but the usda says it is considering the cattle ranchers petition and could finally decide which foods meet the definition. jamie yuccas, cbs news near oakdale, california. >> quijano: when we return sister jean's pregame prayers are answered again. >> here comes the player of the year. he's got it. >> quijano: what a win. sister jean and the loyola of chicago ramblers are on a roll. they are headed for the sweet 16 in the ncaa tournament for the firs time in 33 years. they beat tennessee by just one point last night in another surprise upset. loyola's coach and players are giving high praise to the 98 year old nun who was the team's chap chaplain. here is some of what they will to say to cbs sports. >> sister jean is our team chaplain, she is our team comfort blanket, she is our team scout. >> she is just a blessing. she prays for us, the way she smiles. when you walk in the room and you see sister there you just kind of feel good. >> my nul name is sister jean schmitt, but everybody calls me sister jean. i'm 98 years old. >> 98, she got more nferg than some people i know my age. >> a

alan: you have a lot of things going on with the report from the usda. ns are going to be topping corn acres for the first time since 1983. but corn and soybeans are pulling back on acreage. below market were expectations. you have the prospect of lower supply. this is important, because the usda reported record stockpiles of corn and soybeans as of march 1. there is a big supply overhang on this markets, but farmers are working through it. that is why use are the markets do what they did today -- you saw the markets do what they did today. joe: what are the secular stories that explain the shift in this historic move toward more soy acreage? a government program in 1983 was paying farmers not to grow corn. they switched to soybeans. if you are in illinois in lost -- and locked in the corn-soybean rotation, you will plant one of the two crops. when you see more of a soybean bias in those places, it will be less expensive to grow. when you get more toward the fringes of the corn belt, into oklahoma, for example, you see crops like wheat and cotton going up

the u.s. food and drug administration center for food safety and applied nutrition. usda economic research service. the national quorum school network. northeastern university. partnership for food safety education, nsf international and self-help credit union. we also have a table for general information if anyone has reports, brochures or handout. you can use that table. for those of you interested in continuing education or professional development credits, you can pick up your certificate at the conclusion of the program tomorrow at the registration tables. i would like to take a minute to thank our sponsors listed on the back of your program here. we are very grateful to our sponsors for their support. these companies and organizations recognized the importance of supporting an event like this where we can foster an open and vigorous exchange of ideas on important food policy topics. thanks to all of our sponsors listed here. in particular i would like to thank our underwriters and there's, beef products inc., dow, dupont agricultural division, general mills, moore's

but the usda is considering the cattle rancher's pa six could finally decide which foods meet the definitionyuccas, cbs news, near oakdale, california. >> when we return, sister jeanne's pregame prayers are answered again. ♪ ♪ >>> here comes the player of the year. rises. go out. >> what a win. sister jeanne and loyola of chicago ramblers are on a role headed for sweet 16 in the ncaa tournament for the first time in 33 years. they beat tennessee by just one point last night in another surprise upset. loyola's coach and players are giving high praise to the 98-year-old nun, the team's captain. here's what they had to say to cbs sports. >> sister jeanne its our team chaplain. our team comfort blanket. she is our team scout. she is just a blessing. she praise for us the way she smiles. when you walk in a room and you see sister there, you kind of feel, feel good. >> my full name is sister jeanne dolores schmidt, everybody calls me sister jeanne. i'm 98 years old. >> 98. she has more energy than some people i know my age. >> after every game, she sends out e-mails, donte, you did this great toni

in the area of gene editing usda will soon be publishing proposed rules to implement a national bile information food exposure acts. the key issue will be in the rulemaking. you require highly refined ingredients like soybean oil or high fructose corn syrup refined beet sugar how is this debate going on to the future of this technology. going back into the old debate where people are killing each other all the time. our all sides can feel like their contributor. that's a big issue is biotech in gene editing which is a different technology. another issue is research. i'm on the board as some may know the model here is partnership across food and egg sector to bootstrap additional funding on more cutting-edge projects that u.s. government and usda cannot afford to do and they keep going down. so, leveraging federal dollars. i wanted to give you a few examples. one were trying to harness the power of photosynthesis. there must be scientists in the room but largely we have not had what we call transformational breakthroughs in photosynthesis and decades. how to increase yields and make pl

