there's so mucthere is so much e focusing on a few things you can find the most value i would say the big picture hoping to make sure that we have that consumer choice. so it starts at the policy level and coexist when it's important for the sectors so tha the peope can then use economic signals to make hopefully rational decisions. i think that would be, you know, one sort of ask. the other thing is the markets like standards. so the usda and the u.s. government is sort of a natural arbiter of the standards people can then respond to as a helpful thing. and then finally, i think that just the name of the sort of creativity and just, you know, throwing down the goblet on some of these challenges that we have and whether it is innovation challenges or competitive grants, i think people respond. the private sector is really good at responding when they have a sort of clear signal.

so those would be the sort of three things that i would look for. >> so i want to talk to both -- [laughter] -- both the secretary as well as the president of the land grant institution, because the challenge i think is the same coming and that is to work together, the two worked together large into seriously. the example that i cited earlier, whether it was indonesia, sort of in africa or data in the united states are all about collaboration. that is occurring. one of the things that we have identified in the challenges and go after is the demand of more and better foo food for sustainability and the role of the development is the awareness and dialogue increasing. that's good. you know, how do we develop? it is a part of the solution into the development is more. the modernization is becoming more and more understood as a

part of an opportunity. of the world development and all of those dialogs are good. the awareness is increasing. it's the level of seriousness and intensity on the scale on the collaboration because we have to do this together to solve and address those challenges. >> i would ask you to continue to build on and drive programs around nutrition and consumption. so, things like active plate, my plate, nutritious school inches that starts with really young individuals into the school years they are so impressionable. it's up to the extent that we can collaborate on programs like that and really drive them and scale them across the world and

certainly it can be huge. the other thing for both of you would be to continue to make decisions based on the data and leverage research into blessed to be able to find the center for produce safety in california since its inception in 2008 into the research papers are all in the intention of removing barriers for the four productions and for the small farmers i would really encourage the folks who leverage metadata anything from how to properly wash the products to prevent contamination, and one of those creepy to be kooky critical variables need to pay attention to the opportunity uses the data and research and leverage it and scale it across the marriage you need i would gather the all powerful agricultural secretary

to the president of the land grant universities. maybe i would throw in the director of the omb. [laughter] and a few folks in the congressional committee. it is a maximum investment in american science and technology to transform the food production in the country that paid off over 150 years. and it is a scale of that investment that was so tremendous to other things that we did in science and technolo technology. these usda ones be programmed into the land grant to do an amazing work. amazing work. but the scale of that investment relative to the opportunity around the world to address the climate change and maintain american competitiveness is very small relative to the 26th of 2h

$27 billion that we invest in the nih every year. and so, the one big transformation in my view would be that rebalancing of america's investment in the core agricultural science to tackle all of the challenge is to bring a generation of young people who want to be scientist and want to be on the cutting edge of technology has to offer and to get a broad range of institutions pulling against that goal but with real resources into focus. >> we have about 20 minutes left in the program and based on the cloth that's in front of me we have roving microphone and told coming and we need our -- we need a few brave souls to ask a question and then we both -- it will take off from there and i would invite the young folks that are here to have been introduced if they have a question and we would like to start with you. if there is a brave soul, yes, sir you raised your hand. let's see if we can get you a

microphone. >> you were talking about in the five years where do you see the agricultural research building in five years? >> i would be happy to answer that question, but i want to give the panel in opportunity. you have significant research component in your world. thtalk of little bit about what the pioneer is doing. kathy, you can certainly tell us what is happening and i'm sure that you are aware of what may be taking place organically and maybe you can talk a little bit about the international. >> you're right we spend about $2 billion across all of the research and about two thirds of that is in the agriculture and the attrition space. so, it is the core to our business.

but what i would really speak to is the specific example ethiopia i think is one of the prime examples of success, and that is the government committing to agriculture in the extension of education and a proud sponsor of the security index. ethiopia moved up 12 spaces in their ranking across all countries in the world and food security and a lot of that was due to the government's commitment to the agriculture and food in their investment and the extension of education. >> i will revert back to the senate for produce safety in california and the work that has been done there. i would call it five-year short-term or on a short-term basis to try to remove those barriers that ultimately get in the way of either a farmer being profitable and sustainable over time or remove the barriers to ultimately drive the consumption. i wish i had time to share all

86 with you, that there are some really rich data and we will continue to do that. whatever is on your mind and the opportunity for us to do some research with the data that will ultimately provide the insight that is actionable. and then implemented as a level i think are critical, and that will continue to seek exile over time. >> i think there's a handful of specific crops that over the next few years will be much more widespread and available to many of the world's most vulnerable people and we will just change the face of the poverty that they experienced. particularly in east africa i think that the stress tolerance in parts of asia and places like bangladesh where there's quite e a lot of flooding risk and some of the approved crops like the sword from the also sweet potato and a number of others but has a much more stable vitamin a source for younger kids.

those types of things would be much more accessible, and they've been in development for 15 years and we are starting to see already. >> i would say a word on organic and again, we would see these techniques -- i don't have time to get into them on this panel, with everything from the aquaculture that right now it's hard to find the sources of animal proteins come it isn't necessarily the most important things of the research on the developing for example soybean varieties, that can go into the aquaculture and then there's a lot more exciting innovation happening in that round. >> one of the challenges being the secretary of agriculture is that the mission area of the usda is so broad, and we do so much but sometimes it appears as if we are not getting very much because we have a hard time educating folks about what we are doing that in the research area, you might find it surprising that we had nearly

100 internal research centers in the facilities, and those folks do amazing work in a wide variety of issues. they could be looking at nutrition him if they could be looking at food safety. they could be looking at seed technology and looking at ways in which food could be preserved more effectively. they could look at increasing efficiency in terms of biofuel feedstock and they could look at the better crop production and protection at the same i and the with livestock. those folks were responsible in the last five years over 340,000 applications. new ideas and new thoughts and business opportunities that can be created from those new ideas. >> at the same time we also have an external research effort, which raj before he got to the usaid was in charge and now cathy is in charge, the national institute of food and agriculture and that basically spends a substantial amount of

money, hundreds of millions of dollars every year in competitive grants to spur leveraging innovation and a couple of key areas where we are focusing on. we are going to have an additional tool as a result of the passage of this farm bill. we advocated very strongly within this administration precisely what these folks have suggested which is we need to scale up the research effort and in order to do that, we need to challenge the private sector department with us. so, we are now able to establish a research foundation. of the congress provided $200 million. it is not in the scheme of things and enormous sum of money but it is $200 million more than we had a year ago. and that has to be matched. so this is now 400 million. and i think that if we manage this pool and this foundation properly, it will provide us the ability to make the case for additional investments over the course of the life of this farm bill. at the same time that's

happening, even with tight budgets, and our department is operating with a budget that is about a billion dollars less than it was when i became secretary, we still are managed to in the last couple of years to increase by small amounts, but still significant, increase money in that extra will research effort. but, there is a significant commitment to research, but there has been a change over the course of the last 25, 30, 40, 50 years and that is what used to be primarily driven by the public sector in terms of agricultural research is now i'd care -- feel very to say that if the private sector which has benefited it also has challenging things, which is the new ideas are not necessarily open to the public until the taxes expired or licensing agreements are reached. so, there is a need for balance, and i think that we at the public sector have realized what

raj is suggesting that we need to scale up a bit. >> next question. >> yes. i don't know where -- kathryn, yocatherine,you need to stick ae closer otherwise -- [laughter] i thought we had five microphones. >> good morning. i'm from washington state, and they work with a lot of new and beginning farms that have become farm owners and the two things are happening as far as i'm concerned, one there is the changing the palette of the american consumer is changing, and sometimes i don't think the market is changing with that college. so what is being done about that and how are you bringing in this new taste into our -- into the increasing growth of the changing american consumer?

