MS. GOSHEN: My name is Sherry Goshen. I didn't really expect to testify but I decided to. I guess the main question I'm wondering people aren't asking more strongly is why we even put up with the decision that there is a centralized organization that can tell us how we farm, how we eat, and how we live.

I don't understand why at this point. We have seen the destruction that's been on the farms and the United States and the USDA and the state agriculture department's centralizing agriculture with subsidies, and other USDA basic packages that are offered to encourage expansion and the lending policies encourage expansion, consolidation.

And we never look at what's, like Suzanne said, we never look at the cancellation of the corporate charters at a local level. Instead at the state level and at the USDA, basically work with the corporations. And then they pretend that they don't. USDA's a partnership with Monsanto or Delta Minor, whatever you want to call it, for developing the terminator gene.

And it's just ridiculous to think that we are going to let the fox guard the hen house, and that's basically what we are doing. We can't centralize our government and expect people are going to have more say.

There is an old American Indian tradition that believed that you could only know 300 people. If one of the communities got 300 people, they would separate. And I believe that's true.

When people get into groups that are too large, you lose control and you have no ability to say anything. And that's what they use in these groups. They have their closed door meetings with their 300 people and they never bother with the rest of us.