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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 



I am pleased to be here today to testify on a long-term trade 

 strategy and export policies for the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

 (USDA) . My testimony will focus on how a shift from a traditional 

 production-oriented approach to a market-oriented approach would 

 help USDA adapt to the increasingly competitive world marketplace. 

 We believe that in making this shift, USDA will find it essential 

 to employ a strategic marketing approach that includes devising a 

 long-term market development plan and changing its approach to 

 information gathering, personnel policies, and resource allocation. 

 Also, USDA will still find it important to emphasize programs to 

 combat unfair foreign trade practices and overcome market 

 imperfections . 



Shifting to a market-oriented approach may, however, reduce the 

 size of U.S. carryover stocks of staple grains. Previous 

 oversupplies of these stocks had the side effect of helping to 

 ensure world food security. Without them, the United States and 

 other nations may need to devise a different way of addressing this 

 problem. 



MARKET-ORIENTED EXPORT APPROACH WOULD 

 RESPOND TO NEW ENVIRONMENT 



USDA and the U.S. agricultural sector face a changing environment 

 for world agricultural trade. The new multilateral trade agreement 