and number two, what do you think can be done to increase the interest in the fact there are so many farm workers becoming farm owners in the united states? and i have someone here with me right now that came as a farm worker and is now a farm owner. the problems are very important but how do we connect them to organizations like the ones you have if we didn't have the 2501, we wouldn't have these farm workers now becoming farm owners. so what is being done by the industry? >> i can start. i will take the first one and i would love to talk with you off-line on the second one. we have huge opportunities for partnership and collaboration for the new farmers, farmers that have been in business a long time so we welcome the conversation. as it relates to the food, changing, what we have found is that there are some obviously sophisticated people that know what to do with those products, whether it's cooking shows or

consumer interest, the other thing that we are experiencing is even though the variety is changing and the palette may be changing, a lot of consumers don't know how to cook it and don't know how to use it in a way that fit the nutritious meal on the table. so we think the next evolution after we mail the marketing and really have the marketing fruits and vegetables more prevalent across the industry, the next order of business would be we need to really educate and train consumers how to cook fruits and vegetables. i know that really sounds simple, but there is a huge barrier for the consumption especially so we are excited about the next phase, and hopefully we will have partnerships to be able to help us do that. >> so, as the talbot changes, we are trying to be responsive to that. i mentioned the efforts that we have about sorghum.

but come back to the united states and the pallet changes and one of the things we have done is we have modified soybeans and what we can do is zero trans fat and improve the aureole profile so that it is which more healthy and also from the tasting standpoint and the functionality is a chamorro light olive oil. so, we have made the product better from a nutritional standpoint, zero trans fat as well as approving the profile to be something that the consumers already enjoy but now they can get the same functionality through the soybean oil. >> and then i will just -- i think when i hear your question a lot of what i hear is how does that information get back to the farm level? consumers can take may be changing, you know, the signal is getting scrambled somewhere in between, and immediately i go back to the market that i like the price and volume and if that

is going to be communicated through the supply chain i think that helps to efficiently respond to that. so there are many mechanisms to that. we are one type of mechanism but there are others. so that's how i think this will come together and meet. >> i just want to add one more point about this discussion that in order for the market signal not to get scrambled but to be received appropriately it has to be voiced in a way that is not seen as a criticism of what somebody has been doing in the last ten, 15, 20, 30 or 40 years. and all too often how that message is received isn't this is happening and you may want to adjust your operation to this new reality. it's, you know, what you're doing is wrong.

what you're doing isn't right and, you know, this is not sustainable. anif it is preceded as a criticism. to me what has to happen in this country is there has to be a greater appreciation for the producers generally and for those who. every single person in this audience that is not a farmer has the luxury not to be a farmer in this country. and the reason we have that luxury is if we don't have to produce the food for our families, we don't have wrote it, we transferred the responsibility to someone else and we are happy to do that because we have the most productive farmers in the world. that we don't appreciate that. and we don't appreciate the fact that i could be a lawyer or somebody a doctor or run a seed company or some sort and on-chip aerial activity is because we don't have to spend the time and the effort to raise the food as our forefathers used to give.

the dialogue for the messages to be received appropriately has got to be in a way that it's not a criticism, it is indeed simply an educational opportunity. and the one thing i want to note about the panel is the panel had taken place five years ago were ten years ago or 20 years ago, you wouldn't see the diversity on the panel that you see today. you just wouldn't. and that's something that agriculture needs to understand and embrace. that's diversity, whether it is in the crop production and land us or producers is not a threat. it's something to be celebrated. it's something to be encouraged especially if we are going to convince young people to get into this business. so, the next panel will be

talking more about the second question which is how do we help folks get into this business and so if you don't mind we will often answer that question. if you have time i think that we are one more question. anybody over here? we will get some young folks over here. >> the young lady -- yes, you. >> you want to speak into the -- >> thank you. you mentioned -- >> you mentioned in the five-year prediction that you were trying to bring african and asian cultures into the market more. i attended the university of maryland eastern shore and my

school is researching how to produce those in the market. is there any move towards not kind of on a bigger scale to bring those populations to try to get into the market more? >> i will start first. i'm glai am glad you are doing t your school. one of the evolutions over the last decade or 15 years and thinking about how to help the countries that are largely still a glaring and economies where 60% of the population is through in the food production unlike here is to recognize that this isn't really just about exporting our knowledge and know-how and technology, but rather listening, learning, understanding what is local food is far and really breeding the new crop technology that has the trades that perform better in

the local context. so a lot of the best research partnerships especially in the usda in usaid and dupont and research institutions in africa or asia are actually quite focused on that specifically. one of my favorite stories on that as we worked together over a decade to create the orange flesh sweet potato which is a bio fortified product, and i had a wonderful opportunity in northern uganda with young kids, and they grow up eating. try white sweet potatoes, and this is a soft orange sweet potato into first they are hesitant about it for a variety of reasons. they literally will do tastings of seven by eight, nine different types of sub varieties. and based on the responses, the level of the scientists working with the usda partner and some funding from the usaid and others will work on being responsive to those kids in terms of do they want more

sweetness, softer foods, what are the traces they want and the beauty is when it works all of a sudden these things take off at 100,000, 200,000, 500,000 young kids are now protected from vitamin a deficiency and don't get sick as often and are protected from river blindness and the consequences are just extraordinary. so i think it's great that you are doing that at the university of maryland. i think that's part of the solution going forward. >> we try to be responsive to those shifts as well. as you know the business, dupont and the united states, clearly we develop and produce and sell corn and soybeans. to the secretary's point, the u.s. is efficient in producing those crops but in a country like india, and we offer in about 90 countries in the world in a country like india we have to adapt to the local conditions. so, we develop, produce and sell corn, millet, mustard, sunflower, rice and wheat

because that is what indian farmers in the indian economy demand. >> there's a couple things here. there is the ability to grow agriculture within these countries that are developing. and if the theory behind that of course is that while about them to do a better job of feeding their own people and allow their people to move from 60% in agriculture to 50% to 40% to less than one tenth of 1% which is where we are in the united states. that creates an economy and a day for the high-value products much of which are produced in the united states including the arab cultural contacts, so it creates export opportunities. it's important for us to know to see that evolution and to be able to continue to export our products from the united states in the country in a way that is acceptable to them. you have to understand their concerns and the barriers they are constructing.

conversely, internally, and domestically we have an extraordinarily diverse population in the united states. and there are market opportunities to cater to their specific ethnic taste and needs. and as we see restaurants and grocery stores begin to expand the opportunity this gets to the point i may want to try it out, but i'm a little bit concerned. i don't know how to fix that. so if i get a recipe or something that's easy to understand, i'm going to try. i'm going to embrace it and that could create a domestic market for that very product being grown. cathy, d. want to -- >> no, you said it perfectly. >> i want to keep this on schedule. i think we are going to take a break now is that correct? take a break about 15 minutes and come back with a different

panel. please, join me in thanking the panel. [applause] [inaudible conversations] more now from the department of agriculture's annual forum with the discussion on encouraging young people to become farmers. agriculture secretary tom vilsack moderates this one hour and ten minutes panel. >> -- the secretary fo secretare great information and interest. thank you. you are going to be very excited about the next panel.

spending a few minutes with them backstage and just seeing their energy and excitement make sneeze so thrilled for what we have ahead of us in agriculture and we are truly changing the face of agriculture. i think all four of them said they never even attended an outlook session, am i correct? so we are changing the dynamic of who you are hearing from not only who is attending the session. i'm going to introduce each of them and they will come to the stage and be joined by the secretary as the moderator. michael gordon is joining today as the leading organic farmer and executive director of the former veteran coalition. the coalition has been at the forefront of the effort effort o connect military veterans with careers in agriculture. joanna, co-author of the farm families in kentucky and recipient of the 2013 top producer. the president of the current county farm bureau on the

farmers of america award and emily the operator in eastern oklahoma and the farmers coalition. secretary vilsack. [applause] >> to echo the comments, this is a terrific opportunity for us to visit with a number of folks that are working very hard to make agricultural opportunities available to the new beginning and young producers. a very diverse group, and with a number of different interests from different parts of the country into different operations, different sides of the operations, so what i would like to do is just provided the

panel likely becom like we did t panel to say just a few words based on whatever method they would like to deliver especially to the young people and that we would just go right down the line. michael, we will start with you and then after that, we will have an opportunity to ask a few questions and then we will go to the audience. ..

