31 



Mr. English. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. 



The Chairman. I thank the gentleman. 



We go to Mrs. Thurman. 



Mrs. Thurman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Secretary, I am from Florida. As you well know, we find that 

 in Florida agriculture is only next to tourism in our State. Like 

 Mr. Bishop, there has been a lot of conversation about NAFTA. 

 Certainly I hope we can extend and talk about that. For many of 

 us who are freshmen and never having had any input into the 

 agreement, it becomes a very big issue within the State of Florida. 



Our commissioner has been to Washington, D.C. to discuss and 

 try to get some agreement. I hope we can continue those kinds of 

 conversations. 



Just so you will know, a couple of issues I am very concerned 

 about are some water issues, not only in Florida but across the 

 country, and there seems to be more fights going on as Florida 

 grows between urban and rural, which will certainly have an 

 impact on our farmers in Florida. 



One I believe the President spoke of to the Democratic caucus a 

 couple of weeks or months ago was the preservation of the family 

 farms. I hope that as time goes on we will be able to have more 

 conversations about this and certainly I am looking forward to 

 helping the Agriculture Department be more friendly to our farm- 

 ers. 



Secretary Espy. Thank you. I appreciate the statement. 



Let me say in reaction that there are those who have had the 

 feeling that in times past the USDA had not been a full partner in 

 the discussion of the international trade programs and trading 

 agreements. I am not suggesting whether or not that has been 

 true, but I know that under this administration USDA will have a 

 seat and will have a voice in NAFTA and GATT. Ambassador 

 Kantor and I have already talked about this. We will be there. 



The Chairman. I thank the lady. 



Mr. Gunderson. 



Mr. Gunderson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Secretary, welcome. I offer you both my sincerest congratula- 

 tions and my deepest sympathies at the same time. I am reminded 

 of Bob Bergland's story. On becoming Secretary of Agriculture he 

 got on a plane like you apparently did yesterday and he went to 

 Iowa to speak to the corn growers, who immediately told him that 

 unless he raised the price of corn there was no way they could suc- 

 ceed. 



He finished that meeting and got on the plane and went to At- 

 lanta and spoke to the National Turkey Federation who said that 

 unless he did something to reduce the cost of feed and corn in this 

 country, there was no way they could succeed. 



He immediately knew that from then on the likelihood of him 

 being a popular and successful Secretary of Agriculture were not 

 very good. [Laughter.] 



I share that bit of wisdom for whatever it protends for your 

 future. 



I also want to thank you — and I don't think anybody on this side 

 has done this yet — for your action yesterday. I think your action in 



