2000 Wheat Industry Conference And Exposition 
                                            Release No.  0041.00 

Remarks
          As Prepared for Delivery
                                by
              Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
          2000 Wheat Industry Conference And Exposition
                 February 9, 2000   Las Vegas, nv

          
     "Thank you very much, Jim and Chris, for those kind words and thanks to
all of you for that warm welcome.  It's a pleasure to join all of you again this
year.  

     "I was with you last year in Nashville, and of course, last month the
local football team there came within a yard of winning the Super Bowl.  In
1998, I believe Deputy Secretary Rominger joined you in San Diego.  And later
that year, the San Diego Padres made it to the World Series.  There are no major
league sports franchises in Las Vegas.  But since winning seems to follow you
around, I'm guessing it's going to be a big night at the blackjack table for
someone.

     "We are lucky to be living in the most prosperous times for our nation  
with the longest economic expansion in history, record home ownership, low
interest, low inflation and the lowest unemployment in 30 years.  And by 2013 we
will pay down the national debt and be debt free for the first time since Andrew
Jackson was in the White House.

     "Of course, everyone knows prosperity has nothing to do with luck and
everything to do with resilience and sacrifice.  Nevertheless, there are times
when even the hardest work and the fiercest dedication are in vain, when decent
men and women find themselves overwhelmed by forces beyond their control.  Such
is the case right now in American agriculture.

     "I don't have to tell you that these are lean times for wheat growers and
others who make a living harvesting and selling row crops.  As recently as May
1996, the price of wheat had soared to $5.75 a bushel.  By July of last year, it
had plummeted to $2.23.  And we don't expect any kind of significant rebound in
2000.  Growers in the Northern Plains, I know, have it particularly rough,
because they have few other crop options, limited off-farm income opportunities
and continued competition from Canadian imports.

     "Wheat growers depend heavily on international trade, but the global
financial crisis, of course, has made it that much more difficult to penetrate
overseas markets.  
                                 

In fiscal year 1996, we saw wheat export sales reach a record high $6.9 billion. 
But that figure dropped almost in half by 1999, to $3.7 billion.  Even as some
key markets begin to emerge from recession, wheat growers continue to confront
tariff and non-tariff barriers around the world.

     "At USDA, we are fighting to help you overcome those barriers.  We will
not back down from the WTO negotiating principles we took to Seattle.  Trade-
distorting export subsidies must go, and we believe that the Europeans, now
completely isolated on this issue, will have no choice but to eventually give up
this practice.  Likewise, we continue to call for strong disciplines against
State Trading Enterprises like the Canadian and Australian Wheat Boards, which
manipulate prices, control imports and shut out competition.

     "We continue to work closely with Canada to implement the 14-month-old
Record of Understanding.  Canada has eased phytosanitary requirements on the in-
transit movement of U.S. grain through its rail system, and they have also
recognized 14 states as free of karnal bunt, thus eliminating the need to test
each shipment.  We continue to exchange grain export projections with Canada,
allowing us to resolve conflicts before they become crises.

     "Late last month, USDA held a public meeting on our new Clean Wheat
Initiative, where we heard from buyers of U.S. wheat about the purer product
offered by other wheat-exporting nations.  We want to respond to our customers'
demand, and we continue to explore the best way to do that, whether it's through
financing of grain cleaning facilities or some other method.   
 
     "We have made extensive use of our export credit authority over the past
year, with credit guarantees supporting more than $3 billion in commercial
sales.  With white wheat sales to Pakistan lagging well behind last year's pace,
we recently extended the term of our current credit offering from two to three
years.  Pacific Northwest growers especially depend on the Pakistani market, and
Pakistan needs export credits to make wheat purchases.

     "We have been as aggressive as ever in our food aid efforts at USDA, both
to help farmers make up for declining exports and to help needy people around
the globe.  In 1999, we shipped 8 million metric tons of wheat and other
commodities to about 50 different nations.  That was almost five times the 1998
tonnage and the highest level of food aid in several years. I can't give you any
specific amounts, but we will be announcing additional food aid very soon.

     "Guided by sound scientific principles, we are succeeding in allaying
unfounded fears about TCK.  We persuaded Brazil to lift its ban on hard red
winter wheat in 1998.  And last spring, we finally made headway with China.  For
three years, a dispute over TCK had virtually shut us out of China, as our wheat
exports plunged a staggering 89 percent between 1995 and 1999.  But with the new
U.S.-China Agreement on Agricultural Cooperation, China is easing its TCK rules
and reopening its borders to American wheat.  Now, for the first time in over a
quarter century, wheat from the Pacific Northwest is able to be sold in China. 
Chinese wheat imports are expected to soar over the next decade, to an average
of 5 million metric tons annually.  And with the TCK issue behind us, I expect
us to compete effectively for those sales. 

     "Chinese membership in the World Trade Organization would further expand
our market access to the world's largest nation whose economy is growing at a 7
percent clip.
But it all depends on our granting China permanent Normal Trade Relations
status, a decision Congress will make later this year.  
                                 
     "The stakes can't be overstated -- agriculture tariffs cut in half; export
subsidies eliminated; domestic support capped.  When it's all said and done, we
could increase farm exports to China by up to $2 billion a year.  This may be
the biggest test yet of our nation's commitment to the global economy.  It is
critical that Congress pass PNTR.

