
to Florida, and thank you for doing such a great job with these
Listening Sessions.\
\
MR. ALAN FLYNN: Secretary Johanns, welcome. My name is Alan Flynn. I\'m
the director of the Florida Avocado Administrative Committee, and I\'d
like to speak to you today about the crop insurance program. As you
know, we just suffered tremendous losses from the Hurricane Katrina. We
lost 75 percent of our crop that\'s remaining on the trees. We have 5
percent tree loss and a \$50 million loss to our industry. And what
we\'d like to do is talk to the USDA to provide a program, that if we
have another Hurricane Andrew come through we\'d definitely lose the
avocado industry. So we\'ve been petitioning the USDA since 1992 to make
changes, and those changes do need to be made. Thank you.\
\
MR. TONY DEMARI (sp): Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary, again. My name is
Tony Demari (sp). I\'m a third-generation grower. Our family farms in
three locations here in Florida, as well as South Carolina and
California. We\'re growers, packers and shippers of mostly of tomatoes
and vegs, as well as distribution operations around the country.\
\
Touching on challenges facing new farmers and ranchers, there are many.
There are many challenges with existing farmers, let alone new farmers
and young generations \-- the 4-H group \-- that have aspirations to
come into this industry. I myself have questioned \-- and I know my
family has many times with all the challenge we face \-- why we continue
to stay in it. But it\'s in our blood. There\'s 11 family members in the
industry; our company is 78 years old. So we have a lot of history and
ties and roots in agriculture.\
\
But regulatory constraints continue to grow, the imbalance of regulatory
constraints in comparison to our competition. We in South Florida
compete with Mexico in the wintertime with tomatoes and other fruits and
vegetables. I\'ve gone down to Mexico probably for the last 15 years,
very friendly with the growers \-- you talk with them \-- it\'s no
different talking to them than the grower here in Florida. But yet I
still see tremendous imbalance, lax government regulation on pesticide
use. I was there last year, still witnessed child labor being used in
the field. All the imbalances \-- the wage differences \-- you know, we
just experienced an increase because of an amendment change in the
minimum wage in this state last year \-- it went from \$5.15 to \$6.15,
with an index tied to the cost of living. As you know, we\'re price
takers; we\'re not price makers. I don\'t know how we are going to be
able to recoup these costs \-- one of the worst amendment laws, as far
as I\'m concerned. I\'m all for workers bettering themselves, but if you
continue to allow these imbalances with our competition \-- and I\'m not
a free trader \-- I\'ll never believe in free trade, because I don\'t
see it being fair trade. Unless this government and the administration
can assure us as producers that you can put safeguards in place to
protect from the imbalances, the burden and the volume, the unregulated
volumes that come into these marketplaces and destroy our market
structure at times, not only in the wintertime but at other times \-- we
are in the midst of a suspension agreement with Mexico which has been
renewed, because it was a preliminary dumping that found that they
dumped and sold tomatoes into this country less than what it cost to
produce them. We filed a suit against the Canadian greenhouse industry
several years ago. They in turned sued us, the domestic industry \-- not
Florida, but the domestic industry \-- California \-- because some of
the impacts have gone on there. Tremendous disadvantages, and you\'re
going to continue to see this as long as we do not address the real
issues. Mike Stewart touched on the invasive pests. I talked to you at
lunch today about APHIS. And we desperately need more resources in
APHIS. APHIS is not \-- the Department of Homeland Security is not where
APHIS needs to be in the long run. We need to take it away from it and
get more resources so that we can prevent the continuation of pests and
diseases that we\'re all, not only as growers but at the state level,
spending millions and millions of dollars trying to minimize and
eradicate the problems that have come into this country from foreign
countries. We first need to look at the source and put safeguards to
protect the American growers from invasive pests and diseases and the
unforeseen destruction of marketplaces at certain times. I appreciate
the opportunity to speak to you. Thank you.\
\
MR. DREW GOOLIN (sp): Good afternoon, thanks for being here. My name is
Drew Goolin (sp), and I\'m a fourth-generation owner/employee/manager of
Goolin (sp) & Sons, Inc., which is a family-owned agribusiness that has
been in existence in the state of Florida since 1926. I would like to
underscore just a couple of comments I believe were made earlier \-- I
wasn\'t here earlier \-- regarding some of the issues of sugar. And the
perception of our Florida industry, we feel that policymakers in
Washington is that we\'re perceived as only being big sugar. Rather we
think we\'re made up of many more small and medium-sized farmers. We
represent a significant portion of the industry, and most have very
diversified operations that extend beyond sugar production. We\'re all
still dependent on that component of our business to be successful. Many
may cease to produce sugar if raw prices are further reduced as a
consequence of there being no USDA operated sugar program in the future.
