be -- rnd. so you think about hiring an engineer where would you how your that engineer? in california? it's well almost half the price. so i think you have to think about these things while other countries are making hard decisions on attracting investments we are debating earmarks.

first some introductory remarks. you're watching live coverage on c-span2. >> a final law is passed are crucial to helping struggling families says the obama administration. which is calling for $1 billion in additional annual spending authority for child nutrition and has a goal of ending child hunger by 2015. leading the effort is first lady michelle obama who has made healthier diets for americans and combating child obesity. to make it a white house priority.

our speaker today has ample experience working with agriculture and with needy families. as a two term governor of iowa he worked to advance the leading producer of corn, soybeans and ethanols as well as dealing the challenges of attracting and keeping quality jobs in rural areas. he began his political career as mayor of mount pleasant, iowa, in 1987. was elected state senator in 1992. and in 1998, became the first democrat elected governor of iowa in more than 30 years. he has stood before this podium once before. in 2007, when he was considering a run for the white house. please welcome back to the national press club, secretary of agriculture, tom vilsack. [applause] >> well, thank you. thank you very much. allen, thank you very much for that kind introduction and i certainly appreciate the opportunity to return here to the press club. i consider it an honor and i'm looking forward to visiting with all of you today.

you know, when americans think of the united states department of agriculture, they understandably think about the millions of farmers and ranchers who are among the most productive in the world. who produce our food, our feed, our fiber, and our fuel. they are indeed a truly amazing group of people. and have built a truly amazing story. but today i'd like to draw your attention to a different group of americans who are directly impacted by the work of usda. the millions of our children who are fed through our child nutrition programs. at the beginning of the 20th century, school districts and community organizations began providing meals to ensure that our school children wouldn't sit hungry in our nation's classrooms. the federal government joined that effort in the 1930s providing excess commodities to schools. but in the leaner years of world

war ii, there was a drop in available commodities. and that resulted in fewer students being served. immediately after the war, the nation's leaders understood the importance of investing in good nutrition. to ensure that the country would never want for healthy, strong young people to serve in uniform. and so in 1946, president harry truman signed the national school lunch act declaring that in quote, the long view no nation is healthier than its children. president obama and i share that belief. but the stark reality today is that we face a public health crisis. high child obesity rates across this country. fortunately, the first lady michelle obama has chosen to lead our effort and the administration's effort on this issue. i join with many who are

thankful that her let's move initiative is focused on raising a generation of children to be healthy adults. the campaign will give parents the support they need to make sure that their children are healthy. it will help our kids be more physically active. and allow them to make healthy, affordable food choices because healthy affordable food will be available in every part of the country. and the proposal that i will speak about today forms the legislative centerpiece, the first lady's campaign, and the obama administration's efforts to ensure the health of our youngsters. more than 60 years have passed since harry truman signed the national school lunch program. and during that period our efforts to provide children with healthy meals has grown. today in american schools across the land over 31 million children will receive school lunch with the help of usda.

the success of school lunches inspired the creation of the school breakfast program that now feeds over 11 million children. as well as the women, infant and children program which serves more than 9 million pregnant and postpartum women and young children. including nearly one-half of all of america's infants. it's also spawned the child care feeding program that now provides nutritious snacks to another 3.2 million children. in total, working in concert with our k-12 school partners and state and local agencies, usda helps serve america's children more than 9 billion meals each year. last august i had the privilege and the opportunity to visit a school in an orphanage in kenya to highlight a feeding program. it gives meals in to school children living in developing countries.

as i dished out a ladle of sorghum and rice, i asked the students what they liked best about school. and to a child they responded, i like school best because it is where i get fed. in kenya, many children do not get enough to eat. but in america, we face a dual challenge. some of our children are hungry. and many of our children are obese. it is that challenge and those children that bring me here today. now, you may be shocked to learn that in 2008, 16.7 million american children lived in households that had difficulties putting enough food on the table. and in over 500,000 households, children skipped meals or ate less than they needed because of a lack of family resources. at the same time, nearly

one-third of our children are obese or overweight. one word best describes this situation. epidemic. at usda we're working hard toward achieving the aggressive goal of eliminating childhood hunger in america by 2015. and we want to meet the ambitious targets set by our first lady, michelle obama, to solve the problem with childhood obesity in a generation. it's vitally important that we focus our energies and our resources on solving both of these challenges. what's the cost of hunger to america's children that drives to call for its end by 2015. well, the answer is very simple. ask any teacher in any classroom how students failed to eat a healthy breakfast or lunch perform in school. hungry kids don't learn as well. in fact, the damage extends beyond just those hungry children. if those children are not able to perform to their fullest