so when i went to college i why does it do something else. and once i get to cause i realize that there has been a whole other world of dead animals agriculture. that bomb was what i wanted to us doing the farm, a small part of it. and i could do more. and so i ended up giving him an agricultural degree. that is where i met my husband, while i was in an. we both had the desire to farm, but we never knew that we would actually have the average into the. but through his grandparents.

there were one in to that of the farm. to that we had some troubles. we had to utilize some crop insurance a lot, unfortunately. very well-rounded in that program and now works and realizing how important it is especially at the beginning for farmers when you have so much on the line. you have to have a plan b. and i think that it is going to become even more important as prices fall, margins get tighter. we have to a become better managers and teach people, especially young people coming in, the dos and don'ts. we have became, we climbed out of it and became successful

because of it. that's my story. >> my name is greg. i am from a town called buffalo, california. [applause] a certified career fifth generation of the farm. my great great grandmother cam over from germany. as soda farming. some delegates wanted to continue high. that legacy when i was young, i always knew i wanted to be a part to the farmer. went to cal poly in another degree. around 2000. and just go van feetfirst and could not get enough of the family farm and trying to understand how to farm about 5,000 acres, crops. we had caught mainly, predominantly, and. we are on -- we were on the

savings of city at that point. we were alfalfa growers, a lot of crops. times were tough at that time. a lot of friends going into that dot com area and being profitable. as we went forward around the mid 2000's realized we had to make a change, permanent crops, the citrus industry was doing well at the time. we saw a future there, but we wants to focus end of pistachios and a little bit of cherries. we in the batting is sell -- having to sell have the ranch to three dairy factories that were coming to upgrade from the l.a. area. we will able to buy down kern county. we managed for them on have the acres. the other half would develop dentistry's a normans and pistachios.

and since 2005 that turned out to be a very good decision. took a lot of the rest out. we no longer needed subsidies to sustain ourselves because the pistachios predominately grow in california. we'll have the same cost structure. crops do very well. the prices always a profitable as far as crops go. not so well and the yields are down, the price goes up. it keeps us profitable, which is a good model verses back in the grow crops days. you know, and we did that because all of our crops were escalating. water, land values. and we are seeing that today. a lot of land values, you know, seven years ago, 5,000 acres. now we attacking $15,000 an acre . water is on the rise. you all heard about the drought. rare in the southern valley struggling for that right now.

my secretary of agriculture about, you know, it has always been an environmentalist, you know, an agriculture fighting over the water supply in the delta. we are hoping that there is a hand in that equation as we spoke about and that the great philosophy, there has to be a way to balance those two. and we are continuously working on a. we also have immigration, major issue that we need to reform. it has been kind of and the clouds really over the last several years. we had a legal immigration issue in california. we need this work force to help us with our crops. and we don't want it to be illegal. we want them to be legal. we need to fix legal immigration , have a temporary worker program that works year-round. we cannot afford to lose them for three months and then come back. citizenship, permanent

citizenship, not necessary because you look at our surveys in california, illegal, temporary worker is essential. we want to keep working on that issue as well. >> thank you for having me here. i am excited to be here both as a farmer in the interim director of the national young farmers coalition. i grew up in an urban setting. farming was not in my family history for all other generations. i am a first generation bar and into it really at an average into the intersection of a lot of the issues that were important to me. there were new, a merging with a connecting with consumers. i am a usda certified organic farm. have 6 acres and protection which you as my offline somewhat humorous. after that is an annual vegetables and the other half-dozen perennial effort. i go directly to my customers, the farmer's market in the community support of agricultural program. i am on the tail end of the beginning because i just finished my tenth year.

don't look too closely at that. the national young farmers coalition started four years ago by farmers like myself across the country you realize that we're coming into this industry and got to have some representation and what to make our voices heard and connect with one another. we are coalition of 23,000 members across the country in every state. twenty-one chapters. we work the issues of policy, networking so that young farmers feel connected and technical support. so a lot of our farmers are people probing to the local and regional food systems like myself connecting directly with the consumers, letting people ask questions about what we grow the vast majority of those grow fruits and vegetables, there as the emerging network. the and farmers are doing small-scale dairy, meat, livestock, even small-scale grains played every spring crop of mandela's irvine the opportunity on the set of consumers who want to know who

grew their food, want to talk to us, is some recipes. the kids are not so sure of what cities, if they can taste it right there and it is fresh and it as a real compelling issue for them. so one of our customers, i don't want to sell you haul that i am, but she started at the age of 30 shopping from the farmer's market. the little sun gold cherry tomatoes, the risk or is cherry tomatoes that are very sweet. -use 15 then comes to the market and was nothing more than to beg for mob to give more vegetables and fruits than the mamas actually wanting to buy. that is the direction that we are open to had been as a young farmers coalition. and we want to let people of we are here. a lot of those are first-generation commander finding a pitch and it is an agriculture. >> here is what i would like you to do. i am going to give you an individual prescription of someone that i want you, i

essentially, rich and the you're speaking directly to them. another there are hundreds of people here. for the time being forget about those folks. i want you to think and i want you to see yourself talking to a younger lady who has just left the military, has said to tours of duty, one in afghanistan and one in iraq. she does not really know what to do. still trying to deal with what she has experienced a war zone. i want you, just a minute, to convince her to get into farming and then i want you to envision a young fellow who is that one of the land grant universities who is majoring in business, but he is from a farm family, but he wants to do something different than that. i want you to convince that demand that farming is where it should be.

i want you to envision someone who has started farming he did not make it, had a tough go, has had a career, is doing okay, but you just happen to run across him and says that he wants a change in life. i want you to convince them to be a farmer. billy, i want you to envision an inner-city child, could be african-american, could be hispanic, could be native american, asian, whatever, a minority. you're talking to that child. that child is not even know what the tomato is much less what your chocolate about. i want you to convince that it that he ought to think about farming. who wants to go first? [laughter] i will first. young lady, young lady, i mean, coming out of the service and

having served in both iraq in afghanistan, two of the three longest wars american history, and the first of women served in combat. that is a pretty historical, and the fact that never in our history have so few people serve in the military service and never have they served so repeatedly. so you are coming out of a really unique situation, but they're is a lot of support. in the post 9/11 gi bill literally supports education. there is grades, both to end for your educational opportunities in agriculture, there is also a liberalizing of that to cover a lot of the certified educational opportunities that can get hands-on training in agriculture we think agriculture's great because, number one, it cannot be outsourced. the demand will only go up. people my age are going to age

out of it. the -- our population will increase in the lifetime of your career 40 percent according to the first lady. everybody -- understanding nutrition, our need to eat fresh fruit and vegetables by at least 50%. the cost of imported through will go up. supplies of water and labor is going down. so there is a tremendous opporunity to enter into this field and almost be assured of a lifelong career, successful career. what you need to do, though, is not think just in terms of you don't have land and you don't have experience in agriculture. you need to seek ever cultural industries bigger than one couple, one farm, vertically integrated that you grow, pack,

and sell everything yourself on this land they bought with all of your parents, tabs on that. your disability money that you just got from the military because of your injury and that you got in afghanistan. so we want to sit down with you. we have a great group of other women across the country that has served in the military that get together on a yearly basis and speak to each other. we want to get together with you and introduce you to these up virginities, but to get you, first of all, to see the breadth of what our industry is and that it is not just protection and is not just self-employed production. there's a lot opporunity for employment which can often lead you to the ability to, and tehran sunday. so that is the first thing. >> i would tell you young gentleman that any -- even though you grope, farm and went

away thinking that you did not want to farm because you want to be involved in business and the financial industry, farming is not what it was even 20 or 30 years ago. has become so dynamic financially. every day is a business decision every single day. you can take the knowledge say you are learning with the business administration, and you can apply that to the agricultural industry in go back to the family farm and make it bigger and better and more productive than what it was even story of father o'hare grandfather. there are so many of virginities with the average age of are now being in the upper 50's and a growing everyday. the el look further the ire

cultural history is enormous to and there are so many of the chin is a you could take with business degrees and applied to agriculture. >> benjamin or the female that on the first go round did not make it. if you want to get back, the opportunities, farmers, farmers are getting larger. the average age of a farm is about 60 years old. we have a need for managers of want to formally engage, middle-aged. we will take anything at this point. still have an interview next week because i -- we just hired a and man that actually was an intern for five years and spoke spanish. dad did it when he was younger, and he is doing excellent. he has a passion for.

you can either -- you can farm, the pch, like so many people get up pc a license and more for chemical company. >> a pch license. >> best control adviser. work for chemical company, developer relationship with the farm. you see that he has a knack for it. he is a manager. manages for a while, build on a piece of ground. i have seen that happen several times. so it is not impossible to start from scratch. i do believe you just have a passion for agriculture and saw about agriculture breeds passion, i think because we do is so unique and tumbling. feeding people. there is no industry is you can be more proud of, i think, than agriculture. to me in this day and age it is very easy for individuals who want to farm.

