MR. HINDSDALE: Do I get six minutes?

MR. ALLBEE: You get three at a time.

MR. HINSDALE: Mr. Secretary and members of the committee, my name is Clark Hinsdale, President of the Vermont Farm Bureau. And despite the fact that I have a jacket on, I am a farmer and spend most of my time raising berries that has a B in them.

Thanks for traveling to Vermont to join us today so we can testify concerning the upcoming trade talks.

Vermont Farm Bureau represents over 4400 farm families, the majority of whom are associated with the dairy industry. Vermont has the most dairy dependent economy in the nation, so the health of our dairy industry is the most important agricultural priority for us. For a few fleeting weeks in the spring, however, our number one in the nation maple syrup industry takes over. It takes our minds off the fact that the bottoms are going out of our dirt roads.

Milking cows and boiling sap gives Vermont farmers a lot of quality time to ponder world affairs, and we do. We believe that the United States could do a number of things to enhance its position in world affairs relating directly and indirectly to trade. We continue to support trade negotiations for this administration as past administrations have had.

We support trade sanctions reform and applaud the efforts of Chairman Lugar, Congressman Hamilton and others to ban unilateral trade sanctions on food. It is both morally and economically imperative that the United States be a reliable supplier of food to any country in the world, including China, Iran and Cuba. We will never starve out dictators nor will we win the hearts and minds of hungry people.

We support a worldwide ban on land mines and applaud the efforts of Senator Leahy, Bobby Muller and others to rid the world of this endless assault upon farmers and rural citizens throughout the world. We call on the administration to rethink its position on this issue. We believe that food should not be used as a weapon, and that weapons should not be directed against those who produce foods.

The 1996 Freedom to Farm Act is very much under discussion today as most agricultural commodity prices continue to deflate. Without our Dairy Compact, Vermont farmers would have felt the full brunt of these price declines as well.

We believe that the long-term viability of Freedom to Farm is very closely connected to your efforts to open foreign markets more fully and equitably to our products. In the meantime, Congress and the administration have some very tough choices to make concerning the food producing capacity in this country. Are we going to forge ahead with our economic and moral plans in the world? Are we going to support America's hard working farm families through this current crisis? Or are we going to idle a third of our agricultural production either through new set aside or conservation programs or through Machiavellian economics?

Some say that Freedom to Farm was about getting the government out of agriculture. We don't support that point of view. We believe that Freedom to Farm is about refocusing the role of government in agriculture to those areas where government can uniquely act to create positive change. We see agricultural search, regulatory reform and, at the top of the list, trade negotiations, as the key areas for more government effort on behalf of the nation's farmers. We know you're from the government and we hope you're here to help.

We are anxious -- Farm Bureau has a well developed, thoughtful, heartfelt position on the upcoming trade negotiations. In the interest of time, I can tell you that the two Commissioners from either side of Lake Champlain did an excellent job of summarizing that position in their opening statements.

Trade promotes economic growth and well being, but it does far more than that. Trade promotes cross cultural understanding and world peace. Intelligent utilization of America's environmentally friendly and consumer safe food supply will also help protect fragile and significant environs elsewhere in the world.

Thank you again for traveling to Vermont. We wish all of you, as well as ourselves, much good luck in the upcoming negotiations. Thank you.

MR. SCHUMACHER: I was very impressed with seeing your statement in detail. Something that we are always very concerned about, and I think the State Department and USDA -- when you say what the new regulations and sanctions, some of the bills you referred to, we can move that agenda forward. That's the first time I heard in any of my hearings throughout the country a comment about land mines in agriculture. I would like to bring that back to the State Department in a written form. First time we have heard it. In Kosovo people are being killed. That's the first time I've heard a statement from a farmer saying we must get rid of land mines because of the impact on agriculture around the world. We really appreciate that. I will take that back to Washington when I return. Very, very helpful.

MR. GRAVES: Clark, does the Vermont Farm Bureau have a position with respect to relaxing trade barriers on dairy issues?

MR. HINSDALE: We very much supportive the kind of comments, the earlier discussion that took place during Mr. Paine's testimony, the Federation, is consistent with our point of view. Given the number of dairy farmers in the room today, I decided that I would focus on some non-dairy issues even though testimony you've heard from the dairy sector is very consistent with both the state and national policy.

MR. GRAVES: Thank you.

MR. ACETO: I just wanted to add one more comment on the sanctions. In the next few weeks, few days, a regulation will come out that will allow (inaudible) in Sudan. The other thing is this is an important issue because one of the concerns they have -- to address the issue out there, that we will address the countries and the export taxes -- (inaudible)

MR. HINSDALE: The only point, any time -- with regard to the farm U.S. position, might be, because it hasn't been mentioned, is the fact that with the economic prosperity we are enjoying in this country, if we can't move significantly to reduce export subsidies by the European Union and others, we must be prepared in this country to increase the export subsidies on our end. We must be prepared to give you in those trade negotiations some assurances from the administration in the Congress that this country is serious about that kind of action. In the event of failure to reach concessions to negotiations, I would like to deal with as strong a hand as possible.