     "For all the obstacles preventing us from exporting more American wheat,
the fact is that our sales in volume have held steady.  It's low prices that are
keeping export values down.  And while the government is no longer in the
business of managing supply, there is plenty we can do to mitigate the effect of
low prices.  And that is where the Administration's new safety net proposal
comes in.

     "On April 4, 1996, President Clinton signed the FAIR Act, but not with
wholehearted enthusiasm.  Here is what he said that day: "I am signing [this
bill] with reservation because I believe [it] fails to provide an adequate
safety net for family farmers.  The fixed payments...do not adjust to changes in
market conditions, which would leave farmers...vulnerable to reductions in crop
prices or yields."

     "The President was prophetic, of course.  There was a shortsighted quality
to the Farm Bill.  It was written for and during a farm bullish economy, with
little thought to the possibility that fortunes could easily shift.  A year
later, the farm economy took a sharp turn for the worse.  And where once there
was a forgiving safety net, many farmers found only the hard concrete of
financial devastation.  Something had to be done, of course.  So for the last
two years, Congress scrambled to put together nearly $15 billion in ad hoc
emergency assistance.  Sorely needed -- yes.  But not exactly the most effective
or cost-efficient way to see our farmers through tough times.  Congress decided
to fix the leaky roof well after the rains had begun.  That's not a safety net;
it's more like damage control.

     "We need a better way.  That's why the Clinton Administration seeks to
enhance and fortify the 1996 Farm Bill by rebuilding the safety net.  All told,
over the next two years, our plan calls for an $11 billion investment, over and
above existing programs, on budget and non-emergency funding.  It has four major
components.

     "The centerpiece of the proposal is $6.9 billion in supplemental income
assistance.  That assistance would be  targeted.  Those who are struggling the
most would receive the most.  And payments would go to those who actually work
the land, not necessarily those who own the land -- in other words, farmers not
landlords.  The assistance would also be countercyclical   with payments
increasing at times of greatest distress and tapering off when the farm economy
rebounds.

     "These payments would be on top of, not in lieu of, existing payments. 
AMTA participants would continue to receive their full payments, and 98 percent
of them would receive an additional check under this proposal.  

     "Also, the proposal would freeze loan rates for wheat, corn, soybeans,
rice and cotton for this crop year.  And it calls for low-cost financing to
build or upgrade on-farm storage facilities.  Too many farmers have been forced
to dump their wheat and other grain into a glutted market.  On-farm storage
would allow growers to wait for the best conditions before bringing their goods
to market.

     "The second part of the proposal involves $2.7 billion in increased
conservation assistance.  A new Conservation Security Program would provide
annual payments to farmers who adopt specific practices that curb erosion and
protect water supplies from pesticide and nutrient runoff.  This program would
have a very broad reach, as more farmers in more areas would qualify for these
payments.  And, of course, it is the classic win-win proposition   we enhance
farm income, at the same time that we protect our natural resources. For the
first time we treat land as a valuable commodity.

     "We would also raise the ceiling on USDA's successful Conservation Reserve
Program to 40 million acres.  And the conservation provisions would also
increase wetland protection and shield more farmland from development and urban
sprawl.

     "Third, our proposal offers farmers enhanced risk management tools worth
$1.3 billion.  It extends the premium discount for farmers who purchase buy-up
coverage for crop insurance, and it makes multi-year coverage available.  It
would also launch a pilot livestock insurance program, enhance benefits for non-
insured crops and expand USDA's risk management education program.

     "Finally, the safety net proposal invests $600 million to help create new
market opportunities for farmers and stimulate existing ones.  That includes,
among other things, promoting farm cooperatives and encouraging increased use of
farm products in the development of biofuels and biobased products.

     "The safety net proposal is broad-based.  It is national, rather than
regional.  It is based on the common-sense notion that those who are struggling
the most deserve the most help.  It moves farm policy beyond commodity-based
payments to a strategy that invests in people.  It's also a plan that values our
land beyond its arability, instead seeing it as our most valuable commodity of
all.

     "This is also a fiscally responsible proposal.  I don't have the luxury of
going off-budget, as Congress has in passing emergency bills the last two years. 
The safety net plan fits within the framework of the balanced budget that the
President submitted on Monday.

     "This is not about rewriting the current farm bill...but about patching up
some of its holes.  On the other hand, I see this as more than a stopgap.  My
belief is that this plan and its guiding principles represent a new
philosophical direction that can help map a course toward the 2002 Farm Bill.  I
consider this not a set of funding levels, but a set of ideas.  I am more than
willing to work with Congress, to listen and to be flexible.

     "As we begin the 21st century, we have to become more creative about
maintaining the viability of agriculture...and of the American family farm in
particular.  Gone are the days of an agrarian society, where farming was the
lifeblood of the economy.  We live today in an urbanized culture, a new economy
of high-tech start-ups, strip malls and office parks.

     "But still, every man, woman and child on earth has to eat, so there has
to be a secure place for farmers in America.  That's what this safety net
proposal is all about   securing that place, protecting our farmers, ensuring
that one bad year or one devastating storm doesn't drive them out of business. 
The men and women who have given us the safest, most affordable, most abundant
food supply in the world deserve nothing less. 

     " Thank you very much".

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