potential, they will not be able to challenge the other students to extend themselves. if we want and we certainly need our children fully prepared for a competitive and global economy, we cannot afford for any of them to be hungry. what's the cost of the obesity epidemic that drew the attention of the first lady and inspired her launch of the let's move campaign? well, children who start out life obese have greater struggles with their weight in later life. in fact, 80% of teenagers who are obese remain obese as adults. obese adults risk chronic diseases including high rates of diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, asthma and high blood pressure. the medical costs of obesity are enormous. approximately 10% of our nation's healthcare spending today is linked to obesity. and we cannot let that continue

at a time when we must reduce healthcare costs to remain economically competitive. in addition absenteeism and lost productivity at work are also additional costs to the nation as a result of obesity. costs we can no longer afford. and the argument for military preparedness that some may find of interest. and interestin@@@@@

so today president truman's belief that a healthy nation depends on healthy children remains as true as ever. and so we must respond as past generations have responded to help improve child nutrition. our children deserve more. and our country's better and brightier future depends on it. and with the reauthorization of the child nutrition programs this year, now is the time for all of us to act boldly. bold action with reauthorization must include the following elements. first we cannot rest while so many of our children struggle with access to food. but the federal government will never solve this challenge alone. in the last year educators have seen the difference that a national race to the top that education has provided. so i'm pleased to announce my support for a new competition to eliminate hunger by 2015.

we'll provide through reauthorization competitive grants to governors working with stakeholders statewide so that states can act as laboratories for successful strategies. we'll let them be creative and experimenting with models that match program delivery with evaluation so we can learn what works and what doesn't. possible steps could include policy modifications to existing nutrition programs, enhanced outreach efforts, improved coordination between nutrition assistance programs and family supportive services. and with work with our community and nonprofit organizational partners. grants could be provided to states with prior accomplishments and commitments to reducing hunger, applications that target communities with a high prevalence of child hunger and a collaboration with a wide range of partners. it is through these efforts that we will achieve our ambitious and important goals. second, in addition we should also offer grants to states and nonprofit organizations to

develop web-based or other assistance to streamline the application process and expand efforts to enroll eligible children through direct certification. if a child already qualifies for other assistance programs, there's no reason why their parents should have to fill out yet another application to qualify them for school breakfast or school lunch. bonus payments should be offered to states and school districts that effectively use direct certification to enroll children who are currently qualified but who are not participating. in school districts with very high rates of student you eligibility for free and reduced lunch, the cost of paperwork and the risk of lost application forms far outweighs any benefits. that's why i'm also calling upon congress to provide usda with the tools necessary to establish paperless application programs in these school districts. the objects of all these changes would be to ensure particularly in low-incomed communities where

children are high risk for obesity that every child gets the food they need to reach their highest potential. through these reforms, i believe we'll be able to increase the participation in those nutrition programs by 1 million children in the next five years. third, we should also increase participation in our school breakfast program. and that, too, must be part of off school days almost two of children participate in the school lunch program do not participate in the school breakfast program. while school lunch is served in 130,000 of our schools the breakfast program is only available in 88,000. a healthy breakfast is critical and critically important to educational achievement. no child should go without fueling up at the beginning of each day. this reauthorization is an opportunity to promote innovative approaches which have shown to reduce the stigma attached to the school breakfast

program and to promote participation in that program. one example is like serving breakfast in the classroom. that's why i'm calling on congress to increase the breakfast rate and combine that with the support with usda-purchased foods to give more children the option of a healthy breakfast. and i'm also calling on k-12 organizations and schools and states to work with the usda to aggressively promote the breakfast option. and to ensure that policies and practices are in place to reduce stigma. fourth, but our efforts to combat hunger cannot end and should not end with the school bell rings on the last day of the school week or the school year. more children report going hungry during the summer when we see a significant drop in participation in our programs. working with local governments, nonprofit organizations and community groups usda must continue to build a bridge across that nutrition gap when have school is out. we need to encourage more

schools, more community centers and organizations to provide meals during the summer. we need to increase the number of days they make meals available. one idea that i believe warrants attention is to expand existing authority under the child and adult care food program to provide after-school meals to at-risk kids in all 50 states. it currently provides extra nutrition assistance to eligible children in 14 states and there is no reason that steps shouldn't be taken to serve the other 140,000 additional children who could be made eligible. and we need to find new and different approaches to providing all of our children during these times with nutritional assistance. i want to commend the congress tore providing $85 million in the fiscal year 2010 agricultural appropriations bill that allows us to test innovative methods to improve access to healthy foods during the summer. and we're going to be moving

