JOE ROBERTS: I'm Joe Roberts with Robert's Seed. On behalf of our company and the organic industry, I would like to thank every one for the chance to visit with you today. I live in Axtell which is 17 miles southwest of here. We own a grain processing facility in which most of the grain is organic. We are certified to process organic grains through the Organic Crop Improvement Association and FVO which is Farm Verified Organics. We were recently inspected to process grain that is GMO free.

I'm past president of the Organic Crop Improvement Association, Nebraska Chapter One.

The organic industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the ag industry, and I question if it gets the attention that it deserves. Why is the organic market growing? Simply because the consumers want organic products and more farmers want to farm organically if the price will support their efforts. People sometimes look funny at the organic industry, but I don't really see the problem with trying to buy and eat food that is grown without chemicals. We have a hard time in this area of the nation because so many of the farmers do use chemicals because it's easy to farm that way.

Farms have been getting bigger with the size and advancements in ag machinery. With the large machinery and the use of chemicals, the farmer can cover more acres. But is this the only answer for tomorrow's ag? Just because the farmer has more acres and a better yield, does he earn a better income or live better? If he can't sell his crop or receives a low price, his efforts have failed. Coffee talk shop -- coffee shop talk is much about yield, but value-added products and profit per acre need to be discussed. Value added and organic products are a way to keep smaller farms and communities alive while keeping natural resources such as our water clean.

Foreign countries ask for organic grains and meat which is GMO free. The same countries have been told that U.S. farmers are not capable of segregating products. I would testify that the seed industry and the organic industry can and does segregate.

Instead of those countries buying a genetically modified product from the U.S. that we've tried to sell them, they've made their purchases elsewhere.

Another problem I would like to briefly discuss would be transportation. Single car rates are important for us for our domestic markets but also for our exports markets.

I've heard there's going to be a price increase, and that would devastate the value-added markets.

Do I think that farmers all of them tomorrow should switch to organic farming? No, I don't think that's the answer either, but I would hope that we -- that we could listen to the foreign countries and allow the organic industry to grow at the same pace that the consumers want it. And I would hope to help the farmers help themselves market their products.

Thank you.

MICHAEL LEPORTE: Thank you, Joe.

JAMES MURPHY: One question. Are there any trade policy barriers or restrictions that you think are impairing the ability of organic farmers to trade their products? Is there anything we should be attempting to do in the upcoming negotiations in that regard?

JOE ROBERTS: I'm not sure on that. I don't know that we're getting the support that we need. I don't know if that's -- that's kind of a broad answer. But it's not something we're pushing at this time and may be not pushing the value-added products enough.

The European Union is coming down with strict regulations as everybody knows as far as GMO-free products, and that does involve the organic industry too.

In Japan, the Association of Japanese Housewifes, they have a lot of power, and they're driving the regulations for the amount of genetics in soybeans, for instance. So I think it's going to take a year or two for some of these things to shake out and see what's acceptable and what is not.