Mark Ukert to be followed by South Dakota State Senator Frank Kloucek and then Minnesota State Representative Ted Winter.

MR. UKERT:

Thank you and hello. I’m Mark Ukert from Northeast South Dakota, a four generation family farm, mother and dad, both side of the farm, and we own it all. We’ve never sold any of it. We’re in the biggest trouble we’ve ever been in our lives thanks to the many things that have been said before us today. I’m not going to repeat a lot of that, but what I’m going to tell and ask everyone here, especially the group at the panel because I think that they’ve been great listeners. I’ve watched them. They’ve listened well. They’ve jotted down great things and I appreciate that. You need to absorb what happened today. You need to understand the emotion that Bob just showed, that I’m showing, that Roger showed, that Gene showed. There is very great pain here. You need to reflect on that and continue to go over and over and over it. You also need to come back to us and ask us for some more help because we want to help you win the debate war. You’ve got the best leaders here. You don’t need to go see Dan Glickman or Bill Clinton. You’ve got them right here in the room today. Take the names and the addresses and keep in touch with us. We’re the ones that will help you get it done because we’re at the front end of it and we’re taking all the hits, if it’s mother nature, if it’s the Canadian Wheat Board, if it’s South America, if it’s Mr. Monsanto, whoever they are, we’re taking the front end of the hits and we feel them before you even do. You get the ricochet back. Sometimes you never get them back because sometimes we just disappear, we fall back into the system, the farm is eliminated. So let it hit your heart, let it hit your soul and let it come into you. And don’t let me leave here alone without letting that happen to you because I want you to understand how serious it is. There might be some in here that have already lost their farm. I might be next. And I know some of those people and I know some of the families and I know the pains, so I want to help express that. I’m your partner in this.

You need to learn to respond. You need to learn to let me touch you and let all these farmers touch you and let their experience be part of it. You need to help them understand and we need to help understand what you need from us, as well. We need to know more how we can help you identify the problem and express it and debate it. Being casual in this program like we’ve all been we’ve let maybe the Commissioners, the Secretaries or the Congressional people do our work for us and maybe we’ve been too casual at that. Casual thought pattern has brought casualties in rural America. There should be a thousand of us in here today instead of 150 And this is the best place to be other than sitting on a tractor in North Dakota or South Dakota because it doesn’t matter at $2 wheat or $1.50 corn if we got it in today or not. It matters that we made an impression on you and we identified our problem and you understood it. The third item I want to do is to be able to take some action immediately, now. We can’t wait three years. Maybe three years from now there will be nine of us sitting here. Maybe there won’t be any of us here. We need to get that done immediately while it’s hot. And these items are hot. If you visited with any of them out in the hallway, and please do when we leave, we are very sincere. It’s a very hot issue and I think you all understand that. I just wanted to clarify and hope to be your partner in that, as well. And, finally, what I’d like to do is share with you, share my problem, share my pains. We still have the family farm on my mother’s side out in Southwestern North Dakota and we farm in Northeast South Dakota where we’re 30 percent under water. And we’ve tried a lot of different programs trying to save the family farm. And our family is the only ones that have ever farmed it, as well. We’ve stuck it out. Heck, I could probably be one of you people. I have just as much education as some of you and I could be one of these. I could get a big job with six figures maybe, but it’s not what it’s all about. It’s family farms. It’s family communities. It’s rural Main Street. It’s you and me. And I invite all of you to come out to South Dakota and walk the streets and walk the problems and go through the mud and watch the mosquitoes bite you and wonder how you’re going to make this thing work. So with that I close and I wish you all success and I hope that your sharing ability with those people that you need to debate in the world trade talks that you win. And I know you will because you’ve got the greatest support right here. With that I’ve got a couple of maps of where my farm is. I would have brought three, but I didn’t realize that the Secretary of the Department of State was going to be here. I’ll get you one and I want you to come to South Dakota sometime before November and even Western Minnesota and Southwestern/Southeastern North Dakota and we’ll walk through this thing and I’ll -- I’ll introduce you to people that have got unbelievable pain. And you’re our help and we want to help you. Thank you very much.

MS. HOWES:

I spoke about this with the press at lunch, but I don’t know if all of you were here. And I just want to make sure that you know that despite the fact that we view these negotiations -- or we hope that these negotiations can be finished within a three-year time period, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t pursuing other resolution and bilateral problems, enforcement of existing Uruguay Round agreement commitments or WTO commitments or a resolution of quarantine barriers. So we are continuing to pursue those issues and we look for your input there, as well.

MR. UKERT:

Thank you. Appreciate it.