forward in the near future with a series of demonstration projects and pilots that will use these improved approaches to increase the number of sponsors and sites serving children nutrition snacks and meals after school, on weekends and during the summer. this will include the use of backpack programs, new forms of feeding and new types of program delivery that model approaches used in wic and our snap programs. five, no matter how many children we reach, we'reo3kñ do them all a disservice if we don't offer them meals to help them achieve at their highest level. reauthorization must also substantially improve the nutritional value of the meals being served to our children and play a central role in the let's move campaign effort to solve childhood obesity. a recent institute of medicine study -- and here it is hot off the press. commissioned by the usda sounded an alarm to all of us about the nutritional value of our meals. the study concluded that our

children are eating too much sugar, salt and fats. too few fats, vegetables, whole grain and low fat dairy products. this may explain why one-half of the calories consumed by our children ages 6 to 11 in this country are considered empty calories. usda is working aggressively as possible to implement the changes based on the institute of medicine recommendations. to better our meals with our dietary guidelines but we also know improved foods will require increased costs for our schools. that's why i'm calling on congress to increase the reimbursement rate for the national school lunch program. to help schools purchase those whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low fat and free fat -- fat-free dairy products that our children need to grow healthy. now, let me be clear. our expectation that the school meals will improve as usda issues new meal requirements. that emphasize more fruits and

vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy. and any increases in the reimbursement rate must be conditioned on the fact that those increases will pay for improved quality and improved nutrition. not just to maintain the status quo. six, the institute of medicine report also shows that training, school equipment and technical assistance would be necessary to implement these changes to the foods we serve. recognizing that many schools do not have the equipment in place to provide quality food selections, the reauthorization should build upon the investments in 5,000 schools and equipment made by the recovery act. and include funding to improve school kitchens so they can provide meals that meet dietary guidelines and offering fresh fruits and vegetables. at the same time we should create credentialing programs for food service directors and school providers with the resources necessary for critical training so they could do their jobs correctly.

seven, reauthorization act should also ensure that all foods served in schools are nutritious and healthy. a 2006 study showed outside the cafeteria, children are 3 times more likely to purchase cookies, cakes, pastries and other high fat salty snacks than fruits or vegetables. now, foods served in vending machines and the a-la-cart machines should not undermine the health of the school environment. that's why we must have the capacity to set standards for all foods served and sold in schools. now, it doesn't mean the end of vending machines in schools. it just means filling them with nutritious offerings to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our nation's children. though many in the media may have portrayed this as an area of conflict as i travel and as i listen, i will tell you i had nothing about broad support. from food service professionals

to the national pta to the food industry itself, there is support for this new authority. and it must be a component of reauthorization. eight, we also believe that every lunchroom ought to double as a classroom. that schools should be challenged is to make meals a learning experience. that's why it's important to build on the steps we've taken in the 2004 reauthorization bill to establish school wellness policies in every school by strengthening the requirement and raising the standard. schools should work in consultation with parents to implement a strong wellness policy centered on eating healthy, nutritious education, and physical activity. ninth, making sure that parents and students have correct and complete nutritional information about foods being served in school must also be part of reauthorization. with better information and simple assessments parents will know what is available in their child's cafeteria and could

better assist their children in making the right nutritional choices. in addition to transparency, we also have to be smarter about how we serve food. steps as simple as putting the fresh fruit in a more prominent area in the cafeteria will help improve youngster's eating habits. now, we must also strengthen the link between local farmers in school cafeterias and that must remain a printer for this legislation. supporting farm to school ideas, it will help support our local farmers by establishing regular institutional buyers. many schools are using these farm to school programs as an important component of nutrition assistance and education. usda has begun to deploy farm to school teams to help school districts understand and appreciate how they could purchase and serve these local foods. and i call on our education leaders across the country. and our state and local partners to embrace farm to cafeteria programs. and school gardening programs to

help strengthen the link between consumers and our farmers. and last, guaranteeing the integrity of our nutrition programs remains critical to a credible reauthorization. we should fund periodic studies to eliminate erroneous payments in the meal program. and support for new technology will help schools avoid those inaccuracy that are a source of erroneous payments and that will allow us to maintain confidence that our help is being provided to those who need it. now, while the focus of reauthorization must remain on access and improving quality, we also understand the underlying responsibility we have to make sure that the food that our children eat is both nutritious and also safe. that's why we begun a complete review of our programs and protocols to enhance the safety of all food that is served to our children. and why this month we announced a series of reforms designed to ensure that foods are indeed safe and at the highest quality. parents expect as much.

