MS. MITCHELL: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad to see you here in Delaware and I hope you have a nice time while you're here. We are proud of our state.

I'd just like to mention so you know where I'm coming from, I've been married to a farmer for 53 years, so I have an understanding of agriculture. I'm also the representative of the Farm and Preservation Foundation and, of course, president of the Delaware Council of Farm Organizations, also. But I guess my roots run deep. But thanks for this opportunity.

There's nothing to compare with living on a farm. At least it was enjoyable until overdevelopment stressed upon us. Our farmers are having a very difficult time making a living for their families. How can a farmer make a living on his land when every product to produce a crop is priced excessively high? When at harvest time, if he has been fortunate enough to harvest a crop, the price for growing that crop is totally unacceptable and the farmer goes deeper in debt?

You probably know more about this genetically altered food, grains than I need to know. But there's a great deal of talk that altered foods will not be accepted by consumers. Already there are countries who don't want to buy our products because of the biotechnology that we have. If farmers grow these genetically altered crops, if something goes awry, guess who is the first to get blamed? Certainly not the big corporations who are taking in the big bucks at the farmer's expense. Those genetically produced seeds, when you used to buy corn at 20 or 30 or 60 dollars a bag, it goes up to 200 dollars and that's a great expense for a farmer.

I don't know if I personally can trust the people who say something we eat is not good because it raises your cholesterol or will cause cancer and then they come back in a few years and say, sorry, we made a mistake. You can go ahead and eat that. It's good for you. Or to turn this around and assure me of safe food and later be told it isn't good for me. I see many pitfalls for our farmers because of the alteration of our basic grains and food.

There will be many, many people to be fed in the phyto, according to predictors of population growth. Who is going to supply these needs if farmland is covered with houses, cement, blacktop, parking lots and shopping malls? If a farmer cannot make a living for his farm, those development dollars look real good. Our farmers are becoming an endangered species and I think we're probably close to the edge now. Less than two percent of our population are farmers.

The Delaware farm preservation program has been very successful. We continually need funding to preserve our farms in perpetuity so agriculture will be in our phyto. There must be more give-and-take in exports and imports. The U.S. officials need to put U.S. agriculture first. Americans are the most generous people on earth. Helping people to help themselves with our knowledge and ingenuity. We practically helped ourselves out of business with our efficiency and know-how. And we're paying for it.

Farmers are good stewards of the land, cooperative, generously sharing with others. Farmers are the first environmentalists. Why should the people who are dedicated to providing the daily bread for so many be in such a stressful situation? Some will survive. Others will not. I hope I'm wrong.

On July 13th, the National Press Club, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman spoke and said, farmers need help through this period of depressed prices, slumping exports and economic disaster. We need a balance between fairness to farmers and corporate returns. In your position, ladies and gentlemen, you have the opportunity to, and the ways and means at your disposal to use your influence to hold production costs down and price the harvests up and give the farmer a level playing field.

We want to have Delaware in agriculture in the phyto and if we can't grow it, you can't ship it. It's as simple as that.

Thank you.

UNDER SECRETARY SCHUMACHER: I want to commend you on your extraordinary leadership. I didn't realize Jack was pushing on you and your Governor and ourselves now. You so elevated your pressure to the federal level, which is terrific. I think farm preservation is very, very important. Because without the base farm, we can't have a sustained -- if you don't have a sustainable preserved land. I think Delaware's leadership on that and your, shall we say, strong encouragement to Delaware farm preservation is very important.

On the GMO issue, the biotech issue, the Secretary did make a major speech on July 13th. You do have a major company here in Delaware that is very involved in that. They have been supporting this University, in fact, I've been told for a little bit as well. But I think companies, also the Secretary said, have to have some corporate citizenship and help educate not just farmers but also consumers. These products are safe, that they benefit the environment by reducing pesticides, and over time they will be able to benefit consumers by having some probably health effects as well.

So we value your counsel both for our citizens in the farm protection and commend you for your leadership over the many years that you counseled Jack and his predecessors and the successes that he's made.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, thank you very much. It's my pleasure. I enjoy this and I'm not going to give it up until I get too old.