NORM HUSA: Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Schroeder, and all of the rest of you here today.

I am Norm Husa from Barneston, Nebraska. That is the southeast part of the state of Nebraska. I'm a diversified crop and livestock operation along with the certified seed production and marketing program. I have ten points I would like to present to you today.

Number one, normal trading relations better referred to as fast track. Yes, we must have this. This is something that we've all worked at, and how we're going to get it done, my point of view is that one of the best ways is for the American farmer, the foreign farmer, the U.S. government, state governments, all producers, all people in agriculture, processors, you name them, that is who has to go together to get the job done. We have to do it all together. I echo what's been said before.

Number two point is sanctions and embargoes. We've been through this many, many times. We've just simply got to make these move. I particularly point out Cuba who is only 90 miles away from us, Iran, North Korea, Libya just to name a few of the countries. We've been working on these, and I hope that we can get these opened up.

Food assistance is number three along with export initiatives. We need to make available more PL 480's, export credit programs which is what we used in Korea this past year which worked very beautifully for agriculture products as well as other products that we develop and manufacture in this country. This would also include some GSM money.

Number four, the WTO talks which you heard so much about today. And, of course, we keep hearing about China. Yes, China is our biggest country in the world today; population wise and the need for food and other products. I encourage the USDA, USTR to assist in getting China in the WTO along with the many of the rest of us who can help as well. Let's keep in mind that India may be a sleeping giant when it comes to the next 10 to 15 years. Look at the people they have, 1 billion almost.

Number five point, food safety. Let's begin to look more about labeling. You heard Dick talk about this morning a little bit. I think this is something we're going to have to look at because the foreigners are going to demand it. Greenpeace in Europe, that is who started the GMO thing, most of you realize today are the ones that have really got this thing going. So let's keep on with our labor and input. Once you really sell your pork chop, your pork steak, your beef steak, your poultry products, a broad -- instead of selling soybeans and wheat and corn, let's sell them all. I would rather sell the finished products. Let's keep our inputs right here at home. Labor and all that that goes along with it. Value added to me is the name of the game in the next 10 years. And value added I think is what you're going to see in all of our farms and ranches throughout this country in the very, very near future.

Number six point is transportation. U.S. and international trading. We in Nebraska ship basically half of our products out of the state. We use the Pacific northwest as one of our main export areas. We also deal a lot with NAFTA to Mexico. That's been a good market for us. Many of our local elevators in this state are able to ship grain straight to Mexico now by rail car. Been a real big plus for us.

But on the other hand, the Old Miss is about done as most of us know. The Mississippi River locks and barges, locks and dams need to be redone so that barges can make good use of it. Also the Missouri River for those of you who do not know, and I'm sure you two gentlemen do, they are wanting to shut down the transportation on the Missouri River, take off all transportation as far as cargo is concerned. Let's get behind this, folks. This could be a big one.

Number seven, water quality. Yes, the CRP program may not sound like much of a program for world trading, but to me it really is because that really brings out environmental factors that we have involved in this country and that brings out the whole world too.

You mention the eighth point that I want to talk about and that's GMO's. Yes, GMO's are a big issue today. I mention Greenpeace in Europe. That's who basically got behind this thing. They are nonmodified as far as changing the product itself at all. But Brazil as you may or may not know is going to probably let the GMO issue come in. They're going to probably produce GMO soybeans this year, and if they so do, how are they going to keep it separate? Maybe we need to look at this from the standpoint that we can send non-GMO products to our foreigners as well as GMO products. This may be the plus that's down the road for us to look at.

Number nine, agriculture income protection. We're the only major industry as you all know that we take what they give us. We aren't able to set our price.

And number ten, I think the commodity board, promotion boards, all agricultural organizations work on ag products. Let's work together to promote these together through our governments. As we work these new products that are developed everyday by not only the commodity people but also the industry itself. They're the ones that really do a good job for us.

So thank you for letting me have this opportunity today to visit with you, and I appreciate your attention. Thank you.

MICHAEL LEPORTE: Mr. Murphy.

JAMES MURPHY: Couple of questions. On your comments about GMO's, if I understood you correctly, you are saying we should look at the possibility of segregating GMO from non GMO. The last two or three years in the face of requests to do that, we have been in the posture of saying it can't be done, it's not economically feasible, you'd have to create a entirely parallel export channel at great costs, and who is going to pay for it? I'm beginning to hear from others as well as yourself that we should take a look at this. And the question for you is whether -- do you think it is economically feasible? Will there be a market to sustain what presumably will be a premium price non-GMO product?

NORM HUSA: At this point in time, I do believe there is a place for that market. Now that's the big thing you brought up as it has to be profitable. That's where the value-added thing comes in. It's got to be profitable to the American producers. I'm not talking about 20, 30 cents a bushel. It's going to take more like 50 cents a bushel. But, yes, I think the demands going to stay in Europe. I don't think you'll switch them overnight. And other countries may follow this suit. But as we mentioned this morning about the talks going on in Brazil and South American today, I am very much concerned about those talks.

JAMES MURPHY: One other question. You mentioned labeling when you were talking food safety. Did this also apply in the GMO's? Were you suggesting we should label GMO or GMO free or should it be mandatory or voluntary?

NORM HUSA: I think it should probably be voluntary at this point in time. I'm not saying it really needs to be done entirely, but I think you've got to look at it very seriously because you've countries like you mentioned in Europe as well as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, also South Korea has looked at it. They may demand this in the future. To me, you win the battle by getting on front first.

MICHAEL LEPORTE: Thank you, Norm.

JAMES SCHROEDER: Let me make a quick comment on fast track. And I think -- I assume in a group like this everybody knows what we're talking about, but I know when I went to Washington, I would sit in meetings, people would start talking in code words and abbreviations and finally somebody would raise their hand and say, wait a minute, what are you talking about? And everybody would nod, yeah, we don't know either. But I want to make sure everybody knows what we're talk about here. The whole idea of fast track is that if our negotiators go out and get a deal, they bring it back, and then it goes to the Congress and it's an up-or-down vote, yes or no. We accept it or we don't. In other words, we can't have 435 people amending the agreement on the floor of the House or over in the Senate. And so fast track says, okay, bring your trade bill back and the vote is up or down.

And as has been mentioned, the Congress in its wisdom for 20 years or more decided that's really the only way to negotiate and get good agreements. Most presidents -- every president has had that, but we did start the last round without fast track. There was I think a gap there, and we can start in November without fast track. And it's embarrassing. It's uncomfortable, but we will get it at some point. If we don't get it this year, I'm confident we'll get it next year or the year after. We'll get it at some point so that we will be able to when the time comes negotiate with our other countries both in the hemisphere here as well. So I just wanted to make sure everybody knows what we're talking about.