This could with the added effects of citrus canker result in many of
these family-owned operations selling their lands and leaving
agriculture for good. As Florida\'s agricultural land base has
continually utilized real estate development, escalating land values and
development pressures make it difficult for younger farmers to either
get started or maintain existing family-owned businesses with any
longevity. In Palm Beach County, where the majority of our sugar
industry lies, it is the largest single source of agri-economic impact.
The success or failure of this industry has a tremendous consequence on
employment, peripheral allied businesses and the local economy in South
Florida.\
\
We request your leadership in the fight for inclusion of the present
sugar program in the next Farm Bill. Going forward we ask that you
manage the program in a more active manner that would be in compliance
with our governmental trade policies and allow our producers to operate
at prices above the forfeiture level of your loans while continuing to
maintain our program at no net cost to the American taxpayer. We commend
your office on its oversight of the present sugar program, and we
further suggest that future sugar overproduction could be avoided by
adjusting the language of the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill to give sugar the
same exclusion as fruits and vegetables and rice enjoy on the plant-base
restrictions and fallow acres for the existing program crops. Thank
you.\
\
MODERATOR: The microphones are empty. Who\'s next?\
\
MS. KATIE EDWARDS (sp): Secretary Johanns, good afternoon. My name is
Katie Edwards, and I\'m proud to represent one of our nation\'s most
diverse agricultural areas, Miami-Dade County, Florida. I\'d like to
address conservation programs this afternoon.\
\
Miami-Dade County farmers, like many Americans growers, are stuck in the
middle of environmental preservation and growth management, especially
in Miami-Dade County, where we\'re sandwiched in between two national
parks, Everglades National Park to the west and Biscayne National Park
to the East. As areas like Miami-Dade County become rapidly urbanized,
farmland is seen as a buffer and as greenspace which is often over
regulated. The greenspace provided by our farmers is not a private
subsidy for the public\'s benefit, and we know you can only save farming
if you save farmers first.\
\
We can really use the conservation funding increases in the next Farm
Bill, because it\'s tough to save our farmers when farmland is selling
for \$100,000 an acre when it\'s zoned agriculture. Think about it. The
increases funding for conservation at fair market value takes the
pressure off of our growers to be the sacrificial lamb at the altar of
sustainable growth and environmental preservation. Thank you.\
\
MR. DONALD KNOOK (ph): Hi, my name is Donald Knook (sp). I\'m an
immigrant, so excuse me if my accent is not that perfect. Just a
strategic question: Do you believe that we as a nation are spending
enough resources on automation on vegetables and fruit? It seems like
our competition edge is lost because of labor in national markets. In
the markets where we have automation, highly automated, we are highly
competitive. Let us not talk about the social cost of guest worker
products and so forth. Have you guys ever considered whether we are
spending enough in that area?\
\
MODERATOR: Anyone else?\
\
COMMISSIONER CHARLES BRONSON: Since we\'re winding down, Mr. Secretary,
and thank you so much for being here to hear from our agricultural
industry in Florida. we have over 280 different specific crops. And as I
mentioned to you before, about 95 percent of Florida is specialty crops.
