SECRETARY JUDGE: I'm going to stand up because I can't sit down any longer. As we wrap up -- and by the way, we haven't done too bad. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together. It's only quarter after 4:00, but I would like to give the other listening panel members -- and we're not going to take three minutes. If you've got something in 30 seconds to a minute that you would like to say as a way of wrap-up. Let's start down at the end of table and give you a chance to say whatever you need to say.

MR. ACETA: Thank you, Secretary Judge. I'd just also like to thank everyone that came today and spoke. I should probably explain why the State Department is taking part in these. We do represent your interests overseas, and that includes the interest of ranchers and farmers. And part of my job within the State Department is trying to explain to the other people that didn't think so much about agriculture why these issues are important, not just for farmers and ranchers, but for Americans. So we thank you again.

MR. SAUNDERS: Patty, I would just say thank you to the members of the audience. I know some of them have left. This has been a good learning experience for me. I think anytime we get people together to come together to talk about our problems, we're going to find some solutions, and I think in all of this today we possibly have found some bits and pieces that can be put together. So I thank everyone for participating.

MR. NEFF: Thank you, Secretary Judge. To pick up on what we just heard, we are going to use this material very systematically in the U.S. Trade Representatives Office and also in the USDA compiling the comments from around the country, all 12 listening sessions, recording them very systematically according to what commodity interest we're representing, the views that were expressed, and take those into careful consideration in formulating our objectives for the new round. Do thank you for coming. It's been a pleasure for me to listen.

MS. STATTLEMAN: Thank you. Even though I come from the farm and actually was even back home last weekend for some of the very lengthy wheat harvest that Kansas has experienced, it is good to come and learn a little bit more about some of the ag economy that I am not personally involved with and I did not grow up with. So I appreciate you sharing your information and knowledge with me today.

MR. GRAU: As a former producer before going to Washington, D.C., I would like to say thank you for all your comments on behalf of the Secretary and myself. If we can keep one more producer on the land, the next generation of farmer producers farming, we will have been a success. We did listen today and I thank you, Patty. Thank all the staff for tying this forum together because this is what it's about: Keeping that next generation out there and our environment protected.

SECRETARY JUDGE: Thank you, Tom. I want to say thank you before we leave to the employees of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship who have put in double time, overtime to try to assist all of us and to make this a successful event. Lots of volunteers here today from the Department. They are the folks that have on the red shirts, and I think that they all deserve a lot of thanks. Especially I'd like to thank Deputy Brent Halling who put lots of work into this event and who spent lots of time lining up speakers and making sure that everything went the way it should. Mike and Mitch worked overtime even in the -- close to midnight last night before we got those things wound up. Joanie, Linda, Shawna, the FFA young people who were here. We appreciate them coming. And if you're around those kids very much, it renews your energy for working for agriculture for the next generation. And also double thanks to you, Kathryn Cornelius, for all of the work that you've done. It hasn't been all smooth, but we did it, and I appreciate your help. And especially I would like to thank Chris Degner and Katie Turner who are here who are interns, college interns, and working for the Department this summer. And they have -- I hope this has been a learning experience, at least a -- maybe I ought to amend that and say I hope it's been a positive learning experience for you.

To those of who have stuck this out to the bitter end -- and I really do think that rule about barring the door is probably something we need to think about -- I want to assure you that your messages have been heard, and I share with you the frustration that all of agriculture is feeling right now, and want to assure you that we are very much aware that exports and reform of trade policies are not the solution to the short-term crisis that we are now facing. But I do believe that not to begin working on a long-term solution, of which export is a part, while we also address those short-term issues, is to really doom ourselves to failure. We have to do both. And by listening to each other and working together -- and we do need to listen. We heard a lot of different opinions expressed here today, and that's great. That's what it's all about. And when we can listen to each other and work together and try to set aside some of our differences, we can set a course which is going to allow the American farmer to realize the profit for their labor that they so richly deserve.

Again, thank you for coming. Let's keep in touch. We can solve these problems.

(Listening panel concluded at 4:21 p.m.)