avoid the connecting flights if you can, take a nonstop direct flight, use a carrier approved by the usdaairline association and put giant stickers, a live animal on the crate, just be very proactive. near portola gate agent i'm traveling with my pet. would you mind telling me when it is loaded. when you board the plane of the pilot doesn't seem too busy and turn to your left say i am traveling with my pet in the cargo hold, i want to thank you in advance for looking out for it. the such points make a difference. keep the documents with you, the health certificate our lines require and the airline policy printed out constantly and have other copies of this data inside the crate. of the 20 if you have a smaller dog, it has to be in a container and put it under the seat in front of you. i never heard anyone being forced to put it in the overhead bin. >> that makes 0 sense, it is absent all common sense. it is not anything any us carrier has ever been trained to do. american airlines uniquely created a been in the front of one of the aircraft they used between la, san francisco and new york.

we will not change the whole program, the usda should direct the states and give them funding to test these approaches. i'm just going to very quickly go over a couple of other cost-effective analyses we are doing. these are soon-to-be published. added sugar labeling, this chart shows the cost-effectiveness graph if you haven't looked at it. this is health benefit, this is it costs you money. this saves you money. this is really bad or if you are hurting spending money. this is spending money and getting health benefits. this is almost everything we do in health care. he spent money and get benefits. here you are saving money but hurting people in here of course this is called dominant. you are both saving money and getting health benefits. we modeled what would be the effect of the current added sugar labeling based on just consumer effects or just consumer plus industry reformulation affects. circles show the confidence of our models. we estimated just a 6% to 8% reduction in added sugar by consumers and the label. not a dramatic reduction. we had about 6% reduction in added sugar a

delegation of the world food summit when i was at usda and we had a press release at the summit where i was told today totally disrobed and protesters with signs on their bodies, and the truth. my mother and father -- actually, my mother was upset. my father was more interested in what it looked like rather than what it said. we can't stop signs from proceeding, so there's a lot of key issues. in the area of gene editing and i think usda will soon be publishing proposed rules to implement a national bioengineered food disclosure act and i assume there'll be a lot of comment from folks in this room. the key issue will be in the rulemaking of this issue of gene editing. do you require highly refined ingredients like soybean oil or high fructose corn syrup or beet sugar or other kinds of things to be disclosed. how is this debate going on the future of this technology? are we going to go back into the gml debate where people are killing each other all the time were all sides going to want to be positive contributors to a positive situation. that is a big issue in the coming year and biot

but the usda says it is considering the cattle rancher's petition and could decide to which foods meet> i want this to be here generations after me. >> the consumer is saying look if i one of the biggest attractions at the zoo is lewis. unlike other apes, lewis likes to walk on hind legs. sound familiar. don dahler paid a visit to find out why. >> lewis hanging out before he starts his day. resting a little bit. a star here, for 14 years. when they posted the video here, gained national attention. researchers say, his upright behavior, might be a blue as to why humans ee vfld volved to wa two feet. lewis not like fellow play mates. weighing in at hefty 470 pounds, standing at nearly 6 feet tall. the 18-year-old gorilla prefers to stand on two legs rather than on all fours. >> gorillas will occasionally stand up for a few second or walk a couple steps. what we see lewis doing is really walking clear across the yar. that's quite special. >> michael stern is curator at the philadelphia zoo. he says lewis walks upright for number of reasons. >> in the individually he has hands full of toma

ranchers has filed a petition with the usda to protect the word "meat." ect the word "meat." we'll tell you why they have a beef coming up on "cbs this morning." like those from buddy. [ giggling] because stuffed animals are clearly no substitute for real ones. feel the clarity and live claritin clear. for one week only, save up to $40 on select claritin products. check this sunday's newspaper for details. so allstate is giving us money back on our bill. well, that seems fair. we didn't use it. wish we got money back on gym memberships. get money back hilarious. with claim-free rewards. switching to allstate is worth it. brushing only reaches 25% of your mouth. listerine® cleans virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ ♪ next chapter ♪ fortified.tored. replenished. emerge everyday with emergen-c packed with b vitamins, antioxidants, electrolytes plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. why not feel this good everyday? emerge and see. like you do sometimes, grandpa? and puffed...

