MARK SIMMONS: Distinguished committee, my name is Mark Simmons with the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers representing the wheat producers of the state of Kansas. We appreciate this opportunity to comment on U.S. negotiation objectives for agriculture in the upcoming round of World Trade Organization negotiations. It is vital to our nation's farmers and ranchers that we build a freer and fairer world trading system. We embrace the call to enter into a new round of global trade negotiations, and we support the passage of fast-track legislation.

We support the objectives first articulated in the proposed fast-track legislation of 1997 and reiterated in Senate Bill 101 introduced by Senator Lugar on January 19, 1999. They are as follows: Number one, export subsidies must be eliminated. Number two, domestic farm subsidies should be subjected to disciplines that limit distortion of trade. Number three, tariffs must be reduced further. Number four, tariff-rate quotas should be substantially increased or effectively eliminated by cutting the out-of-quota duty. Number five, state trading enterprises must evolve to full price transparency and eventually to free market entities. Number six, the rules governing sanitary and phytosanitary measures should be strengthened so that SPS measures are used to block U.S. imports. Number seven, dispute settlement mechanisms must be shortened to address the perishable nature of agriculture commodities. And eight, assure trade in genetically-modified organisms is based on fair, transparent, and scientifically acceptable rules and standards.

The United States should establish as its highest priority the elimination of all direct export subsidies within three years of the conclusion of the upcoming round. We believe that this will require the development of a strategy for phasing out export subsidies.

Our wheat producer members believe that the United States has significantly reformed its domestic support programs since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. The passage and implementation of the 1996 Farm Bill put the U.S. levels of support far below the ceilings established in the URAA. Therefore, U.S. negotiators should seek to eliminate the inequities that persist between U.S. levels of domestic support and those of our competitors.

In terms of specifics, U.S. wheat producers support the continuation of the current green box conditions on direct payments since the green box provides for the use of direct payments to producers that are not linked to production decisions. In addition, the green box should include decoupled income support measures, income insurance and safety net programs, natural disaster relief, and a range of structural adjustment assistance programs, and certain payments made under environmental programs and under regional assistance programs. Furthermore, marketing loans should continue to be treated as they have been under the URAA and remain exempt from further support reductions.

Thank you for the opportunity to share with you today.