and our children deserve no less. our efforts to combat hunger and obesity must include encouraging our children to be more physically active. usda partnered with the national football league and the dairy management to promote their program called fuel up to play 60. the program seeks to improve nutrition while also advocating for at least 60 minutes a day of physical activity for our children. to highlight the nexus between nutrition and physical activity the usda is joining the first lady in aggressively promoting our healthier u.s. school challenge. to recognize schools that do an exceptional job in promoting meal participation, meal quality, nutrition education and physical activity. to highlight this program is the gold standard we should expect our schools to participate. and last fall we expanded this initiative to include middle and high schools. in announcing the let's move initiative the first lady called upon us to double the number of participating schools in the next year and to reach 3,000 of our schools within the next three years.

usda is working with administrative state agencies and a range of other partners from professional sports leagues to media leaders and youth organizations to promote the program and to meet this goal. but we cannot do it without everyone's continued engagement. while congress debates this reauthorization@ rrp )")b"rrgbr"

real difference. school nutrition policy program funded by the food trust and implemented in elementary schools in philadelphia included nutrition education, healthy food requirements, staff training and family and community involvement. the results, a study recently found that that effort reduced the incident of childhood overweight in students by 50% in just two years. we know we can't do this alone. today we have a strong chorus of voices calling for shaping that i outlined and committed to those issues in communities across the country. thanks in no small part to the efforts to those who advocate on our behalf. those in this room and across the country. americans are increasingly aware of the cost of hunger and obesity. recent polling shows that 83% of americans support expanding the child nutrition act. at the grassroots level we see parents and teachers, doctors, coaches, community leaders engaged in this battle. the nation's governors recently

called on congress to increase federal support for reauthorization. that includes the core components of our legislative request. every day we see more businesses, more nonprofit organizations, more school districts more advocacy groups and local governments engaged in this issue. this first year in his office, president obama pulled us back from the brink on the greatest economic crisis since the great depression and he has worked hard to lay a new foundation for economic growth. he identified three strategies. in building that lasting prosperity. innovation, investment, and education. all three of these strategies, all three of these strategies require the next generation to be the healthiest and best-educated in the history of our country. we will not succeed if our children aren't learning as they should because they are hungry, and cannot achieve because they are not healthy. after world war ii, when our future was on the line, our leaders understood that the

health of our nation, of our economy, our national security, the health of our children. we would do well to remember that lesson today and to act as they did to ensure that our youngsters are healthy and prepared for a challenging future. thank you very much. [applause] >> and thank you, mr. secretary. we'll now begin the question and answer period of our program. and the first question is, given your support for a greater assistance and greater availability of meals in schools, at the same time acknowledging that there are issues with consumption outside of school, how do you make sure that your child nutrition program actually encourages better consumption rather than simply more consumption? >> there's a couple of strategies, first of all, working with wic parents and with associations like sesame

street and others we're providing parental education to young parents of young children to make sure that they begin building the foundation for the youngsters to make healthy choices. obviously in schools we're looking at increased physical activity and promoting more of that opportunity. as well as ensuring that parents and children have understanding about the nutritional value and the caloric content of what they are consuming so they can make the right set of choices. this is all part of a comprehensive effort to address this issue. the first lady has outlined this in her let's move initiative. it is a combination of both nutrition and education as well as physical activity. today american youth spend somewhere between 6 and 7 hours in front of a computer screen and a tv. they are not outside. they are not physically active. there's no question that it has to be part of that as well. >> given that 1 in 3 children are overweight and 1 in 5 has a cholesterol problem, would the usda support more plant-based meals in schools rather than

meat-based schools with higher fat content? >> it's important to recognize what we have here is a partnership between the usda and local school districts. usda provides resources and commodity options but the school districts have to be engaged and involved in making the decisions about what youngsters eat. what we need to do is make sure that if they wish to make those kinds of choices that they can financially do it. and that's why we're proposing increased support financially. and why we're putting a stress and a focus on the institute of medicine study that shows that we are indeed lacking enough fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy in our school lunch and school breakfast programs. we need to figure out strategies to encourage school districts to make the right set of choices. that's why we suggest tying additional resources to results. and those results would be diets that are far more in line with the institute of medicine study and far more in line with our dietary guidelines. >> do current u.s. farm support programs reflect the nutritional

