20 



future. This cannot be accomplished without additional funding, 

 and I believe the egg industry is up to the task of raising these 

 funds through the checkoff program. We respectfully request your 

 assistance in enabling the industry to meet the challenges before 

 it by authorizing an increase in our assessment rate cap through 

 amendments contained in H.R. 1637. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Eckhoff appears at the conclu- 

 sion of the hearing.] 



Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Adams. 



STATEMENT OF FRED ADAMS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 



CAL-MAI^fE FOODS 



Mr. Adams. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Fred Adams. 

 I am from Jackson, Mississippi. My company operates egg farms in 

 several States, including Ohio, Missouri, and Texas. I am here to 

 testify in favor of H.R. 1637. 



I have been involved with the American Egg Board since its in- 

 ception back in the 1970's, and I can assure the subcommittee that 

 the industry leadership in the American Egg Board has done its job 

 well. We have had good oversight from USD A. The fact that the 

 money has been well spent, I think, justifies our going to the indus- 

 try and asking for additional funds. Certainly, as Mr. Hoffer and 

 Mr. Eckhoff have pointed out, it takes a lot of money to get the 

 proper promotion and research job done, and we think this addition 

 to the checkoff amount is justified. We think that the industry will 

 support it, and we hope that the subcommittee will make this rec- 

 ommendation to approve this. We thank you very much for your at- 

 tention today. Thank you. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Adams appears at the conclusion 

 of the hearing.] 



Mr. VOLKMER. We have another vote on the floor, but before that, 

 I have a couple of questions. Since we have already reported the 

 bill from the subcommittee, that's why some of the members aren't 

 back here. You have already accomplished your job. We will work 

 with the USDA before we take it up in full committee to try to 

 clean up the language. 



Mr. Clayton of USDA mentioned in his testimony that in the 

 event there would be opportunity to decrease the assessment, it 

 would be a lot easier doing it through simple rulemaking than to 

 have a referendum. Do you disagree with that? 



Mr. Hoffer. No, Mr. Chairman, we would agree with that. 



Mr. Volkmer. You would agree with that? So you have no prob- 

 lems with that part of it? 



Mr. Hoffer. No, sir. 



Mr. Volkmer. He also mentioned that 90 days may be a time- 

 frame in which he may have some difficulty — may not, but may. 

 We will probably discuss that, staff and everybody, later on. Hope- 

 fully we can get to a solution that is agreeable to everybody on 

 that, and then I think we shouldn't have too much difficulty in 

 moving the legislation through the House. I don't know how it 

 looks in the Senate. 



The last question I wanted to ask is this. The gentleman from 

 Oregon, a good friend of mine, was wondering how many eggs you 