>> well, i think most this, even older teenagers like to get there hands in the dirt. so i was told as a child or a teenager to go start a school garden. they are emerging throughout the country and are compelling ways for kids to see the fruits and vegetables they're supposed to eat crow. when they taste than they taste awesome and a super excited because they grew it. i would also tell them to please see if your school can form up with the farm for a school program and give local resources , that is another really amazing way that kids learn about agriculture as something other than just something they see in an old macdonald had a farm but or that they don't even think about. the real issue is how you get tickets and know what a tomato is. they don't know what the tomatoes, getting them in touch with a garden growing food is not really a strong way of

making at happen. i think the other issue is that kids sometimes think, who, while well want to be a farmer. they don't make that much money. it is hard work. when i have done these presentations for schools, i think showing the kids your passion, the you can do something that gives you the average into the to be self-employed, gives gm virginity to make your own decision, uses all aspects of your capacity, not just getting your hands in the dirt. there are decisions being made on complex levels on an everyday basis and rain in the multiple skills that it might have from math, science, and was commander in that connection to farming. i read newsletters for my customer so that they care of what i do. i have to think about the science behind the pests that comes to my farm, do the back in accounting side of it. so there are a lot of ways to find respect in this career, which i think sometimes my draw people away from it as well, but definitely getting someone who

has not seen food and opportunity to grow with themselves than the needed is one of the best ways of getting them interested in food and farming in thinking that it might be a possibility for them. >> you have done as a great job convincing your folks to you have talked to. they all have embrace this passion. they are growing something we reconvene one year from now. after they've had a year or two of experience, what are they going to say to you in terms of a barrier that they can confront the you did not tell about when you were painting such a rosy picture? what is your farmer going to tell you? why didn't you tell me about giving any money to pay for my bills, about -- [laughter] we are really happy to see the usda micro loan program through

the fis say it written into law giving up to $50,000 to someone with out a traditional 3-year experience which was required for the operating loss. it is a tremendous amount of money. it is not an insurmountable about the money, not a debt burden that would, you know, all that's a risk. the farmers that no and accepting money as of the hard part. paying it back is. remember that next time you say that that is its tremendous source. and just sugh -- that we are still here. it is a year later, we are still here. we have a multi-year commitment to helping you. we have a multi-year commitment. those problems they you need, problem with your food safety, we have a young veterinarian who went in with her deviances

servant post 9/11 and served in the army veterinary corps. made a business plan. the of the man who was injured in iraq in felicia with all of his financial planning credentials. he gives up the with the business plan. a legal issue. we have several young men is served and wrapped up with law degrees. they could help you with that. we have a network, partnerships with the farm bureau and the national farmers union and farm credit. in the land grant universities of this entire great industry all want to help you. so if you are a veteran going into agriculture, you are in a sweet place. it is a lot of appeal like this industry is that going to give yeltsin need right now. >> what did you tell me? >> i think unsung headed until you have to at the margins really are.

how much you really need the financial leg round because it is. every day is a financial decision ndf to make the best this is is that you can. even on the downside and of down day if you have a good background in business only if financial background and you can make it profitable he looks like it can't be. alitalia then the and it is not about money. lsu, did you pay your house payment, your car payment, put food on the table for your kids, have close to where back then you were successful. did you make it and are you going to continue to grow? those basic provisions for you and your -- >> what did you tell me?

>> we did that tell you about we don't have any water. that is a huge issue for us. we are drilling wells. we don't want to drill our way of this problem. the young gentleman and working for me now realizes that. we are trying to rehab nine wells and that the same time drill them free and we have to have them running by may 1st for we are going to short our trees and water stress our crop and caused damage for future production. you know, the struggles of some companies, they cannot even drill for you for eight months is everyone is calling for them. the stress involved with trying to find a water supply in this environment this year, we have done 50 percent of our war over last for five years, only pay for 100 percent. has been dwindling with the environmental drought as well, just the battle over the sustainability of the delta.

it probably asking me, where are our workers. i need to pick this crop, but that all have the workers to pick it. and we have seen that over the last couple of years, it is getting tighter as border security stays in place. the work force has left california going elsewhere where there is less pressure on them. that is why we kind of needs some reform to have a workforce to help them do their job. >> well, i have this person were to come to me and said they decided that they wanted to become a farmer, i would admit that there were three things that all young farmers, especially first generation farmers experience, land, and training excess. we'll experience the capital side, but if you're coming to farming and you don't have the benefit of tapping into some existing family land, land is the single biggest challenge to

getting beginning farmers into farming. there are some urban farming of virginities. capacity is limited. so ways that we can get young people transitioning into land that is going into retirement or ways that we can get young people taking on conservation easement land, the farm offers some opportunity along that line , they're making farmland more affordable. it is a daunting task if you're trying to find land, especially around durban and which is where you will most likely be selling a food because you're competing with developers, competing with people who have nine to five jobs and regular paychecks and can afford to pay more for the land and you can. so ways that we can make that land more affordable and conserved is definitely a path that i would tell this in person then need to start thinking

about. access to credit is a pretty big one. thankfully the micro loan program has made that significantly more affordable and accessible free and farmers, but also just learning to save yourself and learning to think about farming in creative ways. terms of training, a few don't grow up on the farm, then you don't have the benefit of getting up and running out, at 12, 14-hour drive to 514-hour day. you need to learn how the farm. and so access to opportunities for training is almost the most important thing. leaving gynecologists and the agriculture, but unless you go do it on someone else's farm you will not be successful. the beginning farmer rancher development program is an excellent example of funding. is the most effective.

i would encourage someone who might be thinking that they might be willing to jump into agriculture to give it a try and learn from someone who has been doing this for years. you can help make some of those mistakes of somebody else's farm before you go make the money around. [laughter] >> let me continue the dialogue with you. what would you encourage the young person who is interested in farming do in terms of exploring ways in which they might be able to find land. how would they go about finding a mentor or someone who might be interested in giving them a shot to learn. >> well, i tell you what i did first bewitches and moved back to oklahoma, said did not think when i was in high school that i would go back to live, but did mainly because there were not a lot of young farmers like myself

. there was a market opportunity. and i was fortunate to be from that city, so i could kind of use that network. it had not been too long since i lived there. but i really just put the word out there and asked people, is there anyone who out of the goodness of their heart wants to lease some land to somebody wanting to get into this business which is something that is extremely common for beginning farmers, add to access very informal leasing or renting arrangements to people. sometimes equipment gets thrown in. as i was lucky to get. and that gives you a chance, again, the kind of try what you are doing on someone else's land without a mortgage. ..

who at two at a value or provide you with the least something that gives you the opportunity to make that equity investment in the land even though you may not own it can be an affordable and accessible way to get into the business and there's nothing wrong with leasing and renting for a while as well even beyond that initial startup phase. there are a lot of opportunities there and the better the least terms you can get, the better. but i definitely think it's a challenge that our country needs to realize. because many of these young

farmers that the coalition represents our in urban areas and you need to farm close to those urban areas if you are going to access your market in a comfortable way. so we need land around the peripheries of cities to not just be something that is beyond the bound of farmers. you don't want to have to travel hours and hours away in order to find something you can afford so working with municipal areas to see conservation of farmland as important as conservation of watershed resources is something that our organization is going to be working on during the next few years. >> so where would you look for solutions to technologies or information that might help that young farmer better manage water resources? what are the resources you would encourage him to take advantage of to find the answer to the problem that is now confronting you?