goals espoused by the obama administration and usda? >> you know, i think there's a tremendous opportunity for me to educate this group about farm programs. but i would have to be invited back to do that. i mean, the reality is there are a lot of different farm programs. we have a substantial amount of resources that are going into and proposing a healthy food initiative. which is addressing the issue of food and providing opportunities through our snap program and our wic to have access to farmer markets and know your farmer know your food. all of those represent a variety of support that the usda provides. and i think -- i don't think it's necessarily healthy for us to engage in a discussion about what kind of farming works best. i think our focus needs to be on making sure that school districts have the resources, the information, the technology, the training and the equipment to make the right set of choices for their children.

>> given the amount of time that children do spend in front of screens each day, what efforts are you making with regard to fast food or junk food advertising that targets children and teens? >> well, i think one of the things that we're trying to do is working with the grocers association. the grocers association now taking a look at how they might be able to inform shop and grocery stores to make more nutrition decisions. that in turn will help moms and dads and children inform the market about what is beneficial and what is helpful. i think we're already beginning to see signs of movement in a variety of different areas of food. more healthy choices being provided in some of these fast food restaurants. the national football league's participation in the field to play 60 initiative i think is very significant. i was in new york city at a middle school with four nfl players not too long ago. and i remember one of the nfl players actually from my -- the

team i root for, the steelers, who was talking about as a child he would cramp up during games. his coaches got really upset with him because he couldn't totally perform at his peak. they asked him what it was he was eating before the games. and they realized it was soda, candy. they switched him to bananas and energy drinks and now he's an nfl star. so that is a lesson, i think, for youngsters all across the country to learn from. >> there are high taxes on alcohol and tobacco products for health reasons. why aren't agriculture department nutritionists want higher taxes or soft drinks for health reasons? >> i think it's important to empower parents to allow them to make the right set of choices. i don't think we necessarily want to say under no circumstances and under no

situation should we encourage treats that youngsters could have access to. i noticed today at the lunch we had cupcakes. [laughter] >> and i noticed that some of you actually ate the cupcake. [laughter] >> i was tempted to eat just the top of the cupcake 'cause it's sort of decorated with a vegetable. [laughter] >> but that's a sometimes food. and i think it is important for us to recognize that there is a difference between sometimes food and every day foods. and what we want is youngsters to understand that difference, to embrace the notion of every day foods because it's linked to their performance to be the best students and the best youngsters they could possibly be and to achieve whatever their dreams are. and that there are occasions when those sometimes foods are appropriate and okay. and i think that's kind of what we think the approach ought to be is an educational approach and an incentive-driven approach. >> perhaps you could consider the cupcake tribute to the vegetables that came before it,

mr. secretary. has the usda prioritized the 10 plus priorities that you've listed for child nutrition reauthorization? what do you see as most important or needing to come first? >> that is not unlike a question of which of my two sons i love the most. i love them both equally. i mean, the reality is you can't just focus on higher nutritional value when you're faced with the fact that there's so many children in the country today who go hungry. you have to focus on access. so it's important to focus on access. it's important to focus on nutritional value of the meals. but you can undercut what you're doing if the vending machines and the a-la-cart lines aren't doing it. and what you're doing on the breakfast line and lunch line and expand it but if they are not exercising. we have too many children who are hungry and far too many children who are obese.

and that's what we have to address which requires a comprehensive approach so there's no one aspect of this that's any more important. the reason it's so comprehensive, the reason it includes so much is that we've got a lot of work that has to be done. and even if you do everything right, even if you have the right -- the mix of meals and so forth, if you don't have the equipment in your school, you may not be able to maximize the benefit. so it is comprehensive. it is all-inclusive. >> we had many questions on a wide range of topics including nutrition and other areas of usda. one area that is up for updating this year is a new food pyramid. could you give us an update on the recommended daily allowances and what shape could usda nutrition guidance take? >> the guidelines are not yet complete. but we are prepared to aggressively promote them once they are complete and to make sure that we continue a

significant outreach that the website gets. it get millions of hits every single year. and it's a great tool for us. it's one of the reasons why we linked up with the nfl and the dairy management to fuel up to play 60 program -- it allows us to use their resources to highlight the dairy -- the dietary guidelines and the pyramid. it allows us to basically feed off of their programs and their audience to convey our message. at the same time we have been engaged with the -- the national ad council on a very aggressive public ad council campaign. and i think it's one of the most successful if not the most successful ad campaign that we've seen in some time. from usda. millions of families, millions of people being reached by messages about nutrition and about focusing on this website. so it's again an effort that we're engaged in. we intend to be very aggressive about it.

