97 



STATEMENT OF ALLEN A TEimAAR 

 NATIONAL COTTON COUNCIL OF AMERICA 



Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, on behalf of the National Cotton Council 

 of America it is a pleasure to be able to testify before you today on the mission of the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). 



Let me offer some general statements on the mission and workings of the FAS, and 

 then more specifically answer the five issues posed in the Committee's invitation to 

 testify. 



In my experience, the Foreign Agricultural Service exhibits some of the characteristics 

 that effective government agencies should have: 



• a clear purpose 



• name recognition at home and abroad 



• a sizeable budget 



• close ties to the public and to the private sector it serves 



• dedicated and experienced people 



What FAS seems to lack currently is: 



• clear direction 



• an ability to set priorities 



• the ability or latitude to capitalize on its strengths 



• high morale 



I was struck when reading through the report of the Trade Promotion Coordinating 

 Committee entitled Toward a National Export Strategy that U.S. agriculture and the 

 Foreign Agricultural Service already have many of the features called for in the report. 

 As a matter of fact, U.S. agriculture has been doing these very things, and doing them 

 well, for a number of years -- and that is in large part responsible for the success of 

 U.S. agriculture in the export arena. It is why we have a $13 billion positive trade 

 balance in agricultural exports while U.S. manufactured goods run a $140 billion 

 negative trade balance. It is why other sectors of the economy are finally trying to 

 emulate agriculture's success. 



Toward a National Export Strategy provides 65 specific recommendations organized 

 under six underlying themes. Let me cover the six underlying themes from the TPCC 

 report and describe how FAS measures up: 



The first of the six underlying themes in Toward a National Export Strategy reads 

 "Combine Functions: Carefully define the client groups and their needs for export 

 promotion services, focusing specific agencies on meeting particular customer 

 requirements ...". This describes FAS to a tee. Throughout its 40-year existence FAS 

 has had a clear client group - U.S. agriculture -- and has developed an array of export 

 promotion services and a great deal of experience meeting their particular customer 