>> it's all around us anymore. the gentleman that i hired that is helping us on that very issuf technology i can access every field on my farm from moisture content from zero to 60 inches deep tell them exactly how much water they put on so the information in and the tools we have our new and it takes management and it takes time, computer skills. >> wear what i find that application? do i just go on line and type in farmer water? >> there is water irrigation technology conference conferences all the time in california. you can go to the extension office. we have a great extension office in bakersfield that hasn't irrigation specialist. he can tell you many different tools there are too used to our benefit.

we work with them constantly on the projects and are always doing experiments with them. it's just a tremendous amount of technology and learning how to use a pressure bomb to detect water tension being used a lot and trying to deficit irrigate without hurting the crop and trying to maximize every drop of water without hurting the crop yields. and using that technology. >> so extension is a resource. is that where you would, would you tell this person complaining about how slim the margins are what if he says to you how do i protect the slim margin that i have and what kind of advice would be given what tools are available to reduce that risk in the margin rate cut by weather or dropping prices?

>> okay well i would tell them first off you have to have a good basis that you used you know on a daily basis like quickbooks or a spreadsheet. i went to a conference about a month ago of young farmers and what my advice to them was a lot of times programs seem so cumbersome that they don't know where to start so they don't do anything. you don't have to do anything complicated. it can be something very simple as an excel spreadsheet that is just a basic cash flow income in, and come out. start with that energy do that you will learn what you want to know. you will continue to add until you grow into something bigger. you don't have to start with something elaborate to begin with. it can be something simple and a lot of where i have learned, i learned a lot in college of course but more so than anything in college i didn't learn how to apply it directly to what we were doing and going to seminars

in different conferences and listening to industry experts and taking their recommendations and applying that to our own individual situation. >> so, how would he learn about about -- he would say to you something along the lines if i am driving an automobile and i get in an accident my car insurance covers it. if i have an illness or whatever my health insurance. is there something akin to that in farming and where would we go to find out information about how to manage risk through an insurance property? >> that was a learning process for us. when we became partners in the farm in 2006 we had a crop. it was great, it was lovely. my in-laws purchased crop insurance for years and we did also because that is what they had always done. it never been utilized in 2000

we had one year under our belt and we had an absolutely devastating crop across-the-board. every crop we had was a total failure due to lack of rain. i went on line and i researched it. it took me a week that i researched everything i could find about crop insurance from every extension agent all the way from iowa down to north carolina and i put together my own spreadsheet based on all the information that i came up with and i developed a spreadsheet that could tell me to the dollar what we would get if our yield was this. this is what we will get and if our price was this, this is what we will get and within a few? of a the mouse i could change and i would know exactly how much dollars we would be short. basically that was what i was looking for. i wanted to know where that mark was going to be and what i could count on and what i couldn't and it takes diligent research. there is no specific way at this point. i think that's something that would be good for the uci and

fsa office to work toward having a tool that people could use and that is easy to use. to find out those numbers. >> as they listen to you talk i'm beginning to wonder what the other partner in your operation actually does. [laughter] michael let me ask you a question about a veteran. i think the image that many people in this audience may have had when you describe your work with these returning veterans is of a person that has got no outward physical disability but we do know that war has seriously impacted and affect did young people both mentally and physically. talk to us for just a second about whether or not there's

actually any opportunity for someone who has a disability. say they lost a leg or an arm or two legs. can they still get into farming? >> we have helped a double amputee. he lost a right leg and right arm. he and his wife are both -- served in the marines during operation iraqi freedom. he said she had a tough job because her job was notifying next of kin and she did that for a number of years so that is actually a traumatic experience. they got 20 acres of land as they were medically discharged and upstate new york and we help set them up selling maple syrup now for three years, selling maple syrup. we have a small grant program with $350,000 worth of equipment for farmers to help get them

started with the support of several foundations. >> let me stop you there for second a second. when you say equipment is this equipment specifically and specially designed for people with disabilities or is it that you bought equipment? >> in this sense john deere was nice enough to come out at no cost to start his tractor so he is able to drive this track are. this is a maple syrup evaporator we bought him so it's something he can do. it's a type of farming he can do despite this physical injury. on march 21 we are launching a national label that we have been working with that was developed last year in the state of kentucky by the department of agriculture called homegrown by heroes and they are going to be one of the inaugural people selling their maple syrup with

this is the secondary label. so there is a lot of things. the more challenging often that we deal with is the large numbes and feed explosives and a large number of concussions that have cost 300,000 something cases of diagnosed traumatic brain injury some of that varies in severity and some get better in some get worse. so there is actually a lot of equipment and applications and technology that can help farmers with that. we also work very closely with the usda funded or graham that has been around for a thing since the early 80s to help farmers and farmworkers with disabilities. usually injuries that happen once they get out of farming and

they continue farming and there is a real emphasis about an organization to work with us and to reach out to veterans with disabilities and help them come into our industry. >> we have just a couple minutes left in this segment and at times this in such a way that i can't be overly critical of usda because you won't have enough time. [laughter] but i'm assuming that all of you are somewhat versed but with the fact that we have recently gotten a farm bill after number of years to work and i suspect you have some familiarity with some of the provisions of the farm bill. i want you to help me and help the deputy prioritize what we ought to be focused on instituting and doing more rapidly in order to help these farmers that you have been talking about this morning. let me start with you and we will go down the line. >> all right well i will talk

about three things farming and ranch land protection. there is language in this year's farm bill about it so a lot of the conservation easements out there don't necessarily mean that land is going to be transferred to a farmer or that it's going to continue to be farmed so we would like to see that become part of the criteria and not make ying at owner is on land trusts but recognizing that if we want to use these federal dollars in a productive way to keep land in agriculture than we would like to see that become part of the criteria. we are really excited about the fsu microloan becoming permanent. it was just a trial program its first year so i think in courage in that program and more understanding still throughout the fsa offices of beginning farmer issues, taking issues of how you could then be an experienced farmer a little more flexibly including things like

apprenticeship to part of that understanding of the experience requirement. i definitely had personal experience with that while looking for fsa loans as a young farmer myself and then what we are really excited about is the individual development accounts program. it's in the bill but it's not quite found it yet so we are hoping to work on that. that's a program that basically matches beginning farmer's savings and it's been really successful. in fact it was very successful in oklahoma within our profit organization not working with farmers but it's been shown to be a really effective way in getting people to save which is really helpful from transitioning land for money to put down for a down payment or if you need working capital and you want to expand into perennial crops drummon animal vegetable system having some of that savings to help you diversify your operation so we would love to see that program become a nationwide effort and

it has been really effective. >> great. >> we wish there was more in the bill to help california's water issues. it's kind of a specific deal and not really a national issue. it is in a way because we provide a lot of fruits and vegetables for the nation and the world. other than are air quality is a huge issue in california. we have been asked to clean up our air by going to tear for. we started at tier 014 years ago and worked our way up to tier 4 and having to purchase new equipment. our trucking costs will probably skyrocket because a lot of mom-and-pop truckers that own their own truck can no longer afford it and would bigger companies will go by the wayside. these trucks are expensive, 30 to 40% more. part of the bill has money in there to assist with that and that was definitely needed because we can't straight out of

our pocket upgrade. i think it's coming to the ranchers in soon. a swap of the 30 or 40-year-old tractor definitely helped and we will continue funding those programs. keep assisting our extension and research for specialty crops in california is a huge deal. appreciate the funding. we currently have not had an almond extension specialist for omens and pistachios, not for omens almost going on six years now. we got 250,000 in the county. a gentleman retired and there wasn't enough money to replace him so continue supporting our extension, a viable service that doesn't cost a smaller grower a lot of money but he needs that help.