>> along with food consumption there are questions about food production. last week the usda came out with its first crop production forecast for 2010-2011 and they're forecasting record crops for corn and soybeans with wheat sock -- stockpilings. are farmers becoming their own worst enemy by driving down prices. >> i want to be clear. there are 2.2 million farmers in this country today. i was proud to have been asked to give a eulogy for norman borelock who was one of our great americans who passed away last year. as i studied for the eulogy i thought i would focus on his early life. i think it's important for americans to understand even in this conversation of hunger and obesity that we're having today, that it wasn't long ago -- it was in the lifetime of those who are still alive in this country

that we had subsistence farming. in other words, if you didn't grow it, you didn't eat it. and one of the most compelling stories of the american 20th century was the enormous productivity of american farmers and ranchers. and i think we would do well to take a step back and make sure that we recognize and appreciate that our capacities -- all of our capacities succeed are in some way linked to the fact we have some of the most productive farmers in the world. and also recognizing that there are creative and innovative ways of using the crops that we're growing. you know, this country will be far more secure and our children's future will be far better if we are a nation that controls more of our energy destiny than we do today. and that's one place where american agriculture can make a significant and is making a significant contribution. so i'm not going to be critical of that aspect of our society that's been extraordinarily productive. but i do think it's important for us to look for ways to

utilize those productive farmers and ranchers in a way that advances our national interests. and let me say one other thing. they live in rural america. and it's important, i think, for those of us who don't live in rural america to recognize@@@@@r ywhere.

to exercise opportunity. you could find it right here at home. and you can contribute to your country. you can contribute to your community. and you can raise your family in a great place. and i think that should be what the usda is damaged in. -- engaged in. it's promotion of agriculture at all levels and all types of agriculture is one of a multitude of strategies necessary for us to focus on to make sure rural communities thrive so we can continue to rely on those who are willing to give up their lives and sacrifice their lives for us. >> we have several questions that do deal with rural development. this month the president outlined a plan for biofuels that talks about supporting next generation of ethanol that will not be made from corn. one hurdle for those technologies is access to capital. what is the administration and usda planning to do to address those challenges? >> well, a couple of things. i think first and foremost i think for us to put ourselves back in control of our energy

destiny we have to recognize that the production of biofuels can't be focused on a single region of the country or a single strategy. we have to have a national effort. and there indeed -- feed stocks and will be feed stocks that play to the strengths of every region of the country that will allow us to be far more energy secure than we are today. to be able to do that we have to aggressively use the tools that congress gave us in the 2008 farm bill that provide resources that help build biorefineries to retrofit refineries and we have to focus our research efforts on a couple of key areas. our national institute of food and agriculture intends to focus its efforts on just a small number of key areas. one of them has to do with nutrition. one of them has to do with food safety, which i discussed briefly in my speech today. but one is also the whole issue of feed stocks and biofuels and how we can become more efficient with the feed stocks we have and

how we can identify new feed stocks that played the strength of every region in the country. that's the president's vision and that's the vision we intend to implement at usda. >> in terms of infrastructure and biofuels development one of the large questions deals with transportation. what is the usda doing to ensure an efficient transportation system in rural areas specifically highways needed to truck items to market? >> well, i have a great deal of confidence in secretary lahood and the transportation department as it allocates resources among the recovery and reinvestment dollars that were provided to improve transportation systems in this country. i notice that a significant amount resource from the recovery and investment act was being invested in the rural areas and the rural parts of this country so that we could, in fact, get product from to where it's produced to where it's consumed. i think it's also important for us particularly in the area of food to recognize the need for

us as well focus on local transportation systems, city and county roads that would also allow us to take advantage of what's being produced locally and allow it to be consumed locally. it's a combination of both. a national system that's improved and a local and regional system that also has investments. >> along with local foods there are also questions of trade. how close are we to re-opening russia to pork exports? and how difficult is protectionism happening in the obama administration? >> we are projecting an increase in exports as the world economy improves, which is good news for american farmers. oftentimes in the country we talk about trade deficits but in the ag area it's a trade surplus. want to grow that. to do that we have to recognize that trade is changing a bit worldwide. it used to be the countries exercised protection measures by establishing a series of tariffs. that is less likely today but

