Now, have we had any other speakers recognized? Anybody from the desk in here? That's the last name I have on my list of speakers.

Now we move into open dialogue. I'm going to ask for guidance from the panel on this because I don't know how open dialogue has worked in the other sessions. But we'll have a period of open dialogue and then some statement by Secretary Tarburton.

UNDER SECRETARY SCHUMACHER: Well, I think there were some people who spoke this morning maybe want to amplify if they wish. Otherwise, we may go right to the closing statement of Secretary Tarburton.

MR. CLIFTON: Any comment, clarification or amplification on the part of any of our previous speakers?

UNDER SECRETARY SCHUMACHER: Ambassador Baas would like to make a comment.

MR. CLIFTON: Certainly.

AMBASSADOR BAAS: Thank you. I just want to say a couple things. First of all, as you've heard, this is the last, or one of the two last sessions that we've had of this nature. There have been 12 of them around the country. I have been fortunate enough to go to five of them and I have been struck, as I was saying to some people at lunch, how some of the themes are very, very similar. Most of the themes are very, very similar no matter if you're in Delaware or Florida or Minneapolis or Sacramento or Richmond or Washington. And some of those themes, I don't think, will surprise you.

Export subsidies, we ought to get rid of them. State trading enterprises should be regulated. Harmonization of tariffs. SPS is a very important agreement and we should seek to preserve and improving if we can. And so on. Concern about biotechnology and how our products are treated overseas, etcetera.

So this is the beginning of a process and we are now going to enter into negotiations beginning in November in Seattle, at the end of November in Seattle. What we have heard will help us very much as we develop our positions between now and Seattle. But we'll have a negotiation that will be ongoing for three years or perhaps even longer and we will need to hear from you during that period.

I think it's very important that you keep in touch with USDA and USTR when you have news, when you see how things are going. I think the suggestion this morning that we have another round of this sort of thing in 18 months or so was a very good one. We need to know if we're going in the right direction. We need to know if corn concessions from country X is really worthwhile paying for, if or if it's not worth anything to you. We need to know those sorts of things.

I would also like to say that this is not going to be an easy negotiation. Agriculture was not involved in negotiations up until the Uruguay Round for very good or at least understandable reasons. Agriculture in all countries is very, very political. Farmers vote. Farmers have lots of political clout, as they do in the United States. It's the same in other countries. So it's not going to be easy to get these concessions.

And let me just mention a couple things. Not because I'm taking issue with anything that was said today. I think I agree with most everything I've heard today. But there's a lot of talk today about a level playing field, and we all understand what that means. But I think if there was a similar meeting like this being held in Europe, you would hear complaints from European farmers that the playing field wasn't level. That the United States was playing unfairly because we have extra large farms, because we used our GSM program to create markets. We used our food aid to create markets. And we have these large chemical companies that gave us an advantage in biotech. All sorts of things. And they would be telling their negotiators that the first thing to do is level the playing field.

Now, I'm not saying that that's right or wrong. I'm just saying it's a fact of life and one that we need to deal with.

Mrs. Mitchell was very eloquent this afternoon on the importance of maintaining farming in the United States and not blacktopping all the farmland. Well, that's obviously true. At the same time, we hear something very similar in the European Union which they call multifunctionality, that the farm is more important than just farming. It's there because it helps with avalanche control. It helps with tourism for tourists to see big fat Swiss cows with nice bells around their neck. It's important for cultural reasons.

Again, this is an issue we're going to hear very much from our negotiating partners or opponents, or call them what you want. And so it's one that is hard for us to deal with when we're sitting on the side of the negotiating table.

So, again, I'm not taking issue with anything that we've heard here today. I think they are very good issues that have been raised and we will need your support as we enter into what will be a very difficult negotiation.

And I want to thank everyone for coming today. Thank you.

MR. CLIFTON: Any other comments from the panel?

Just one brief comment from myself. I think that the idea of having a follow-up session or mid-term session, whatever you want to call it, a couple years from now would be an excellent idea. We also have a resource which the Under Secretary is very aware as another sounding board in the interim. And that is our network of state committee members and county committee members. We have with us over on this side state directors and state committee members from the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Would you please stand quickly?

UNDER SECRETARY SCHUMACHER: Just tell us who they are and what state they're from him.

(Various people were introduced at this time.)

UNDER SECRETARY SCHUMACHER: Thank you very much. I think it's very helpful because farmers have concerns that our state committee represents the administration as are the state executive directors. And the women and men that represent the president at the county and state level have been counseling us on issues that they see more than just domestically.

So I'm very proud and very pleased that the state committeemen and state executive directors have come, some from very long. You know, southern Virginia is almost as far as northern Maine. And we wish you a safe drive back.

MR. CLIFTON: And as you know, they're always willing to speak their mind every time you ask them a question.

UNDER SECRETARY SCHUMACHER: They do, indeed.

MR. CLIFTON: With that, I'll turn the program back over to Delaware Agriculture Department Secretary.

