54 



that the U.S. Government does not care to create jobs, improve the 

 economy, and regain our position in the world as a major player 

 in world trade. 



I thank you, Senator, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to 

 testify. 



Senator Conrad. Thank you, Roger. 



Dr. Roberts. 



STATEMENT OF MARTHA R. ROBERTS, DEPUTY COMMIS- 

 SIONER FOR FOOD SAFETY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF AG- 

 RICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES, TALLAHASSEE, FL 



Ms. Roberts. Thank you, Senator Conrad. I sit here before you 

 today as the other segment that will be negatively impacted, in ad- 

 dition to the Northern States and what they have found with 

 wheat. I sit here today representing Commissioner Bob Crawford 

 and the entire Florida agriculture industry of winter fruits and 

 vegetables, citrus, sugar, our Farm Bureau, our cattlemen, and our 

 dairymen. We have unified our position the last 2V2 years. We have 

 asked for some very basic considerations to be included within this 

 agreement. 



We find, regrettably, that we are in a position in which the Inter- 

 national Trade Commission, the Council on Agricultural Science 

 and Technology, the Government Accounting Office, and leading 

 economists all say that there is one big loser in this agreement, 

 and that is Florida winter-produced fruits and vegetables and our 

 citrus. It is a matter of latitude. So early on, we began asking for 

 some very specific basic inclusions in the agreement. 



We think that the food that we produce, the fruits and vegetables 

 that are so essential to our health, are too precious a food resource 

 to trade away. In this day of debate on health care, when we are 

 trying to strive for preventative health care, we think it very criti- 

 cal that our country continue to produce fruits and vegetables that 

 our own National Academy of Sciences has indicated is so essential 

 to our prevention of chronic disease and cancer. 



Recent reports have indicated that our school children are get- 

 ting less than one serving of fruits and vegetables per day on aver- 

 age. We certainly don't want the production we have in Florida to 

 be traded away. 



We have a $6 billion agricultural industry with over a $40 billion 

 impact upon our economy. Leading economists in our State first in- 

 dicated we would be losing 54,000 jobs in Florida agriculture alone. 

 I know Secretary Espy spoke of the creation of 54,000 jobs, an 

 automatic tradeoff from a loss in fruit and vegetable production to 

 maybe a gain in another commodity. Very recently, Dr. Polopolous, 

 a world-renowned economist, now estimates over 100,000 jobs lost 

 in Florida agriculture alone, and we are also facing a potential loss 

 of $2 billion in our production. 



Now, what we asked for is very basic. We asked for a price-based 

 safeguard in addition to the volume base that is presently within 

 the agreement, because of the perishability of the commodities that 

 we deal with. We also ask, as do many others, that there be a clear 

 enforcement and there be equalization of requirements in the labor, 

 environmental, food safety, pesticides, sanitary and phytosanitary 

 areas. 



