124 



The AARC board, for example, the Newstone project out of Man- 

 kato, Minnesota, didn't have the $1.5 million they said they would 

 put into the project. They said they will commit to it but they 

 didn't have it. So once they found that they had gone through the 

 process, then we sent them a commitment letter. But when we got 

 to the table and negotiated it, they had to have that commitment 

 which they did. 



So just the idea of knowing they went through a process that 

 said this was valid, they could then go out and get other money 

 and this was true in other projects too. I am just using that as an 

 example. 



Mr. Penny. I have some other questions of both witnesses, but 

 I will defer to the others present here. 



Mr. Thomas, do you have questions at this point? 



Mr. Thomas of Wyoming. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a cou- 

 ple. 



I was not able to attend the first meeting, so I am a little behind 

 the curve, I suppose. Let me just comment a little bit. First of all, 

 clearly everyone thinks marketing of products in the foreign mar- 

 ket developing products is a good idea. That is not really the issue. 

 The issue is how do you best do it, I suppose. 



The issue, it seems to me, is what is the role of the private sec- 

 tor. And that program has been basically in effect for some time 

 and those definitions sort of need to be reevaluated from time to 

 time, I suppose. 



We have co-ops that do some of these things for farmers in the 

 private sector. We have exporting companies that do this in the pri- 

 vate sector. In my experience, my experience has been some time 

 back, these are the people who really have the expertise in selling 

 things and the role of the Cxovemment, I suppose, is a promotional, 

 informational one. But I think perhaps it needs to be defined from 

 time to time. 



In general, Mr. Walker, what is the legitimate role of Govern- 

 ment in making a commercial sale? 



Mr. Walker. Mr. Thomas, I think that first and foremost is mar- 

 ket information and intelligence. The role of the Gk)vemment 

 should be to provide market information, intelligence to companies, 

 to businesses, identify where market opportunities are and commu- 

 nicate that information in a timely way to companies through 

 whatever — whether it is States or regional associations or through 

 commodity groups and so on. I think that is extremely important. 



I think it is important to have highly trained staff in FAS here 

 and abroad that can counsel businesses and understand how to ac- 

 cess markets and where the markets are. 



Mr. Thomas of Wyoming. May I interrupt you just a second. 

 Where do you know in the Government where there are people who 

 counsel businesses, generally successfully. 



Mr. Walker. Excuse me, I didn't understand that. 



Mr. Thomas of Wyoming. Where do you know of an experience 

 where people in Government counsel businesses very successfully? 



Mr. Walker. We do it day in and day out in the State of Mary- 

 land. 



Mr. Thomas of Wyoming. You counsel the business how to run 

 their business. 



