We now have our audience response or comments to add as well. We have two microphones, one on each side, and my list says we have six folks who are each going to talk for 3 minutes. I would like to have Representative Norman Mundie, wherever you are, on one side or the other, and on the opposite side Linus Solberg, and behind Representative Mundie will be Chris Peterson. Over here Ralph Duxbury. And then over here we'll have Ted Winters and then Don Hoogestraat.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. Speaker, would it be possible for Mr. Linus Solberg to sit down at one of the tables and relax and read his stuff that he has to say and all the other speakers. There's plenty of room there. I think the bottom line is, if we would respect those farmers out here and give them time to relax and say what they got to say.

MR. BLOUIN: Well, let's try it from the microphone in the arrangement that we have.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I'm going to be one of the speakers, and I'm not going to juggle that microphone with my stuff.

MR. BLOUIN: Well, I think the young folks who are there holding the mikes are going to hold them so you don't have to juggle.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I think there needs to be respect up there at the table.

MR. BLOUIN: Well, let's start it this way and see how it works a little bit. Representative Norman Mundie, you're on. Linus Solberg. And if you'll hold the microphone for him, please, we can go from there. Linus, if you want to come towards the middle of the --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let him go up and sit at the table where he's got some light.

MR. SOLBERG: This will take 4 minutes.

MR. BLOUIN: Let's go over to that side, and you've got 3 minutes, and I'm going to cut you off in 3.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Give them hell, Linus.

MR. SOLBERG: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for allowing me to speak here today. My name is Linus Solberg, and I'm a pork producer and farmer from Cylinder, Iowa. I want to thank you for holding these meetings across the United States and to finally listening to some actual farmers. I'm not sure how serious you are about solving the world trade problems of farmers when one multinational corporation sits on your right hand and another at your left at the negotiation table. Family farmers like me are given too little attention when decisions are being made about trade policy, but I will do my best in the next 3 minutes to give you a sense of what real farmers want and need from you.

I will start by asking a question. What is a customer? To me a customer is the most important friend, whether it's a nation or a person. Customers are not dependent on us; we are dependent on them. Customers should not be forced to take our surpluses just because we're unable to create our own fair food system. I believe our shortsighted efforts to force genetically-modified crops or hormone-treated beef down the throats of other nations will jeopardize our success in world trade and will benefit most the corporate clan that puts farmers like me out of business. We don't do our trading partners a favor by selling them our products. They do us a favor by giving us the opportunity to sell to them.

Every giant seed and chemical company should be held accountable for overcharging farmers and threatening our export markets. Seed companies that insist on marketing seed not already approved by a foreign country's government deserve the suspicion they receive. We already know that BT corn can kill Monarch butterflies. Who is doing research on the risks resulting from plowing BT back into our soils and the possible loss of microorganisms?

I am not against exporting commodities. We need more trade. But we need fair trade, not more bullying by U.S. corporations that want to force other countries to accept the commodity surpluses created by the use of genetically-modified organisms and growth hormones. Our current trade policy helps Monsanto, Dupont, Cargill, and ADM who are dependent on increasing exports at all costs. But family farmers like me gain no economic benefit from overproduction through the manipulation of genes. That benefits only those who do the manipulating. In fact, farmers lose. Last year U.S. corn exports in Europe fell by over $500 million because Europeans don't want our biotech corn. We cannot jeopardize millions of dollars worth of trade because corporations want to push GMOs on foreign countries.

If you listen to our presidential candidates and to our commodity lobbyists, all you'll hear is that we need to get tough on trade talks, open new doors, reduce tariffs, force the acceptance of our scientific research, and demand an end to subsidies. But we enter into trade talks with other countries to help all parties involved, not to squeeze out our farmers or their farmers or to benefit the greed of the corporate clan. Corporations must not be allowed to tell our politicians how to run our government.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently told Harvard University graduates to shun greed and to put a sense of social justice into their endeavors. He said, if we succeed in opening up opportunities for everyone, our national affluence will almost surely become more widespread. And even more important is that all Americans believe they are part of a system they perceive as fair and worthy of support. I say that Mr. Greenspan had better give that speech to the CEOs of corporations and commodity organizations to our trade negotiators.

I'm confident that many family farmers like me are finding it more and more difficult to believe that we are part of an economic system that is fair and worthy of our support.

We don't need more trade agreements where half the pigs in Canada can come into the United States to depress our pork prices. Likewise, we don't need more trade agreements that permit U.S. corporations to exploit the poverty of Mexicans or Brazilians by paying them little to nothing to produce food. We pretend that we're a Christian nation of the New World, but it appears as though the multinational corporations have little understanding of what love, respect, and esteem of our fellow man really means.

This is my last page. International trade is a complex issue with clearly high stakes, considering the $200 billion trade deficit we had last year. But I would offer four possible responses to the problems. First, when a country reaches some level of trade advantage over the United States, a surcharge could be added to counter that advantage. Second, we could use the Agricultural Trade Act written in 1978 to provide guaranteed commercial loans to foreign countries. Third, we should ensure that family farmers receive their fair share of the consumer and export dollars. Fourth and probably most important, we should provide money and other forms of support to educate and provide opportunities for people in other countries so they can support themselves and have the money to buy our products.

Ladies and gentlemen, customers are not cold statistics. They are countries and people with their own national interests.

They have social, economic, environmental, and health concerns that are just as valid to them as ours are to us. A customer is not someone with whom we should try to match wits. On the contrary, the most successful businesses are those that remember the old adage that the customer is always right. Thank you for your time.