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products. I believe that the development of non-food uses of 

 agricultural products is vital to sustaining a profitable and 

 growing agricultural industry. The 1990 farm bill authorized the 

 Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Center 

 (ARRC) to bring together the USDA and private companies to 

 develop exciting new uses for agricultural products . The Center 

 is currently reviewing the first set of proposals to be funded 

 under the program and there are some very interesting and viable 

 projects under consideration. I believe that the research arm 

 of the USDA could be very helpful in the development of these new 

 products. 



Finally, I believe that the biotechnology industry needs to 

 be an important part of the our plan for the future. The 

 biotechnology industry will become an important part of 

 agriculture starting this year with the introduction of Calgene's 

 "flavr savr" tomato. I think that biotechnology can be the tool 

 that farmers will turn to in the future to address a multitude of 

 problems facing agriculture production. I hope that the USDA 

 becomes a partner in this effort. I believe that the Western 

 Biotechnology Consortium is an important way for the federal 

 government to be a partner in the development of this exciting 

 new technology. 



Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you in the 

 coming months to focus the research agenda of the USDA in these 

 important areas. Thank you. 