now what we see is a rise in sanitary and sanitary technical questions concerning the safety, security and quality of food that's being exported from a country and imported into a country. with russian pork we continue to work in technical discussions to try to break down the barriers that are being produced by the russians. i'm hopeful -- i've been told that we are close to getting that resolved. but it is -- it is a -- it is a difficult process and it's for that reason that we have proposed in the president's budget an increase in resources to provide more technical expertise and the capacity for us to send technical teams to other countries to sit down and work through the very difficult negotiations and discussions that break these barriers down because it's one way of keeping trade on the front burner. >> there are concerns amongst some constituencies about production practices in american agriculture. what is the balance between

production and practices between serving constituencies alarmed by feed lots and fertilizers and the companies who are responsible for the bulk of u.s. food? >> well, i think it's a recognition that consumers ought to have choice. that's one of the reasons why we're focused on putting more resources on know your farmer, know your food and making that link between local protection and local consumption at the same time recognizing the enormous challenge we face as an economy and an enormous challenge we face as a globe. and the reality is our trade surplus and agriculture helps our economy to grow. for every billion dollars in sales, there's about a billion, 900 million of economic activity. and there are 9,000 jobs associated. so our trade surplus is responsible for perhaps as many as 108,000 jobs in this economy. we obviously want to encourage and continue that. at the same time, the world is facing a very serious challenge, which is the world population

continues to grow at fairly significant levels. at the same time, the amount of land available for producing land -- or producing crops is at best stagnant and more likely shrinking because of development. and so it's important and necessary for us to understand that challenge. because what we don't want is a world that's conflicted over food. a world that's conflicted over natural resources. a world that is conflicted over water resources. because if we think we have difficulties now in terms of security, if we think it's a very complex and complicated world to deal with, with terrorism and so forth, imagine a world that is battling one another over food. or water. or other natural resources. that is not a safe world. and so it is important and necessary for us to understand the linkage between our significant and food security. which is why we are aggressively promoting not just food assistance to developing

countries but also a new global food security strategy. an initiative designed to help developing nations be productive. so that they can do more feeding themselves and creating a stronger, healthier economy for their country which in turn creates more trading opportunities for the goods and services that are a bit more sophisticated produced in this country. that is the way it has worked. but it does start with folks being able to feed themselves. >> concern over food production has made commodities an attractive investment for many traders leading some to conclude that global capital flows are leading away the speculation that is hurting u.s. farms and researchers. -- ranchers. have you heard that and how do they handle a world of greater crop price volatility? >> well, i think one of the things we're trying to do at usda is provide greater transparency. the more basic information farmers have about pricing and about what's happening in the

market, the better those markets are. so we are using technology and trying to figure out ways in which we can provide pricing information, supply information as quickly and as accurately as possible. that is certainly one answer. i think there are ongoing discussions concerning currency and other countries utilization of currency is a factor. i think secretary geithner is probably in a better position to respond to that question so i will let him do that. but i will tell you that we are very focused on transparency in markets. >> agriculture has consistently proved to be the thorniest negotiations in the doha world trade talks have you seen any prospects for a breakthrough in this area that will expand access for foreign markets for u.s. agricultural good in concert with the lowering of nontariff barriers to agricultural imports? >> this is an area where the president is quite clear and trade representative -- ambassador ron kirk quite clear

about our desire to have a strong doha agreement. in order for that to happen, not only does the united states have take a look at its support mechanisms for agriculture as the rest of the world is asking but we must also see the rest of the world respond with an opening up of the markets. and being able to define with great specificity how open those markets will be so you can calculate whether or not what you're giving up is equal to what you're getting. right now we continue to have conversations and discussions. i think ambassador kirk has conveyed very clearly the interest of the united states and concluding the doha round and we're looking forward to reaction and response from some of our trading friends to make sure that we know precisely what kind of market opportunities will be available if doha is approved. >> back to nutrition issues. school children could eat fresher fruits and vegetables grown near home if schools did not always have to pick lowest bidders for school food supplies. should chose rules be relaxed or reformed? and would that benefit local foods?

