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considerably as a result of that review. And those changes are 

 being relayed to our field offices at the current time. 



We have had a couple of things that we have had in mind as we 

 have restructured the reporting. One is to strengthen the emphasis 

 on the higher-value commodities, and two is to strengthen the em- 

 phasis on market development and market opportunities. So I 

 think that this very much goes in the direction of Mr. Mendelowitz' 

 statement, and I think we will have accomplished a great deal with 

 respect to that review. 



I might also indicate that while there is, of course, the need to 

 focus on export markets, there are occasionally some special cases 

 where we do need information about the imports we have from par- 

 ticular countries. In the case of honey, I might cite the instance of 

 imports from China where there have been a series of problems, 

 trade problems that we have faced with those imports. So there are 

 cases where we need to continue to gather data on imported com- 

 modities as well as exported commodities. 



Mr. CONDIT. Thank you. 



To both of you, I am interested in hearing your opinions on the 

 report recently released by the Trade Promotion Coordinating Com- 

 mittee. I believe that agriculture is somewhat unique, in a unique 

 position in terms of export potential. I felt the report came up very 

 short in emphasizing agricultural. Why was that? 



Mr. Mendelowitz. I think you have identified one of the major 

 weaknesses with the TPCC report that we also have been con- 

 cerned about. And our assessment, our opinion, is that USDA was 

 not as actively involved and engaged in the process in terms of put- 

 ting its commodities and its programs on the table for discussion 

 as were other agencies. I think the fact that USDA is almost 

 unmentioned in the report reflects the lack of this active involve- 

 ment. 



Now, USDA representatives were there, participated in the inter- 

 agency process that worked on the plan. They actively discussed 

 and made helpful proposals on how to improve the programs of 

 other agencies. But they did not put their own programs on the 

 table in the same way. 



Mr. CONDIT. Mr. G<)ldthwait. 



Mr. GOLDTHWAIT. I will underscore what Mr. Mendelowitz said 

 about our participation. We were very much involved in the discus- 

 sions, in the process. We do have some serious questions, of course, 

 about some of the ways in which the TPCC decided and determined 

 what is and isn't a promotion program. So there were some con- 

 cerns there on our part. 



But I think we have very much been participants and I think 

 that you will see increasing participation as the work of the TPCC 

 is carried forward. Let me ask if Mr. Mackie could add to that, be- 

 cause he was very directly involved in that process. 



Mr. CONDIT. Would you introduce Mr. Mackie for us? 



Mr. (JOLDTHWAIT. Mr. Mackie is our Assistant Administrator for 

 Marketing and Commodity Programs. He has been very much in- 

 volved in the TPCC. 



Mr. Mackie. Mr. Condit, we have been working with TPCC since 

 it got off the ground in previous administrations, but the major ef- 

 fort in March of this year. I think I would respond to your question 