i had a continuing interest in the statistical agencies and in my last job at usda had oversight of the two statistical agencies in usda. i paid a lot of attention back in 26 king when congress passed legislation setting up a bipartisan commission on evidence-based policy commission , evidence-based policy making in the commission came out with its report and recommendations last fall. it was a surprise to my fellow panelist because they never knew this commission existed, much less that it had come out with this report and legislation has been introduced. i printed out a copy of the cover of it so you can all see there really is a report of this commission. i think it is an importance to the community that's interested in food policy because as we've moved from the kind of evidence that we've been talking about for a specific nutrition or food safety policies into the rom of the kind of research that is being done in food systems and the kind of changes we need to have made in food systems to promote healthy systems for long-term sustainability and healthy people as routing in the food

a formula paved roads by the highway administration had interested to know if you are looking at the usda int and some of their definitions as well if you could get back to me, that would be great. also on the rural infrastructure program, the proposal included language to develop interstate projects and an important expressway project that we have in the state of nebraska and our panhandle and that is the heartland express. it's part of the larger corridor that runs north to south across this country. when it's completed, it will provide greater access for the agricultural products to the country, and it's going to help to have this multimillion divided highway access. can you elaborate on how the rural projects qualify for the funding under the president's to mexico like the posts to play in project? >> they send guideline principles, and that is an indication we want to work with congress on how to define some of these things. >> thank you chair man and well welcome to both of the witnesses. with the start by saying we have heard a great deal in the course of the hearing about the rura

greg pocket, last week, the usda issued some guidance on opioids in rural america and i think your question has something to do with that as well. >> it certainly does. thank you so much. i would like to thank the administration, the panel, for allowing us to come and be with you today. i have a couple of prepared remarks to preclude my question. i am a commissioner in west virginia, i have been for three years and i have been active in primary prevention strategies through local community-based coalitions for the last 17 years. i would also like to say -- i would like to give you a quick snapshot of what it is like to live in rural america. we started this in 1998 with oxycontin, when it first came down. it was designated "hillbilly heroin." we saw this coming but it also has harmed to society as a whole. in the last 19 years, the social survey system we have seen, has become overloaded. employment rates have risen to record levels and i can tell you to 2012, the amount of opioids that came to my community with over $16 million in a county of 61,000. pills, for a county of 61,000. west vir

i would be interested to know if you are looking at the usda, some of their definitions of rural as well. so if you could get back to me, that would be great. >> i will certainly do so. >> thank you. and also, on the rural infrastructure program, the proposal included language to develop rural interstate projects, and an important interstate expressway project that we have in nebraska is in our panhandle and that's the heartland express way. it is part of the larger ports to plains corridor that runs north to south across this country. when it is completed, the heartland expressway will provide greater access for our agricultural products to the country. it is going to help to have this multi-lane divided highway access. can you elaborate on how rural interstate projects would qualify for rural funding under the president's proposal? is there anything specific on rural interstates, especially when they connect through states from canada to mexico like the ports to plain project does? >> the department has sent guidelines, principles, and we did not send legislative language, and that is

