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October 5, 2001

Report details administration's ag views

Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman has released the Bush Administration's review of the food and agriculture system with a view toward identifying critical needs for the new century.

The report, "Food and Agricultural Policy: Taking Stock for the New Century," details the enormous changes that have taken place in agriculture which continue to accelerate across the American food and farm sector.

"This report suggests that fundamental, far-reaching changes in policy, programs, procedures and institutions may be required to best prepare our farmers, ranchers and food industry as a whole for the new world marketplace," said Veneman. "It is this broader vision that we want to encourage and support, and to help bring into focus in the months and years ahead."

The report states that U.S. agriculture is driven by basically the same forces shaping the U.S. economy—globalization of markets and cultures; advances in information, biological and other technologies; and fundamental changes in the workforce and family structure. It examines the enormous changes faced by today's food and farm system as well as the lessons learned from more than seven decades of food and farm policies.

The following is a summary of some of the key principles:

•Farm policy and programs must be tailored to reflect wide differences among farms with respect to production costs, marketing approaches, management capabilities, and household goals.

•Farm policy, including providing a safety net, must promote more sustainable prosperity for farmers through market orientation without engendering long-term dependence on government support. This does not rule out helping farmers and ranchers when unexpected events beyond their control occur and cause output or income to plummet.

•Trade policy must focus on gaining access to foreign markets through tariff reduction and the elimination of trade distorting subsidies; and be supported by domestic policy that meets our existing international obligations and provides ample latitude to pursue ambitious goals in trade negotiations.

•Domestic farm policy must not inadvertently reduce competitiveness at the same time that trade policy seeks expanded export market opportunities for farmers.

•The infrastructure that supports market growth and efficiency, which includes everything from border inspection services to research endeavors, must be renewed and reoriented to fit today's realities, with input and cooperation from every link in the food chain.

•Conservation policy must pursue a portfolio of instruments, including stewardship incentives on working farmland; or retirement of environmentally sensitive land to respond to Americans' growing expectations about agriculture's role in promoting and protecting environmental quality.

•A strong commitment to ensuring the access of all Americans to a healthy and nutritious food supply must continue, with particular attention to improvements in the delivery of food assistance to low-income families.

For a complete list of future farm policy principles and for more information, please contact USDA Public Affairs at 202-720-4623 or visit http://www.usda.gov.

'Mad cow' suspected in Japan

The Agriculture Department announced it has imposed import restrictions on Japanese ruminants and ruminant products due to a suspected case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). These restrictions apply to prohibited products arriving in ports on or after Sept. 10.

Japan reported the suspected case of BSE—widely known as "mad cow disease"—on Sept. 10. The disease is suspected in a five-year-old Holstein cow kept on a dairy farm. Initial tests have provided some positive results. The Japanese authorities have submitted samples to international reference laboratories for confirmatory testing.

USDA has restricted the importation of live ruminants and ruminant products from Japan since March of 2000 due to foot-and-mouth disease. No case of BSE has ever been diagnosed in the United States. USDA said this action is necessary in order to continue to safeguard American agriculture against this deadly neurological disease of bovine animals.

Butler named to USDA post

Dr. Jim Butler of College Station has been named deputy under-secretary of Marketing and Regulatory Programs by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman.

Butler was deputy vice chancellor of agriculture at Texas A&M University where he had previously served for 10 years as chief liaison with industry groups and federal and state officials for the university's Agriculture Program.

USDA's Marketing and Regulatory Programs oversees the Agriculture Marketing Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.

Notable Quotables

"The administration has stressed to Congress the need to resume addressing the domestic economic agenda in light of the September 11 tragedy. This is another message from the administration that Congress must continue moving forward. It is a signal that the future of American farm policy continues to be of importance to the economic well being of America."

— Statement by Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, regarding the Agriculture Department's Principles Relating to Future U.S. Farm Policies.