>> well obviously as i spoke about crop insurance i have eyes been an advocate for that because of what we have been through. we have had more droughts than not unfortunately in our short time as partners and everybody was arguing the farm bill between the direct payment in the other programs that were offered. the crop insurance program is essential and it is helping us help ourselves. you know unless there is a disaster there is not the need for the necessary payouts so it's a good thing. when times are good we don't necessarily need it but when times are good it sustains agriculture today and without it there so many people in 2012 of me had such a widespread drought without the crop insurance we wouldn't have been able to go on. my understanding the farm bill offers a program to where we can ensure at higher levels because that was also a problem with beginning farmers as you saw on

the screen earlier. we carry a higher debt load obviously because we are starting out and it's part of a gang carrying a higher debt load when the subsidies fall at 80% there is a big jump there. when we need to be ensuring higher because we were so new and had so many ying's going on. so i think those kinds of programs can help so many people get started and stay in business even in down time. and also the guaranteed loan program has been essential for us. we could not have started without the usda using our financial institution. we went through that program and that's how we got our line of credit. if it hadn't been for that even getting the land we couldn't have put out such a large crop so i think going forward that is essential for beginning farmers. >> one thing that might be of interest is the farm bill does contain some provisions to make initial crop insurance a little

bit less expensive for farmers which is important and obviously there is a continued commitment. the guarantee program made changes to provide that guarantee for a longer. and at that time. michael we will finish with you and take questions from the audience. >> yes, i would just like to tell the usda that the breath of the programs that were there to help all beginning farmers and for the first time in history a trusting -- addressing veteran farmers in defining veteran farmers and creating a liaison through the farming community is historical and it's exciting. i think the thing we would like to see help with is the ability to introduce these programs to the veterans themselves and help interpret them and explain them and i think for that we would like to be able to organize meetings for veterans and some of the key states and particularly areas were a lot of them are resettling and looking

into agriculture but through many states and get help explaining and walking them through each of these opportunities as well as other information about going into agriculture and updating our resource guide so it can include some of these programs and get it into the hands of the transitional assistance program which is the package of information that the military gives two young men and women as they transition out of military service into civilian life. >> a great conversation. barriers challenges opportunities passion, a great discussion. now it's your turn. questions? i don't know if we have the roving mics again. >> hi. my name is maggie holmes and i'm a second year graduate student

in san marcus and i had a reference in regards to our young generation coming up. because the average middle school student is not likely to be informed of where their newest local farm is or where their fruits and vegetables are grown let alone the difference between a gmo and nongmo crop. how do you think we ensure local resources mentioned previously are made accessible to young students in the public school system in order to advocate for interdisciplinary careers such as agriculture? >> and a panel member want to take a crack about? i could probably answer that guided. >> could you reiterate the question? >> i think the question you have is a lot of young people may not understand the opportuniopportuni ties in agriculture because it is there rowing up part of their education used to include discussion of agricultural opportunities and today it does not or does not do it in great detail and how is that the young people are going to learn about

these opportunities that you all are talking about here unless they have been raised on a farm? [inaudible] see if any panel member wants to weigh in on this feel free but as a way of responding to this we actually talked to secretary duncan the secretary of education and we have students here who are working with secretary duncan and organizations working with secretary duncan in the department of education do a better job of explaining the need for ag education in schools across the united states for the very reasons that we talked about today. so that is happening. we also have this farm to school program mentioned earlier and that is some opportunity not just to learn what is grown in and around the area so that the local school district can purchase that item for

consumption in the school lunch program, it is also an opportunity for expanding curriculum where these things are discussed and our program is also part of that. >> yeah and we have a farm day in the city so we are trying to start with oregon fifth-graders. there will be 4200 children that come through the fairgrounds and we put on display of all the products grown in the county a lot of industry comes in talk about what they do. we are actually for the first time showing a music video done by the peterson family. i don't know if you have seen it but they take a parody and call it sure and it's extremely funny. it connects with the kids. i'm and i grow it out on youtube and it has several million hits. we will show it to the young

kids and i've seen it myself in a different group and i know it will get through to them. it shows them what they can do and what farming is about and against in that way. this thing has grown from 2000 students three years ago and we are talking about -- signed up. the farm bureau continues to do things like that in order to start young you have to plant that seed. >> there are some really direct ways that students can't get in touch with agriculture so my state farm to school program has a directory of farms willing to host students on their farms which can be cost prohibitive for some school districts but farmers that are willing to speak to the students so that is what i do in my low season because it's never an off-season. my slow season and kids love to see slides of the pictures of roots and vegetables growing and talk about okay what is this green leafy thing and can you imagine what's growing under its? they will never guess at potato such as giving kids a direct

link to farming and having them come into the classroom is really an effective way and especially when young kids see us coming and they are not likely to raise their hand, yeah i really want to be a farmer when i grow up. when they see somebody doing it and they get to see you and touch you and hear you speak they realize it's not just an abstract concept trades a profession that's viable. >> questions? yes. >> mr. secretary thank you and we represent a group, we had a meeting last night. we are your research and promotion board and we represent about 2 million producers and an r. susman's $870 million. one of our big discussions i guess the overview was on diversity. one of those things was how to

get the young people involved and i believe your panel was very good in different groups of how to do that. we are finding that in our boards and getting people to run on our boards is huge. but i would like to ask a direct question to joanna as she talks about crop insurance. we talk about getting young farmers involved and i'm with the united sorghum checkoff program and i'm a producer in texas. one of the things that we are facing is we have got young kids wanting to farm and you talk crop insurance. we have been in a drought. we are a lot like california and we are feeling it that what has happened is nasa has come in and lowered our yields so what is happening with our young farmers is they are not getting the safety net that would help them

move on. we have these older farmers who in the nondrought years brought up their yields and have a good safety net out yet what we are finding is those young farmers are added very disadvantaged and what can we do to help them and get them started in this great operation? >> you want to take a stab at that? >> that is a good question because we ran into that ourselves with having, we didn't have total failures but we had drought enough and 2007 was the total failure, eight, 10, 11 and 12 so what was an established yield for us or for my in-laws for years and years all of a sudden started ticking down, down, down. it was anything we were doing other than it wasn't raining and we weren't set up to irrigate. so that was a problem.

there are values within a couple of years that will plug in an overall average year but there is a point that you hit that they stop doing that. i think it's 30 years and then you're yields start ticking down and that is the problem. >> and this has been an issue that we have had in a number of parts of the country, the fine balance between situations where people can't even plant a crop because the converse, it's too wet and that happens year after year after year. eventually if you have a crop insurance program you actually have to have land that produces from time to time. otherwise it would break the bank, so it is a balance and the folks at the risk management agency try to maintain that balance and do the best they can. but i think one of the keys to your question and one of the things i would encourage young

producers to do is to continue to inform us of the unique challenges that younger producers and beginning producers face because it is a significant difference between starting and operation and having a drought or a flood or a natural disaster in your first or second year versus you have been farming for 20 years and a bad year comes around. you have equity that has built up over 20 years and you can withstand a year or two that is tough. if you are beginning farmer that might be just enough, and that was one of the biggest frustrations for me for the last couple of years. we had livestock producers who are suffering terribly because of the drought and because of snowstorms that hit and we had no disaster assistance program and there wasn't a crop insurance model at that point for that so they were really stuck. i think we lost a lot of folks in the farming business because we didn't have that vehicle to

get them to a better day. now because of the farm bill we now have it and we are going to try to -- we announce because of the california drought and because of what is happening in the livestock industry we are going to try to accelerate significantly the rulemaking for restoring those disaster programs so we can get relief to those producers as quickly as we possibly can. it will take six or eight months to do but we will get it done in 60 days. we are sensitive to this issue. we have time for one more question over here or over there. let's get one of those folks that are waving their hands. ..

