I want to again thank the Foreign Agricultural Service for selecting Iowa as one of the 11 sites for these World Trade Organization listening sessions. It is appropriate that the session's being held here because Iowa's livelihood has been in the past, is now, and folks, it will be in the future about agriculture. It's remarkable when we think how far agriculture has come in this century, and it's even more remarkable when we think how far technological advances are going to take us in the next millennium. However, today many Iowa farmers see the future as being very bleak.

Major commodities in Iowa have been witnessing prices falling under the cost of production. Why is this happening? It is surely not because Iowa farmers are doing a poor job. On the contrary. Iowa farmers are doing what they do best, and that is to produce. We have the richest soil in the nation and an abundance of water. It's not a matter to us of how much can be produced. It's a matter of being able to get rid of that product.

We must expand our markets for agricultural products, and we have to do that on a global level. For Iowa farmers to interact in the global marketplace, they must be allowed to compete on a level playing field, and that means fair access to markets. In November, as you have heard, many of us will be attending the Seattle Trade Round, and we hope that agriculture will have top priority. These trade rounds are important. We did witness gains in Iowa because of the Uruguay Round which was completed in 1994. Japan increased its quota for feed corn, South Korea lowered tariffs on popcorn as well as animal feed, Indonesia agreed to eliminate blending requirements for soybean oil, and the pork industry saw tariffs reduced in Japan and South Korea. But there is a lot more work to be done.

Agricultural tariffs, as you have heard many times already this morning, remain above the industrial sector. Artificial barriers to trade prohibit the free flow of our products. If we are to keep family farmers in Iowa raising corn, beans, hogs, and cattle, we have got to lower those barriers.

I ask the World Trade Organization to immediately consider issues of trade involving genetically-modified organisms, farm export subsidies, and removal of trade barriers that are not based on sound science. It is imperative that the issue of genetically-modified organisms is addressed. Trade negotiators must insist that the market for these products be controlled not by propaganda and hysteria, but by sound scientific evidence. A recent issue of The Economist stated, hostility to the genetic modification of crops risks slowing down the development of a potentially important technology which is why more must be done to reassure potential consumers. I concur with that statement wholeheartedly.

The opening of markets for American GMO products must be our primary goal. Trade negotiators in Seattle must also address the issue of European export subsidies. Iowa producers cannot compete with heavily subsidized European producers. Therefore, in order to level the playing field, European export subsidies must be reduced to an equitable level and ultimately eliminated.

Agricultural trade can no longer take a back seat to other export items. The U.S. will soon issue final retaliation in the hormone case, as you have heard from Ambassador Scher this morning. I encourage the WTO as well as the USTR to make livestock, particularly the pork industry, the centerpiece of any such retaliation. As a result of restrictive trade measures which affect U.S. pork, beef, and poultry bound for the European Union, there has been a complete cutoff of U.S. poultry exports and a severe reduction of pork and nonhormone beef exports. Such retaliation would help our struggling Iowa livestock producers to tap into the EU market which has been basically inaccessible. Our pork producers in particular need help now, and let us use that opportunity to assist them.

How important is agriculture and trade to Iowa? Well, I'm going to share some quick Iowa facts with you. I love these quick facts. My staff will tell you. This is just two or three things about Iowa. 12.5 million acres of corn planted last year in Iowa. 12.2 million harvested for grain. 1.7 billion bushels of corn harvested. 10.5 million acres of soybeans planted. 18.2 percent or 501 million bushels of soybeans in Iowa last year. 39,000 Iowa farms have 3.65 million cattle of which 1.2 million are calves. Over a million cattle were finished in Iowa last year for slaughter. 24 percent or 15.3 million head of the nation's hogs and pigs were on Iowa's farms last December. Iowa leads the nation in corn, in soybeans, and in pork production. Unfortunately we have to take a back seat to you in cattle. Meat packing plants in Iowa produce 6.2 billion pounds -- billion with a B -- billion pounds of red meat in 1998. Here's one for the poultry industry. Nearly 25 million layers now reside in this state making us the third largest producer of eggs, and sales of Iowa crop and livestock produced receipts of more than $11 billion last year. Only California and Texas had more. So we are definitely about Iowa.

As you can see from that production, Iowa is an export and must be an export state. We export roughly from Iowa 8 percent of all agricultural products, and those exports are estimated at 4.1 billion. That's close to 55,000 jobs, both on the farm and off the farm. And right now as you have heard repeatedly this morning and I'm sure you're going to hear the rest of the day, we are engaged in a struggle for our very financial lives. I believe that wholeheartedly. The actions that are taken in this state in the next few months will determine the future of agriculture for a long time in Iowa. We are depending on quick action to increase market opportunity, and we have a chance to make a significant difference in Iowa's agricultural future through development of global markets. We must not lose that opportunity. Again, thank you for being here. And I will turn the microphone over to Kansas.