Bob Metz of the South Dakota Soybean Association to be followed by Don Louwagie and then Paul Christ. Bob is not here. Is -- he has not checked in yet. Don Louwagie why don’t we take you next then. I do know we had a few people that had a time constraint and might want to get on this morning yet, so we’ll go in order. Welcome, Don.

MR. LOUWAGIE:

Thank you. I’m Don Louwagie from Marshall, Minnesota, where I’m involved in the production of corn and soybeans and some production of livestock and that mainly being pork. On behalf of the American Soybean Association, Minnesota State Soybean Association and our state soybean farmers, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to present our recommendations on agriculture trade priorities for the next round of World Trade Organization, or WTO, negotiations. Gaining improved access to foreign markets is of critical importance to soybean farmers. Every other row of soybeans produced by growers is exported overseas in the form of soybeans, soybean meal or soybean oil. Soybeans and soy products are our nation’s largest agriculture export commodity. Exports reached the $9 billion mark in the 1998-99 marketing year. My economic livelihood, and that of all U.S. soybean growers, is linked to exports, market access around the globe and economic growth, particularly in the world’s developing countries that account for more than four-fifths of the world’s population. History has shown us that trade liberalization helps fuel worldwide economic growth, and as consumers’ incomes in developing countries improve, one of the first places they spend their income is on food, which includes more meat and cooking oil in their diets. As the world’s largest exporters of both soy and meat, U.S. farmers have much to gain from trade liberalization. Through the American Soybean Association and American Oil Seed Coalition, oil seed growers and processors have been working since the last round of trade negotiations to advance a market opening initiative for trade in oil seeds and oil seed products referred to as a level field initiative. The level playing field initiative proposes to eliminate all tariffs, export subsidies, differential export taxes and other non-tariff barriers to trade in oil seeds and oil seed products. We believe a level playing field will greatly benefit U.S. soybean farmers by giving us increased access to foreign markets, eliminating unfair export practices and stimulating demand amongst consumers. We believe the United States should vigorously this initiative in the next WTO round. We strongly believe the negotiations should be comprehensive in scope. For many countries trade liberalization in agriculture is politically difficult and painful. Therefore, the scope of the negotiations has to be broad enough to ensure that countries being asked to make difficult concessions in agriculture can be assured of offsetting benefits in other areas. In addition to pursuing the level playing field initiative for oil seeds, soybean growers believe the following additional issues need to be addressed in the next WTO round. The area of biotech trade: Rules governing biotech trade must be included in the next WTO round in order to ensure science based regulatory reviews and trade rules. These WTO rules must supersede the rules of any other international treaty or agreement. Export restrictions: If we are to be successful in asking other countries to open their markets and rely on imports to meet a growing portion of their food needs, the United States and other exporting nations must agree not to restrict exports of agriculture goods through sanctions, embargoes or reasons of short supply. Meaningful provisions provide food security to food importing nations should be included in the next WTO agreement. Trade in pork and poultry products.: Fifty percent of the soybeans we produce are fed to the domestic poultry and pork industries. U.S. pork and poultry exports have climbed rapidly following the reduction in market access barriers in the Uruguay Round. This momentum is gaining market access for pork and poultry should be continued and accelerated in the next round. Treatment of development countries: Under current WTO rules developing countries are subject to reduced reform commitments and have a longer period of time to liberalize their markets. A country is also able to self-designate itself as a developing country. The United States should pursue rules for the graduation of developing countries to full WTO obligations using objective economic indicators, such as a per capita, GDP. Sanitary and phytosanitary agreements: The sanitary and phytosanitary provisions of the Uruguay Rounds. These provisions help prevent bogus health or safety concerns from being used to restrict trade. In the next round it is critical to prevent the SPS agreement from being undermined or allowing for consideration of non-scientific concerns. Improved dispute settlements: Weakness in the current WTO dispute settlement system readily are apparent. The United States should not have to file complaint after complaint in order to achieve compliance with the dispute settlement panel that ruled in favor of the United States. Safeguards, antidumping and countervailing duties: The Uruguay Round agreement changed safeguard rules to allow countries to impose safeguard import barriers without penalty for three years. In the next round the right of affected countries to retaliate should be restored so that safeguard actions are not taken casually. Additionally, more effective WTO oversight is needed permitting unilateral protectionist measures such as countervailing duties and antidumping. Domestic support: Providing income in other support through agricultural producers has been a key feature of agriculture policy in many nations, including our own. WTO rules should allow for continued support of agriculture producers but should sustain transitional countries to provide an increasing portion of total domestic support for agriculture in a decoupled forum as the United States has already done under the 1996 farm bill. Labor and environment: Labor and environment issues should only be addressed in a manner that facilitates rather than restricts trade. The Blair House agreement: U.S. soybean growers and the U.S. government fought long and hard to achieve the Blair House agreement which limits the area of oil seeds in the European Union that can be subsidized. The Blair House agreement must not be weakened in any way and the U.S. should insist that any change in the EU policy do not nullify or impair the benefits provided by the Blair House agreement. That concludes my presentation. Thank you again for the opportunity to present the priorities of the soybean farmers for the next round of the WTO negotiations.