taking somewhere, don't really know what to do, especially during the summer months. bring the mountain areas the gloom labor could maybe beat -- bring the mountain areas where

labor could be a little bit less, maybe a little more than what you pay immigrant labor. it would also introduce fight broke -- introduce young people to agriculture so that maybe when they graduated as cool it would feel more comfortable and may be better prepared to go into that line of work. i'm wondering if there's anything that is being done to kind of mitigate the issues with immigration by concentrating on the youth of our country to help them limb with employment and opportunities to learn the business of agriculture. lou. >> anything going on in your look out? i've got a couple of points. >> i could take that when. no, nothing that i know of. there is an age to a program that often administers a temporary program that has never really worked in california all that well. when you go to the local high-school is there is still

warm fsa programs, a day with the farmer. young kids, jr., a sophomore, senior go around. i have been doing for ten years. there is one kid i hired that seem to lead to get it. he got the hard work. a single family. the mother raised him. he just added. he was angry. he works like an immigrant, like somebody that was making $10 a day him now making a hundred. we will be very difficult. now think it will be exactly how to put it, but i feel like a lovely and degeneration knows that they can make more money outside of field work mom. in order to keep our products competitive with the rest of the world we're going to have to be around that minimum-wage a little bit higher brain shot. cannot afford to pay the 15, $20 an hour for harvesting a crop. it will just five so appealing

chari and regeneration an average -- having them be our work force, the point from $10 a day caught hundred dollars a day and have that drive to want to better themselves. that will always be our baseline, the work force. let's figure out a way to do it legally. >> we have a program within our forest service and the brunt of the interior, 21st century conservation corps. the goal is to try to gauge 100,000 young people in our opportunities to do not so much on the farm, but in the forested areas of this country and on public lands to encourage them and particularly the inner city areas to come out doors, to work outdoors, to learn a skill associated with forestry. we are affiliating with no over 100 organizations to have them

certified young people so that they are appropriately trained because a lot of this work involves equipment to a certain extent. some risk. you want to make sure kids are well prepared to do the work. and so we are working with now 100 organizations that have agreed to essentially work with us to try to create this country of young people who will be the next generation of boats to work in the outdoors, to work with our natural resources. and i think, you know, that may be a forerunner. we are also working with a number of groups to try said -- to try to identify young people who want to work on the farm. the pd has been working with an organization that is looking at the future of agriculture, and they are looking at ways in which they might be able to

attract non farm kids to be engaged, be involved, something akin to the peace corps experience at a domestic level on the farm. so there are some programs working in the space. i think greg is gunpoint that, you know, massive upscaling is probably not going to meet the need that we have. we need about 700,000 or so workers on a fairly regular basis, a stable basis. we have probably three to 400,000 folks who have been in this country for an extended time. there does need to be a process to get them out of the shadows and get them to a point where they're comfortable being part of this country. it will reduce the deficit, sure of social security. there are so many benefits to immigration reform. then we have to have a guest worker system so that we can calibrate and digest workforce knees because sometimes it needs a lot of work. sometimes not quite as many. we need to be able to calibrate

that so that we don't have too many or too few so that the wage levels and working conditions are what they need to be. i see that the clock tells me that i have got to wrap it up. there really want to thank the panel for some very informative discussion of the challenges that the great opportunities and passions and the diverse separate entities that are in agriculture today and hopefully this panel discussion will in spiraea and people all across the country to take a look at agriculture. it is an exciting field and will really be the place to be in the future. i think the panel. [applause] >> agriculture secretary tom hillside gave the keynote address at the apartments annual agricultural outlook forum. he talked about a new report showing the number of u.s. farmers is declining while the value of crops and livestock is increasing. the report also found young people are choosing careers in farming.

>> digest warned that i had a 20 midget to but 20 minutes a reduction for the secretary. he gave me the let the media would not have my job if i use that. i won't. what i will say is that i think all of you would agree that if we face changing times, changing faces in agriculture that there is no one better prepared to lead us than the usda. my personal opinion contumely this article shall industry then tom hillside. he has demonstrated well last five years, maybe his entire career his commitments, vision, perseverance, determination. he is going to help lead us into a very bright future. he is going to come up now and talk a little bit about a sneak peek. please welcome secretary felsite. [applause]

>> so, here is the deal. there is a big, huge clock that is right in front of me. it is massive. and the deputy really should have used the shorter version of the introduction because i cannot actually talk about the census and sell one second after 12. [laughter] so for the next couple of minutes if i were a comedian, which i'm not obviously, would give you some jokes. let me talk to you about the 2014 farm bill. i think that is -- it is important for people to understand the opportunities that that bill creates. we obviously weighted a long time to get that bill, and a lot

of us worked really hard to encourage its passage. and we finally got it through the process with the strong bipartisan vote. with great leaders among mayor art to cut agricultural committee leaders, then chairman, ranking member, the did a terrific job of shepherding it through a very, very difficult process. does, indeed -- it is, indeed, a reform bill. it started with the notion that we wanted to change the safety net to a safety net that was explainable to not just folks in agriculture, but just as importantly, folks outside of agriculture. as i said earlier, says such a small percentage of our country farms. that means that the vast majority of americans to not. and they may not fully understand or appreciate the risks that are associated with agriculture, and they may not

understand why it's important to them to have a safety net, not to the farmer, but also to the consumer and the citizen. and it was hard to explain why that safety net was providing payments to farm families when prices were at record highs. i noted that in virtually every commodity in every livestock in the last five years we have reached at one point in time record prices which may explain why this has been a five-year time up pretty good times' generally speaking an agriculture. so this bill now creates a circumstance and situation with a safety net kicks in when you need the safety net. you can explain to our urban and suburban friends that this is a safety net that provides help and assistance when mother nature does not cooperate where prices precipitously dropped. and then you need to go further and explain to your friends and neighbors that it is in their best interest to have this

safety net. why? because the risk of farming is so great that if we don't, as a society, manage that risk and help producers manage the risk it will be even more difficult for young people to get into this business, and they will kick into the business. and we will see an acceleration of land being used for purposes other than agriculture which will mean that we will be less food secure as a country. the cost of our food will not continue to be one of the great bargains globally, and we will become more dependent upon others. and those folks who will be providing as food, as is and was the case in energy for far too long, may not be people that generally agree with us a lot of issues. so the safety net, reforms in this bill are pretty significant the conservation of virginities that this bill presents and the partnerships that will be

created in eight regional areas speak to a whole different approach to, to tough conservation which we started the last several years and now want to expand and continue. leverage their resources. the ability to create new, additional market opportunities, not just the traditional commodity market that plays to the strength of those who can grow more with less and are able to grow year after year a certain level of quality and quantity. the commodity markets ploy to distract the efficiency which suggests the need for larger and larger foreign operations. and indeed those in order to meet the challenges of feeding an ever increasing global population, but we also need folks who are in the middle and smaller operations in order to continue to populate world community's. and i will explain in just a few minutes why that is important. so it is necessary for us to

look at ways in which we cannot only expand export markets which been the strength of our larger commercial size operations, would create as local and regional food systems that allow passionate people like we saw here today or veterans coming back after war the opportunity to star in this business and grow over time in this business. it is the reason why we need to look for ways to use of agricultural production in different ways, not just fuel and feed and food with chemicals and plastics and fabrics and fibers, trading and manufacturing aborigines in rural areas. this farm bill contains those kinds of opportunities. so i would encourage those interested in agriculture to fully indexed and the breadth of this bill, the new market up rigidities, the new safety net, the aborigines and conservation and forestry that this bill presents. i will tell you, we are very excited about instituting in implementing this bill in as

efficient and effective way as possible which leads me to a discussion of where we are in terms of agriculture and what the census tells us. first of all, let me say that the census and the information that is being disclosed right now is preliminary. normally would have had the full sense is prepared by now, but we had a little thing called a sequester and the government shut down which really alter the timetable for the way in which the census was prepared. so we have is preliminary information, more detailed, specific permission will be made available sometime this spring when we finish the job. secondly, for probably a multitude of reasons the response rate for the census was down live from what it was in the previous. and some of that, i think, is

probably the circumstances and conditions that we found in 2012 and the census was conducted, in the midst of this horrible drought. it was at a time when we did not have disaster assistance, and so it may have been harder for some to take the time to fill out this rather expensive survey. may also be that people were sent to five genuinely concerned about the use of this information. there is either the feeling that if you provide information to the government that somehow will be used for purposes other than that which you have explained to them. in other words, that the survey would be used in some way to inform other federal agencies. we really have to underscore the necessity of getting over that thought as it relates to the agricultural survey. it can only be used -- it can only be used for the purposes for which we describe, which is to inform us as to the state of agriculture and to better inform

policy-making in the future. they really have to encourage people to take the timon, regardless of the sons of their operation to be able to provide this information because it is terribly valuable to us in terms of policy. i would also caution, folks, and the census avoid comparisons from census to census. i have been told by art scene that we really provided much more rigorous standards to the development of affirmation. and then some areas the information was not as robust as it might have been, so the margin of error, the coefficient variation, which is a termite -- term i am now learning about varies from area to area based upon response. is a little hard to compare census to census, but there are trends over 20 to 30 years that i think are instructive.

