Thank you, Beth. We’ll move on to our next speaker then, Barry Coleman, Northern Canola Growers Association to be follow by Jodi Slocum.

MR. COLEMAN:

Thank you. My name is Barry Coleman. I am the Executive Director of the Northern Canola Growers Association and we are based out of Bismarck in North Dakota. Canola is a relatively new crop. It’s been called the Cinderella crop in -- in North Dakota. And when I listened to Charles speak and -- and some of the troubles with barley and maybe a lot of the other troubles with a lot of other commodities, I certainly hope canola doesn’t head down that road. So we’re -- we’re hoping to be able to avoid a lot of that. Canola is a very new crop. 70 percent of the canola grown in the U.S. is grown in North Dakota and in Minnesota they grow 20 percent. So Minnesota/North Dakota definitely grow the lion’s share of canola in the U.S. As Beth had said, a lot of the industry certainly is dependent cross border movement of canola for processing in North Dakota. Our plants in North Dakota, we do not produce enough in North Dakota to fill our plants or to keep them processing at full capacity, so there definitely is a reliance on Canadian canola to come down to be crushed. The majority of it is consumed domestically, but we are certainly looking at export markets. Primarily Japan, China and Mexico are the three we’ve identified probably as the most lucrative export markets right now for canola. The Northern Canola Growers Association supports achievement of what has been referred to as a level playing field initiative for trade in oil seeds and oil seed products as the highest priority in the upcoming rounds, as we’ve already heard today. The OPF includes complete elimination of all tariffs and non-tariff barriers to imports of oil seed, oil seed meals and vegetable oils and also complete elimination of export subsidies and other government programs and activities which will artificially distort the competitiveness of these products. According to a 1998 study done by Aid Canada entitled, "Globalization of the International Oil Seed Complex," primary oil seed producers in all the main producer regions of the world will appear to be better off as a result of tariff reform under the level playing field initiative. The largest increases in production will occur in the most efficient oil seed production areas of which one is the U.S. Therefore, we strongly support this level playing field initiative. We also strongly support negotiation of science-based rules governing the world trade in ag commodities and products containing genetic materials derived from biotechnology. Recent experts have told us that our canola exports to the European Union could have tripled had we not had GMOs in the U.S. right now. So we definitely would like to see the use of science based rules under the WTO governing the export of these products. The WTO should be clearly established as the official recourse for an arbiter of disputes involving the trade in biotech crops and products. We also believe that countries that agree to tariff reductions or eliminations should be held to their commitments. Two years ago the chairman of the WTO Committee on Agriculture stated in a speech to the International Ag Trade Research Consortium, "Once something has been negotiated, ratified and grafted into the broader accumulated body of commitments and disciplines, other WTO members have a legitimate expectation, indeed a legal right, to expect that these agreements entered into will be implemented in good faith." Also as far as China’s accession into the WTO, there were good negotiations made for U.S. oil seeds, primarily soybeans, in those negotiations. We strongly feel that the tariff levels for canola seed oil and meal should, if not achieve parity with soybeans, at least come closer to it. For instance, with soybean seed we understand the negotiations right now will have a tariff of three percent with no tariff rate quota, whereas with canola seed the tariff will be at 12 at percent. With soybean oil the tariff is at nine percent, with the tariff rate quote based on the average of the ’95 through ’97 calendar year imports into China and canola oil will have a tariff imposed of 15 percent. So there’s quite a disparity there with soybeans and canola. I think sunflower is probably kind of in the same boat we are, so we would like to see trade parity in those negotiations for Chinese accession. We also believe that the TRQs, the tariff rate quotas, should be eliminated. I see I’m out of time so, thank you.

MS. KINNEY:

You have -- you have a minute yet.

MR. COLEMAN:

Okay. We also support the Seattle Round Ag Committee’s 1999 policy statement, "The establishment of a three-year goal for the conclusion of the negotiations by December of 2002," transitioning countries to provide an increasing portion of their total domestic support for agriculture in a decoupled forum as the U.S. has already done under the Fair Act and maintaining sound science and risk assessment as the foundation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures. Thank you.

MS. KINNEY:

Thank you. We do have two questions for you if you’d stay here. Terry?

MS. HOWES:

Just a quick comment on the vegetable oil duties in China. Actually, there is a parity or near parity, maybe a difference of one percent, for all the other vegetable oils and with no quota. The canola oil may or may not have a quota. We’re not quite certain how that will work yet.

PANEL MEMBER:

Just one quick question, if I might. I gathered from your statement that your main competition is not other canola oil producers but more -- other oil producers. Is that -- is that fair or is that unfair?

MR. COLEMAN:

No, that’s probably a fair statement at this point. Yes.

PANEL MEMBER:

Does the EU Produce a large or huge amounts of canola?

MR. COLEMAN:

I couldn’t hear you. You said the EU?

PANEL MEMBER:

Yeah.

MR. COLEMAN:

They produce a lot of rape seed in the European Union.

PANEL MEMBER:

They do? Okay.

MR. COLEMAN:

Yes. Yes, the primary -- the primary competitors in the world scene for canola would be Canada, Australia and the European Union. And China produces a lot but, of course, they -- they have always consumed everything they’ve produced.

PANEL MEMBER:

But the main -- the main concern that you have -- I mean you’re concerned about, obviously, subsidized canola production elsewhere, but also you’re concerned about subsidized soy and -- and parity for -- between canola and other oils...

MR. COLEMAN:

Yes.

PANEL MEMBER:

...if I -- if I understood correctly.

MR. COLEMAN:

Yes.

PANEL MEMBER:

Okay, thank you.

MS. KINNEY:

Thank you very much. Jodi Slocum. I'm sorry.

PANEL MEMBER:

We’re here to listen and I thought it was interesting, and I thought I heard something here and that is that canola folks are looking at the border in one way, and the barley folks are looking at it in another way. What I thought I heard the canola people saying is we want an open border, we want to work together, we’re looking at Canada as sort of a cooperator/partner as we look at the world marketplace. What I heard the barley guys saying is they like the border, they look at Canada as a competitor. I got a different tone from canola and barley. Is that right?

MS. KINNEY:

I believe that’s correct. I see a lot of heads nodding. Next is Jodi Slocum. She will be followed by Alan Roebke and then Duane Alberts.