in fact, we have current or historic programs at the fcc. usda and commerce. they have supported expansion of broadband including in rural areas. these can inform how we make future investments. so mr. dubru, tbs telecom is a significant recipient of funds under the phase two of the fcc's connect america fund. spichb specifically through its connect america model program. i wonder can you tell us how you believe your company's experience with this program should inform how any new resources are employed with a goal of ensuring the most affective deployment of broadband to areas that are currently unserved or underserved? >> well, thank you, senator. and thank you for apparently you have a lot of clout. not only was i put on the bdack but made chair of a work group. so, it only tripled my work, but that was okay. yeah. i think -- i think there's a lot of things that the fcc got right. i think their programs have evolved and i think the accountability that's built into their programs, and especially the certainty. i mean, one, it's difficult, i think, for compani

i represent, as you all know in the usda a rural constituency and very dependent on infrastructure. i think america's advantage in world logistics of surplus in our export offing a culture, frankly, has a lot to do with the infrastructure that's been in place over a number of years, both the roads, the rail, the waterways of this country have contributed to our ability to deliver farmer produced, rancher produced products to the world in a very competitive fashion and it's important to continue to do. that surface transportation is extremely important. roads and bridges in rural areas where trucks cannot transport across ailing bridges, contribute to a lack of productivity. the waterways have drained the heartland of productive america have been vital in doing that. the locks and dams are years old, and there's data that says some of these locks fail several states and thousands of producers as well as billions of dollars of agricultural product is affected. our kole legs have described those needs. you all have identified and also talked about -- i think there'slet of energy about a

have yet to connect with him, but if any of his staff is listening, there is a -- bottleneck at the usda preventing this money from going to the families that desperately need it. and i will continue to call secretary purdue to do what i asked secretary wilbur ross to do, crack the whip on his organization to get the money flowing, because that's what we passed the supplemental emergency appropriation for. now the federal agencies need to get the money out the door. this is so frustrating because the administration knew that congress was discussing a disaster supplemental bill way back when hurricane harvey hit in august on texas, and then irma hit, and then maria hit. now, six months later, most of the federal agencies are just starting to dust off their pencils and figure out how they are going to allocate the funding. what is wrong with you all? people are hurting. they are going bankrupt. you've got to get that money out. so you can imagine how you'd feel if your family's entire citrus crop had been wiped out and you had been holding your breath waiting for disaster assistance fundin

i represent the usda a rule constituency. there dependent on infrastructure. america's advantage has a lot to do with the infrastructure been in place over a number of years. but the rail and waterways have contributed to our ability to deliver farmer and rancher produced products in a competitive fashion. it's important we continue to do that. . . your colleagues did a great job describing those needs. you identified and talked about an area that is as transformative we mentioned. you mentioned the system in 1956. we actually go back with two other examples. 1936 with our acts. we see what the conductivity and telephone system did for us. today high-speed internet of the 21st century. when you look at the technology that existed in illinois for precision agriculture. the sub image technology of gps and satellite, we can get a 20-bushel increase with half the increase. there are products on the shelf that manufacturers are willing to the point. i'm pleased with the interest -- how do we pay for? we have an opening opportunity a map of that's really where we all

t, last week, the usda issued some guidance on opioids in rural america and i think your question has something to do with that as well. >> it certainly does. thank you so much. i have a couple of prepared remarks to preclude. my name is greg and i am a commissioner in west virginia. active in primary prevention strategies through local community-based coalitions and last 17 you -- for the last 17 years. i want to give you a quick snapshot of what it is like to live in rural america. we started this in 1998 with oxycontin. it was designated hillbilly heroin. we saw this coming but it also society as a whole. in the last 19 years, the social service system we have seen has become overloaded. toloyment rates have risen record levels and i can tell you from 2005 to 2012, the amount of opioids that came to my community with over 16 million. in a county of 61,000. west virginia has declared a state of emergency for hepatitis c and seven counties including mine are at risk for hiv outbreak. that is due to 20 counties out of the thousand 60 -- this is 220 counties out of 3060 united states.