And you heard today the request that specialty crops be given a little
more play in the agricultural nationwide area; 54 percent of the cash
crops today on agriculture in America are specialty crops \-- not the
grain crops that they used to be in the years passed. So all we\'re
asking \-- and actually what you saw here today was a group of people
who came together when we got a little bit of money in the specialty
crop program by Congress a few years ago \-- and I think it was a total
of \$16 million dollars \-- you weren\'t in at that time, but let me
tell you every one of these groups you heard from today got on the
telephone with us. We sat down and said, "What can we do for the
interests of the agriculture producers of this state, with that little
bit of money given?" And everybody decided over that telephone how we
were going to spend that money. And I made a commitment to
then-Congressman Stenholm \-- when we get done with this, I\'m sending
you a copy of exactly how we spent our \$16 million for the good of the
industries we represent. We did that, including some money that went to
the University of Florida and marketing research and some of the things
that help us to market our products along with some money from our own
marketing division at State of Florida, where we have now increased over
\$350 million over the previous year just in moving the fresh from \--
and I\'m very \-- I\'ve got to tell you I\'m kind of selfish in the fact
that I push the Fresh from Florida logo all over the world wherever we
can. But it has helped us move more product. But with land at \$100,000
an acre, issues of hurricanes that strike us at sometimes four and six
weeks \-- which is the first time ever in my history I\'ve ever known
that to happen, but it did \-- and the recouping of those damages \--
you heard here today about the \$2.5 million price that\'s put on a farm
operation.\
\
Let me just suggest to you and anybody else that has a problem with
changing those numbers to include those people in those losses. If you
look at the total investment of those farmers and the total numbers of
people they employ to work to feed their families, they should be
included in that consideration. And that \$80,000 an acre situation,
where you have huge acreage out there, the pittance it\'s brought back
won\'t even pay for the seed they put in the ground. If we\'re going to
continue to use yesterday\'s rules for tomorrow\'s technology, we\'re
never going to get there. There\'s no middle we can come to. We have to
be able to readjust \-- and I hope this new Farm Bill and the
consideration by you and those in your department, as well as the
president, will give us that opportunity to compete in tomorrow\'s
agriculture all around the world. Let us adopt the new technologies that
we can save and improve water quality and air quality and still produce
food and fiber in the state of Florida, and maintain our position as one
of the top 10 producing agriculture states in this country. Thank you,
sir, of being here.\
\
MODERATOR: Okay, folks, anybody else? Here\'s your chance, with the
nation\'s top agriculture chief at the table ready to listen.\
\
I\'ll quickly remind you all there is other ways to submit comments:
www.usda.gov. Once again, I introduce Secretary Johanns for some closing
comments.\
\
SEC. JOHANNS: How about a round of applause for the moderator? He did
great. (Applause.) And, Charlie, thank you very much for your comments.
Reference has been made a number of times during this forum to the
working relationship between your department and USDA, and I always
appreciate hearing those positive comments. But it has been a good
working relationship.\
\
I made some notes here that I will take back, but I also made a few
notes on just a couple of topics that were raised that maybe I could
provide some information on, and then we can wrap this up and you folks
can head on to wherever you\'re heading on to.\
\
The first thing, there was some discussion about ethanol, and I\'d offer
a couple of thoughts on that. One is that over the last 10 years
especially \-- but it probably dates back 20 to 25 years, but especially
the last 10 years we have seen significant growth in the ethanol
industry. In terms of alternative fuel, and most of this is ethanol, we
produce now nearly four billion gallons a year \-- 90/10 blend of course
can be burned in any vehicle, and we have just seen a greater and
greater use of ethanol really across the United States. It\'s been
enormously encouraging.\
\
The Senate and the House, after four years of debate, passed an energy
bill recently. Before they went home for the August recess, kind of in
the last hours, if you will, before the recess, they passed this energy
bill, and it sets a renewable fuel standard at 7.5 billion gallons.
You\'ve probably been reading about that. So literally in a pretty short
period of time here, at least according to this legislation, we are to
double the amount of alternative fuel used in the United States. I
mention that because here I think there is great potential \-- and
Charlie and I talked about this a little bit in terms of biomass and
ethanol. And we have committed with each other that we are going to
continue these discussions, and we\'ve got some people at the USDA. But
there isn\'t any reason why there can\'t be good growth in this industry
just generally in this whole biomass area, because again the standard is
set up there, so in the not-too-distant future we\'ll be doubling the
amount of alternative fuel here that is used. So that is one. As you
start thinking about what your goals for the future are, that\'s one to
keep in mind.\
\
The last thing I would mention on that, I will share a story with you.
About 25 years ago I was practicing law. I hadn\'t run for any office
yet, and a gentleman came in, a client of mine, and he said, I\'ve got
this idea \-- he said, I\'m putting investors together and we\'re going
to build an ethanol plant. And I said, Well, what will that be? He said,
Well, you take corn and you make alcohol and you blend it with gasoline.
