HOMER BUELL: Mr. Murphy, just a little comment before I get started, I always thought USTR stood for the United States Team Roping Association. So I have found out that it does have other meanings as well.

My name is Homer Buell. I own and operate a family ranch in Rose, Nebraska and currently serve as President of the Nebraska Cattlemen. Thank you for scheduling hearings in Nebraska on such important issues as world trade.

As President of the Nebraska Cattlemen, I have had the opportunity to travel around the state and listen to other producer's thoughts and concerns about our industry. "Pessimism" is often the word of day.

For me and other ranchers I talk to, if there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is in the export market. In 1998, exports counted for 8 percent of total U.S. production. Beef exports are even more important for Nebraska, a state that produces over 3,000 pounds of beef per capita per year. However, many of the ranchers I talked to are very concerned that we are not getting a fair shake when it comes to international trade laws. They're concerned about our imbalance of trade with Canada, and they're concerned about the lack of access that we have to certain markets like the European Union. What can the World Trade Organization do about these concerns? The Nebraska cattlemen believe the U.S. trade policy objective to be to maintain and increase access to existing markets for U.S. beef, beef byproducts, semen, and embryos and to gain access in emerging markets for these products.

Also want to emphasize that for trade agreements to be effective, they have to be fair to all parties involved. It must be a win-win situation. To reach the trade policy objective and to create a win-win situation, first we should negotiate reduction and eventual elimination of production distorting price supports and export subsidy programs.

And, secondly, negotiate continued reduction of tariffs and expansion of tariff rate quotas. Existing duty to key export markets such as Japan and Korea must be reduced significantly.

Ensure that sound science remains the main focus for resolving disputes where appropriate.

Enforcement of strict science-based trade rules is critical to the continued expansion of the U.S. beef exports. A strength in the World Trade Organization seems to be its ability to determine what the settlement should be in trade disputes.

Conversely, its big weakness appears to be an absence of an enforcement mechanism in place once a ruling is made.

The United States and specifically Nebraska producers have been locked out of European beef markets for too long.

Ways to reach clear and prompt resolution to trade dispute must be a priority.

At our ranch, we hold several tours each year of different groups. When talking to these people, I've always been optimistic about the future of the beef industry. One of the major reasons for this optimism has been the belief that given a fair opportunity, beef producers in this country can compete internationally, and export markets can be increased. This last fall we had a group of French cattlemen stop by our ranch. When they asked me about what I thought about the future of the industry in the U.S., I had a hard time being as optimistic as I have been in the past. Simply put, producers like myself are tired of facing international competition on what we view as a tilted playing field.

Nebraska cattle producers support trade agreements that allow growth in beef markets beyond our borders, but to be effective, we need enforceable global trading rules in place and in practice that grant market access, that settle disputes on the basis of science, and that reduce tariffs.

My family has been ranching north central Nebraska for over 100 years. Having trading rules in place like what I've just talked about could go a long way to ensuring that we will be in business for the next century.

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak to you this afternoon I guess it is now, and also I'll be sure to answer any questions or clarifications you might have on either my written or spoken testimony.