Ladies and gentlemen, this is Lieutenant Governor Sally Peterson.

MR. BLOUIN: We've got some work to do if we're going to get caught up before nightfall. We have five folks who have pre-lunch comments to make before we move into the panel that was scheduled to begin at 1:15.

I'd like to ask all of our speakers this afternoon, not for your sake as much as for those that are going to follow you, to please adhere to the time limit; three minutes for the audience, five minutes for the panelists. There is a little timekeeper for every person that will be speaking that's sitting on the table there. When it's yellow, you've got 60 seconds. When it hits red, it means stop. Just like a streetlight. Take about ten seconds to wrap it up. Remember, your testimony is going to be submitted. It will not be abbreviated. The only difference will be they'll have to read it to hear it, and I don't think that will hurt you all that much.

Our first audience presenter is Dennis Meyer. If you're still here, we'd like you to come down to this microphone, please, and make your comments. The microphone is over here, and there is a lady in the first row who will take copies of your testimony so you don't have to pass it out. That will save us about 60 seconds.

MR. MEYER: Good afternoon. I am Dennis Meyer of Bernard, Iowa. I operate a 100-cow family dairy farm with my wife, Darlene, and three sons. We farm 384 acres of cropland and also raise Holstein and crossbred steers and horses. I am a member of Family Dairies USA, which represents family dairy producers in nine upper Midwest states. I am the president of its East Central Iowa Local. I also belong to Iowa Farm Bureau, the Dubuque County Dairy Promotions Association, the American Quarter Horse Association, and the Dubuque County Saddle Club.

I want to thank Secretary Glickman and Ambassador Barshefsky, Secretary Judge, and Mr. Scher for this opportunity to share my views on U.S. dairy trade policy for the upcoming WTO talks later this year in Seattle.

Grassroots dairy farmers recognize that trade liberalization is inevitable; however, we want to make sure that any new trade agreement is sensitive to the needs of America's dairy farmer families. Those concerns were brought out at the Dubuque County Dairy Promotion Association banquet held April 9th in Dubuque, Iowa. A total of 823 local milk producers, rural business people and consumers signed a petition expressing strong support for family dairy farms and the Dairy Trade Coalition on key trade concerns including: The need to appreciate the multifunctionality of family farms, concern about the elimination of tariff rate quotas, and the DEIP program, the need for trade policy to strengthen American family dairy farms, and the need to reform state trading enterprises.

As past chairman of that group, I present copies of those petitions to you now which I gave to you.

The National Milk Producers Federation, the U.S. Dairy Export Council, USDEC, and other so-called trade experts keep telling us that our future lies in exporting dairy products because 96 percent of the world's consumers live outside the U.S. To gain access to these export markets, however, we are told we must eliminate our import controls, internal supports, Dairy Export Incentive Program, and many other public programs important to family farmers and rural communities. Before we sacrifice any of these key programs to gain a new dairy trade agreement, however, we need to ask some hard questions about the risks and potential rewards of this proposition. Those questions are spelled out in my written statements which I have submitted for the record. I encourage you, please, to read those very carefully.

The U.S. is pursuing zero-for-zero international trade policy advocated by the National Milk Producers Federation and U.S. Dairy Export Council and others at the urging of the Cairns Group. As part of the zero-for-zero proposal, National Milk Producers, USDEC, and other processor allies are willing to sacrifice our tariff rate quotas to gain market access abroad.

Under this scenario, U.S. milk prices would plummet to an estimated $9 to $9.50 per hundredweight, a level that would definitely bankrupt me and most of my constituents. Without tariff rate quotas, our market would be open to a flood of dairy imports from all over the world. We see few meaningful export opportunities, particularly in the area of bulk dairy products, due to competition from lower-cost producers and state trading enterprises like the New Zealand Dairy Board.

Our government is putting many important domestic programs at risk by pursuing Cairns Group's free trade agenda. Recent reports by the dairy farmers of Canada and the Dutch Dairy Association indicate that our federal milk marketing orders, water subsidies, diary compacts, federal feeding programs, and other programs would be in violation of WTO rules. I have a copy of each report with me which I submitted to you. Is the U.S. government willing to risk these and other programs in pursuit of a questionable free trade agreement?

We appreciate the recent interest in reforming state trade enterprises that compete unfairly in the world market. We are concerned that state trading enterprises are cleverly maneuvering to evade reform through technical changes that do not alter their basic functions. New Zealand, for example, is in the process of converting its dairy board into a private entity that will continue to be the functional equivalent of the STEs right now.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to share these views with you.