And I thought, gosh, what an exotic, strange unusual sort of idea. But
it really wasn\'t at all. And as governor of Nebraska, we promoted an
ethanol initiative where I think today there are 11 plants, if I\'m not
mistaken \-- I think there\'s three or four or five more that are under
construction. The industry has just boomed. I mean, it has been the most
remarkable phenomenon. And you know these are plants that are in the
40-million-gallon-a year-production, brand-new plants. You know, we talk
about not building any refineries dating back to what, 1976? \-- well, I
can tell you we\'ve been building ethanol plants really all over the
country. And I\'ve seen it firsthand. I visited these plants. And so,
again, it\'s worth keeping in mind, because now you have a renewable
fuel standard where the expectation is that you\'re going to double that
the next couple of years.\
\
Every forum we\'ve done we\'ve had discussion about trade, and we get
folks up to the microphone very supportive, folks up to the microphone,
questions, folks up to the microphone that are opposed. So the debate
continues.\
\
But I will share a couple of things to ruminate on, if you would.
Currently in the United States 27 percent of the gross receipts from
agriculture do come from trade. It is a big number. We have been very,
very successful when it comes to competing in the marketplace. In
reference to some commodities, it is a much larger number than that. And
if you take certain products of a given commodity, it\'s even much
larger than that. One of the things, for example, that the beef industry
has done so well is that when it\'s all said and done literally every
part of that animal is used for some product. But let\'s take the hide,
for example. Of course that\'s part of what makes it all work, you know,
if you can sell the hides. We certainly don\'t want to haul them out to
the landfill. Well, we export about 60 to 70 percent of our hides. And
you can go commodity by commodity, and when you start slicing it that
way and see the importance of individual components of a product, you
really begin to see how if that were to be jeopardized, all of a sudden
that piece of our ag industry would really feel some tough times. And,
again, it\'s not just necessarily does everybody in the world eat a
T-bone steak? \-- no, they don\'t \-- but leather is used, and the hides
have a purpose, and that\'s only one example.\
\
And here\'s some other statistics. If you look at the world\'s
population, 95 percent of the world\'s population doesn\'t live here \--
95 percent of the world\'s population lives outside of the United
States. We already have the unbelievable phenomenon in this country of
agriculture \-- our farmers and ranchers being so productive that we
actually produce more than we consume. In a world where food shortages
are fairly common, and as they call it today food insecurity is a real
problem, we have this remarkable phenomenon called American agriculture.
And we\'ve looked at productivity, and on an annual basis it increases
about 2 percent annually, while at the same time our consumption and our
population are growing a little bit less than a percent a year. So if
you chart that out over the next 10 years, you can start to see how
critical those foreign markets become in our ability to access those
markets.\
\
I was in the Midwest recently for a Farm Bill forum, and this was right
after Katrina had struck, and we were in the midst of bringing the port
back up, and the shippers were working on the elevators and they were
worried about the Mississippi and this and that. Well, what was
happening was that was rippling all the way back into middle America,
and they felt a real impact on the crisis. That all happened just
overnight \-- I mean literally overnight. If you ever wonder what the
impact of trade is, study that phenomenon, because again in terms of
some of our commodities that come out of the interior of the country,
they ship straight down the Mississippi through that port off into
foreign marketplaces, and that would be true of wheat and corn and
soybeans, and certainly some other products that I\'m not mentioning
here. But it has a significant impact just right now. You can see that
ripple effect.\
\
I do agree with the gentleman\'s assessment, you know, what we\'re doing
in WTO what we\'re doing with our trade agreements, I believe has to be
related to not only free trade, that kind of trade where we have access,
but also that trade that\'s fair trade, that treats our farmers and
ranchers fairly. And that\'s what we\'re fighting for in the WTO
process.\
\
The other thing I wanted to mention is somebody offered some very
positive comments about the food pyramid. Thank you for those comments.