SECRETARY TARBURTON: I get to brag a little bit, too, because there's quite a few members of my staff in here that haven't been introduced. First one, Deputy Susan Edwards is here and has been here all day. Dr. Wes Towers, the state veterinarian. And while you're up, Doc, we haven't discussed anything today about movement of live animals or movement of reproductive materials such as in vitro either eggs or semen. Are there any issues that you think ought to be addressed for the WTO listeners?

DR. TOWERS: I was reluctant to come and be a speaker today because it seems that we were cautioned by some people in USDA that there were some issues that they had negotiated in the previous rounds that they would like to address more quietly and that these kinds of things should not be brought out in public forum. They would rather that we deal veterinarian to veterinarian kind of like we did when the Russians almost cut off our chicken exports. There were several of us that went to Washington and talked specific disease issues from veterinarian to veterinarian.

So, yes, there are many issues that we're afraid of. I noticed you asked Don if there were things that he was afraid of as he was driving down the road. We're very concerned in this day of increased efficiency of transportation, so on and so on. There are many viral diseases that could be brought into our country on meat products, not really so much live animals, but meat products.

SECRETARY TARBURTON: Sanitary/phytosanitary issues.

DR. TOWERS: Right.

SECRETARY TARBURTON: Dr. Towers is also the former president of the United States Animal Health Association. So if you have any further questions for him, I'm sure he'll be here after the meeting.

Our state statistician Tom Furor is here as well. Tom, thank you. Thank you for participating.

From the University of Delaware, there's some folks here that deserve to be introduced. Dr. Bob Gamsole has been in the audience. If he is still here, the new, what do you call it, Vice Provost? What's the proper term?

Dr. Pat Barber is here, associate Dean for the Risk Extension. And when you get to doing this, you already forget some.

Dr. Nye, should anybody else be recognized?

SECRETARY TARBURTON: I wanted to -- did Rob Rich get recognized from Virginia?

MR. RICH: I'm right here.

SECRETARY TARBURTON: Carlton decided he didn't need to chat with us this morning, but Robert Rich is here from the Virginia Department of Agriculture.

Tom Keeley. Did I pronounce your name correctly?

MR. KEELER: Tim Keeler.

SECRETARY TARBURTON: I'm sorry. Bill Roth's person who's here and Debbie Parkowski is here, member of the Delaware Economic Development Office. Thank you very much for spending all day with us, Deb.

As former president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and currently the chair of the International Trade Committee, I had several things to read from our own policy regarding international trade. However, they've all been stated. So I'll just make my paper as a matter of record. There's really no use repeating that, in my opinion.

So I'll just wrap up with the meaning to Delaware from my own point of view. And I'll start out by what I introduced you to this morning. More than 20 percent of Delaware's cash flow from agriculture is a direct result of exports. So exporting activity is extremely important to us. And so when something happens such as the loss of the economic dollars, the economic opportunity in southeast Asia, that hit us pretty hard.

And I would remind the panel that most of Delaware's product is value added. While we do ship some soybeans, poultry, we're in the import area for corn. So we get to enjoy a plus base for most of our grain production. So we're a value adder and that means lots of jobs.

It's a troubling situation here on the shore. The poultry industry contributes about $1.5 billion to the economy of the Delmarva peninsula. So it's critical to Delmarva that progress toward granting access for poultry products is obtained.

It's also critical to us to institute a process for resolution of GMO concerns. And I was very pleased to read Secretary Glickman's speech that he is forming a scientific committee to further investigate GMO issues and concerns and to arrive at some conclusions. Obviously, we're already feeding round-up ready soybeans to our poultry. There's no way you can separate this stuff.

We have requested plant breeders to modify corn so that phosphorus in the grain will become more available to poultry. Right now, poultry's a lousy converter of phosphorus. And so a lot of that phosphorus goes in one end and goes out the other. In fact, in order to ensure bone structure of the bird, we have to add phosphorus to the feed. So if we can genetically modify corn to make it more available to the bird, we won't have to add phosphorus to the feed. We'll have less coming out the back end and hopefully reduce citizens' concern about critters like physteria. So that's where I'm coming from there.

But if the European Union decides that we can't ship poultry to any of their 16 countries because they've been fed both corn and soybeans, both of which are genetically modified, we're in a heap of trouble. So frankly, I'm reluctant to go out there and really jump on this GMO bandwagon until we have arrived at some conclusions. So that's my concern about the politics of GMOs.

So I want to thank the panel, Gus, as always, my good friend. I appreciate your taking the time to come down here. Teresa, it's been great to meet you and I've enjoyed the comments that you've had in the form of questions. And Mark, I appreciate the opportunity, again, of meeting you, particularly appreciate your insights into questions that I heard you ask of our panelists.

And finally, panelists, I do appreciate the time that you've taken to come from the five surrounding states. And the people, the group from D.C., thanks for getting on the bus so early this morning. I hope you've learned a little bit here. And I want to thank you all so very much.

Thanks again to the University of Delaware for supplying the facilities.

Is there anything more to be said here? If not, as soon as you walk out that door, you're going to get a blast of heat. You'll find out how good the air-conditioning has been in here. Thank you so very much for attending. Have a safe drive home. Enjoy your week.

(The listening session was concluded at 1:59 p.m.)