>> you know, i think we should be open to new and innovative ways to make sure that we have a steady supply. we've started that process with some of the steps taken by congress to provide additional resources to schools through the department of defense programs and other programs to allow fresh fruits and vegetables and fruits and vegetables generally to get into diets. i think it's important for us to continue finding ways in which we can encourage communities to embrace the notion of gardening. i've been in a number of schools recently where they have rather impressive gardens that the youngsters are involved with. if you think about it, there's a tremendous opportunity here. one, for obviously the growing of fruits and vegetables. two, the capacity of youngsters to be more physically active and doing it in a learning experience. and three, there's enormous amount of educational opportunity in that gardening class. an opportunity to learn about science, natural resources, the environment, math. i mean, there's a whole series of things that are engaged in this. i think we need to be creative. and i think we need to be open to notions.

that's why we're looking forward to providing competition. we're looking forward to providing incentives so that we encourage people to think outside the bob. -- box. that is what the president wants us to do generally as an economy. to be more innovative and inventive. it starts with our youngsters who are by the way some of the most creative people in this country. we just to have make sure we continue to nourish that creativity. >> speaking earlier of your discussions with various stakeholders and nutrition standards in schools you mentioned that there is willingness to make changes among food industry educators and other stakeholders. given that this does not seem highly controversial, why has it not already happened in something like a stand-alone bill, the farm bill or some other vehicle to enact what apparently seems to be will to have happened? >> well, i think that congress recognized that it had a responsibility to reauthorize the child nutrition programs and that's a great opportunity to have a centralized comprehensive

focus on this particular issue. it also is obviously tied to resources. and resources are obviously complicated in an environment which we're also cognizant of deficit reduction and some of the mechanisms that congress placed to make sure we don't increase the deficit. so it's a little bit complex. but what we're trying to suggest here today is that this needs to be a national priority. and there are multiple reasons for it. if you're concerned about educational excellence, you ought to be concerned about nutrition. you ought to be concerned about access to food in schools. if you're concerned about rising healthcare costs you clearly should be concerned about this issue. if you're concerned about national security, you ought to be concerned and a little bit concerned about the fact that only 25% of our youngsters of military age are physically fit today for military service in an all-volunteer environment. so it's about national security. it's about healthcare. it's about educational achievement. and it's about the moral responsibility that a nation as

powerful and as wealthy as this one is, that we've got children who are hungry. and we also have children who are dealing with self-image issues relating to obesity. i mean, i will tell you, i understand that very personally. you know, when i was a youngster, i was quite overweight. and my mother in an effort to try to encourage me to be less overweight, her only strategy was to stick a very nasty cartoon on the front of our refrigerator of this rather heavy set young fellow who was busting out of his britches. he looked ridiculous. every time i looked at that refrigerator door, i had to look at that guy. now, i'm still battling with my weight today. so i understand the challenges here. very, very personally. and it does impact and affect your achievement in school. and it's something you have to overcome. já- not easy. i don't think any of us want our children either one of those experiences. going to school hungry or going

to school worry about whether they look like everybody else and whether they can learn like everybody else. this is a big issue, folks. and it doesn't require piecemeal response. it requires a national commitment which is the first lady has decided to take her time and her cachet if you will and put her behind this fort. because she realizes how significant and important it is. >> we are almost out of time. but before asking the last question, we have a couple of important matters to take care of. first of all a reminder to our audience of future speakers. on friday, february 26th we'll have francis collins the director of the nih who will be discussing a new era of quantum leaps in biomedical research. on march 5th, the honorable mitt romney former governor of massachusetts will be discussing the case for american greatness. and on march 8th, lisa jackson, administrator of the environmental protection agency will talk about her agency at a press club luncheon. that's the firtem. the second item, as we always do

here at the national pressr3  club -- i would like to present our guest with the traditional national press club mug. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] >> this would be our speaker's second mug. so i hope that you can toast the national press club with your wife over coffee in the morning. [laughter] >> and thank you for coming today. our last question is regarding the regional origins of someone who was born in pennsylvania, grew up in pennsylvania, made a career in iowa and has now come to washington, d.c. on the topic of nutrition, do you say soda or pop? [laughter] >> and more importantly, how much of it do you consume? >>-ha. well, i say diet coke as a way of skirting that tough political question you asked me. and for lent i'm not drinking any of it. i gave it up -- [applause]

>> cookies, coke, and candy up for lent and so far so good. [applause] >> and thank you for coming today, secretary vilsack.o+xñ i would also like to thank the national press club staff including its library and broadcast center for organizing today's event. for more information about joining the national press club and on how to acquire a copy of today's program, please go to our website, www.press.org. thank you so much for being here today for viewing and listening. this meeting of the national sú