It is such a positive step in the right direction in my personal
opinion. We have now had on that Web site about 750 million hits \--
nearly three quarters of a billion people have accessed that Web site,
and the number is just \-- I mean, that number blows me away, and we
continue to have people every day coming to that Web site to get a
better understanding of MyPyramid.\
\
As we said a few months ago, we will be rolling out a children\'s
MyPyramid, where teachers and schools and whatever can start to access
this for little kids, because we agree if you start to develop good
habits as a young person you\'ll carry them through life.\
\
I mention that here, because when it comes to fruits and vegetables you
have a prominent place here. Now, we argue very, very aggressively you
can enjoy a wide array of foods. Build in exercise, build in fruits and
vegetables and wholegrain wheat products, and all of a sudden you\'re
going to start to see some good things happening. So that\'s why we have
that figure running up the side of the pyramid. We want our young people
recognize that they\'ve got to get out and move around and get away from
the TV and the computer and the e-mail. And you know what, for some of
us adults, you know what I\'m saying? \-- that helps too. But we think
this is just the right step \-- and I share that with you because for a
state like Florida where you really do fruits and vegetables so well, I
just believe there\'s great opportunity here.\
\
I accept this thought \-- and it\'s been pointed out in a number of
newspaper articles \-- and that is this thought of how do we, if we are
truly promoting this industry, how do we design farm policy to recognize
that? And I don\'t know. There\'s no easy answer to that. That\'s why
we\'re doing these Listening Sessions to get people\'s thoughts and
ideas. And we\'re going to welcome that as we continue to develop this
farm policy.\
\
That brings me to my last question. I told you when we started that \--
and I think today was fairly typical \-- not typical, but fairly
indicative of what we\'re hearing around the country. Conservation
programs are getting pretty solid support. Our rural development
programs \-- virtually unanimous support \-- they\'re programs that are
working.\
\
There are other things, kind of more of a nuanced sort of thing relative
to the Farm Bill. But when we talk about distribution of benefits,
that\'s where we seem to be really engaging the United States
agricultural community in a discussion about how best to approach farm
policy in the future. It is this issue of, Well, Mr. Secretary, if
you\'re promoting in the pyramid more fruits and vegetables, where\'s
the money going? That\'s what somebody raised here.\
\
The second area that we hear a lot about is payment limits, and again
it\'s wasn\'t that it came up here today, but it\'s \-- I was at Husker
Harvest Days in Nebraska for a Farm Bill forum \-- I wasn\'t in the gate
five minutes, and somebody was saying to me, You need to get payment
limits past. We would not hear that in Southern states. We would hear
very, very much the opposite \-- tremendous difference of opinion.\
\
About two-thirds of American agricultural production is not subsidized
\-- about two-thirds. It is very much a free-market system. We do some
things for research, we do some things for disaster issues, the
hurricanes and citrus canker. We do some marketing things and some other
things. But when you look at the Farm Bill and look down through the
program crops, it\'s a fairly small list of crops in comparison of the
tremendous diversity of agriculture in this nation.\
\
Now, what does that tell us about the next Farm Bill? Well, again,
that\'s why we\'re here. We decided very early on if we were going to do
Listening Session this was not going to be about picking two or three
states all in the South, or all in the Midwest, or all in the West -
that what we really needed to do was hear from producers in the nation
about what they thought. And so that\'s why a Farm Bill Listening
Session like this is so helpful and so important.\
\
Last though. Thank you again for your very, very warm welcome to
Florida. I appreciate it. It\'s great to be back in Florida. We are
going to continue to work with your department, with Charlie.\
\
This Farm Bill is going to roll out in the months ahead. It\'s not even
to a point where we\'re ready to sit down and put pencil to paper. The
House will be working \-- is already \-- but they\'ll probably be doing
some field hearings in 2006, although they haven\'t announced that \--
they\'ve kind of talked about that. But I think it is in 2006 where
folks on Capitol Hill are going to start really putting ideas down, and
we\'re going to be working with them.\
\
We may even submit our own draft of the Farm Bill, or an outline or
proposals or whatever. We intend to be very engaged in this Farm Bill.
We do have a site, usda.gov. At any time that you want to submit
additional information, you can mail them to us, you can put them on
that Web site and send them out to us. We want to hear from you. We hope
you\'ll be engaged. We hope that you\'ll continue to offer your thoughts
as we develop this next Farm Bill.\
\
With that, let me just say again it\'s great to be here. God bless you.
(Applause.)