Jeff Fortenberry: “First, let me thank my good friend Chairman Conaway for working with us on this very important amendment. Mr. Chair, I…”

“First, let me thank my good friend Chairman Conaway for working with us on this very important amendment. Mr. Chair, I would like to share a story with you. I just got off the phone with Archie Devoor from Lincoln, Nebraska. Archie grew up as a dairy farmer. He started milking cows at 12 and, up at 12 a.m., got slapped in the face quite a lot with a wet tail. He put himself through college doing that and went on and earned a Ph.D. in dairy science. He did agricultural extension work for 20 years and became involved with a very important United States Government program called Farmer- to-Farmer. One of Archie's experiences was in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has as many dairy cows as we do in the United States, and we have 12 times the production capacity as they do. Through Archie's work, through the techniques that he has provided them, particularly nutrition guidance, he has helped solve one of those problems that exists around the world with structural poverty and not enough to eat. In fact, the Bangladeshis wanted to name him ``Father of modern dairy.'' He is a humble man, my constituent, and I am proud of his work. And, of course, he refuses that title. Nonetheless, Mr. Chairman, the amendment before us today addresses this very important program.…”