Steve Watkins: “I would like to first and foremost extend my special thanks to the gentleman from Texas, the chairman of the Agriculture…”

“I would like to first and foremost extend my special thanks to the gentleman from Texas, the chairman of the Agriculture Authorizing Committee, for bringing forth this legislation and technical amendments. We know that agriculture is changing in this world, and we truly are in a global competitive world that our vast commodities must compete against. We must do as much in the global marketing area as we have in the production area. I have two degrees in agriculture, and basically when I was taking agriculture at Oklahoma State University, our study centered a lot on production. We had maybe some various electives that we could use in marketing, but marketing must in the 21st century be centered on beating the competition in a global economy. Anything less and we are selling out the farm families of this great United States. Yes times have changed, and there has to be changes in policies that meets or beats the production and marketing policies of other countries. I will say bringing to light the fact that our beef industry is hurting and our cattlemen and ranchers are having deep problems. Our lamb industries have been involved in this study, and I know adding the swine industry and allowing the pork producers to have a great deal more input into this study, the problems must be addressed before it is too late. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership in moving this forward.”