so here are several takeaways from al i reviewed the information that i have seen so far. since 198,272,000,000 acres of farmland has been lost in this country to other uses. 72 million acres. the good news is that this rate of loss which was quite accelerated at the first part of that time has slowed down. in this sense reflects a slowing down of that conversion of good, prime farmlands other purposes which is a positive i take from this particular -- from this survey. i take it with a caveat obviously that it would be best if we did not have any loss of farmland, but the fact that we are slowing down, the we are not seeing the erosion of opportunity as we did in the 1980's and 90's is positive.

it is clear, as was stated earlier, the age of principal operators in this country continues to -- they continue to grow older. and what you will see from the census is that the average age is in the never heard of in excess of 50 years. it has increased by over a year which continues a trend that has occurred or recourse of the last 20 to 30 years. and that is why our discussion today is so relevant and so important because the good news is that if you look at young farmers, folks who are under the age of 35, and two categories is under 25 and those of a 35, we have seen actually slight increases, which is good news. but we need to isolate that level of increase. we need more young people to get engaged in this business because if he looked at the numbers, what you will see is a

significant number of farmers today, even today are over the age of 75 years of age. and there are a significant number of the age of 65. and the reality is that over time those folks won't be able to continue farming. and the question posed for all losses, if they can't, who well? and i will tell you, from my perspective the and people i saw here today, i would like millions of dozen people to have opporunity. and so is incumbent upon us to continue the use the tools that we have to encourage more yen people to get into this business to make that connection. we have nearly a million young people a served in the armed forces over the last decade or coming back to this country looking for opportunity, and there is no reason why a significant number of them cannot be in the farming business. so there is some positive when the look of the fact that there is a slight increase in those

under the age of 35 getting back in this business. given the magnitude of this problem and the fact that it has existed for as long as it has, we are likely to see continued aging of our farm population, at least in the short term. we really need to be aggressive. the overall number of farms in this country you will find is down, which did not surprise me give an the disaster assistance or lack of disaster assistance that, given the costs, the strain and last our producers have seen in given the drug that was experienced in 2012 when the census data was collected. there is something very instructive about this. that is, very small operations and very large operations have held steady or actually increased. what that tells me is that our efforts and continued efforts in

export promotion need to continue because those larger operations benefit obviously for exports. you sign just presentation earlier today, you know, i good news story in terms of continued commitment, but we need to continue to focus on free trade. many to continue to look for ways to expand trading attendees. many the trans-pacific partnership to open up hundreds of millions of new customers and southeast asia. we need to figure out a better relationship with our friends in the eu. a need to continue to a spans the equivalency agreements and organic. other entities. so we need to continue to focus on trade and promotion of trade. extraordinary efficiency. operators are doing pretty well for themselves and their

families. i say again in the salas that we are continuing to see a steady it is their pieces that is the entry point for a lot of young people to get into this business. and so the local and regional food system becomes extraordinarily important because that is the avenue, the direct to consumer marketing opportunity the family talked about which is so relevant and important. but the deep concern abolish it half is what happens in the middle me. and like so much of this economy today and so much of what is taking place in this country today it is the medium size operations that feel the greatest dress. is the metal. it is the middle class, if you will fix them. that is why we have put so much

emphasis in this farm bill in creating new market opportunities that are not necessarily market opportunities that larger commercial operations will take total advantage of, but where it offers an opportunity in a more local and regional way for arab culture production and particularly waste products from the production or not as productive land to be used by those medium-sized operations to fuel a new manufacturing average into the with the bio based economy. the notion that you take crop residue or livestock waste and turn it into something more valuable which could -- gets shipped out of a rural community rating manufacturing jobs would support the community increase the market opportunities. i think we need to continue to be vigilant in trying to rebuild the middle whether it is in terms of size or income opportunities, you will see from the senses the farming

operations fess struggle. farming operations or sales were greater than 250,000 as much as a million during fairly well. it is that middle that we need to be concerned about. another interesting finding is an increase in minority operators. more hispanics, native american, asian, african american producers which is reflective, again, and the changing character of agriculture and it is a greater opportunity for us to address this issue of young farmers, this issue of who is going to be the farmer in the future. you will see very interesting not only in terms of geographic, not only in terms of demographics, but also geographically. not every state is the same in agriculture.

you will see the states in the southwest, this florida, the states and the mainland area actually increasing the number of farms. there is a mess is there. pareve as a jewish minority operators, local and regional food systems. we are beginning to see challenges in the middle, the places where only one or two crops, one or two types of livestock being produced. there the middle struggles. and that think it is, you know, very important to focus on this issue of the metal over the next five years with this new farm bill. why? because that is also tied to another demographic issue we talked a little bit about recently which is the loss of world population. for the first time in the country's history we have lost population in rural communities. we as a country need to be concerned about that, not just their rural folks, but the entire country. this farm bill is not going to

help. it will restore livestock disaster assistance which will help those folks in the middle and get a snowstorm are have a drought, because maybe difficult. it is going to provide help that they did not have the last couple of years. continued and significant increase investment, a specialty crop production and organic which is an entry point for new farmers. the yen firmer assistance programs are expanded to my credit of virginities of the micro loan program and new opportunities to reduce the costs to crop insurance. that is a positive. all of these and a suspension of research opportunities are exciting things about this farm bill that we need to embrace and to utilize to grow the middle, not just be focused on a larger operations of the smaller operations, but also the midsized operations.

to take away this i take from the survey, from the in formation, the challenges that we face. agriculture in this country needs to embrace two concepts in a very serious way. it needs to embrace the notion of diversity. i don't just mean diversity in terms of operators. i am talking about diversity of crops, you know, those who figure out creative ways to reshape there farming operation so that they are producing higher value-added up virginities warm multiple opportunities in those areas where risk is minimized and opportunity is an enhanced. unease to the diversity of markets. expand the foreign markets with strong export promotion market and grow that domestic market with new ways, local and regional food systems, a bio based economy. we want to -- we need to

diversify land-use. mentioning briefly the need for marketing land use for conservation purposes and have that might create income opportunities that are diversified and defend the moreas in the past. obviously we need to diversify the work force and farming community which is why we needed immigration reform. it is not just getting workers to work in farm fields. as was said her lawyer, those workers often times in the second and third generation are not farm laborers but farmers. that is the american experience. someone comes in of the hope and dream and have a better life, work hard, sacrifice, the jobs the tough, children watch the sacrifices that are made, make the decision that when i grow above wrong to be an owner of a farm and that dream is realized. so agriculture embracing diversity in all forms, i think, is extremely important.

at the same time we need to be innovators. we're going to make the case to these bright young people are here today and by young people across this country that agriculture is the place to be, and we have got to make exciting make sure we market it as the place for more new things are happening more quickly than any other aspect of the economy. i think we can make that case. i think we can innovate crop production and protection and livestock production and protection. there are enormous opportunities with the genome being sequence that will create new of virginities that are just totally amazing. every person involved in the scientific discovery is a detective of sorts. it is an amazing opporunity. there are challenges with our climate, with the trees credit virginities to come up with innovations will allow us to adapt in many cases that we can continue to be an extraordinary era cultural in this -- engine. 14 percent of jobs to next error

of culture. innovation in terms of market development. and it got five, ten, 15, 20 years ago the you could take a car, turn it into a plastic bottle. do they you could take biomass and turn it into of west the someone in the military could potentially when that is lighter and stronger than they are that would save lives. his that was possible? mentioned here earlier, a tendency in government is to have one-size-fits-all. agriculture is not one-size-fits-all. agriculture is buried. as a great diversity in terms of size of operations. regulatory systems have to be bett e