capitol hill and in the executive branch who have you been talking to, and what have they been telling you? >> well, we have, of course, talked to our local legislators. and those who are usdaare handling a lot of our issues internationally most of the people we talk to are, of course, pro trade. and they want these lines of communication that we have developed over the past to stay open and be effective. and we want that also. and we will push hard for that we're hoping that the people who import our soybeans will still needs those and hopefully will not retaliate against us but that has been mentioned in their rhetoric so far. >> is senator thune with you on this >> senator thune is with us on this, yeah >> and the secretary, i believe it's perdue? >> yeah. absolutely our secretary is very pro-trade. and he's coming from an ag background, so he knows the importance of trade with our partners we worked in the past on the nafta agreements, the korea free trade agreement, the peru, all of those things have been linchpins in the asa's -- what we do on a regular basis and it will continue to be very important to us to develop those trade relationships. and we won't stop. and w

ambassador, as your office or -- or your office by itself or in consultation with the usda done any analysisat potential retaliation means for farmers in the midwest whom china has already singled out for retaliation. >> we certainly, mr. chairman, have done a lot of analysis of that in the context of the 301 but also in the context of other things. and the analysis is way beyond usda and nsc. it's a whole variety of things. at some level, whatever you decide, it's really just speculation but there's been a lot of effort, a lot of work done on it and when you come down in almost every case, the most vulnerable sector of the economy are the ones who export, and farmers are a very sympathetic group and so they're not only with respect to the 301 but every time we take a trade action, agriculture is in the cross hairs and it's something that we're very sympathetic to and we have to be careful about and we have to decide and we will work with you to decide if that happens how we react. senator roberts, who i know very well, remembers the carter grain embargo because it was an important part of h

s uniform service fufpbled, high-cost program and the usda rumor utility service is -- they are already in place so what i'm wondering is why then did the administration decide not to do direct funding through the existing programs? not all states are going to have the level of super tease or programs in place to efficiently build out their broad band. i do understand the significance of doing block grants to the states but why are we not utilizing existing programs? maybe some thoughts there. >> i will look into that. haven't seen that you brought it up but basically 25% of the funds will go to rural america and then it's going to be up to the governor and the state as to how they want to spend that. broad band is obviously one area that we would encourage for them to pay attention to. >> absolutely. and broad band is very important to our rural areas and i do understand that we'll have a quarter of the dollars going to the rumor areas but there is -- i do want to make sure there is expertise involved with building out some of those broad band experts so we'll encourage to you go in an

the usda says they stand ready to support agricultural producers who may be harmed.ing to be interesting to see how this affects smithfield foods a huge u.s. producer owned by a chinese company if these tariffs expand to harleys, we may be in a situation where there is a double whammy of hogs and hogs funny line, nobody is laughing. >> i'm thinking about how much i love pork buns this is a big deal, especially in some trump states jane, great stuff as always. thank you so much. >>> it was a volatile day. we wilrep l cathe headlines and check on after hours movers. dow down 424 demand a cfa charterholder. cfa institute. today, innovation in the finger lakes is helping build the new new york. once home to the world's image center, new york state is now a leader in optics, photonics and imaging. fueled by strong university partnerships, providing the world's best talent. and supported with workforce development to create even more opportunities. all across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd.ny.gov.

i represent as you all know in the usda arra constituency and very dependent on infrastructure. i think america's advantage in the world logistics of the surplus in her export of agriculture frankly has a lot to do with the infrastructure that's been in place over a number of years both our roads, the rails, the waterways in this country that contribute to our ability to deliver farmer produced in rancher produced products in the world in a very competitive fashion. it's very important that we continue to do that as well. surface transportation is extremely important. roads and bridges inn rural ares word for structure does not transport across bridges contributing to a lack of productivity. certainly the waterways contribute to a productive america and are very vital. they are years old and some of these locks have failed in several states and thousands of producers as well as billions of dollars in the cultural productivity have been impacted as well. surface transportation and let waterways are important as well and her colleagues have done a great job describing those needs.

actions of the ntia which is the commerce department of the rural utility service which is within the usda, the department of agriculture. we don't formally review rules from the fcc because it is an independent agency that we do work with the fcc and the number of ways. for example, we review the agenda of a regulatory and d roy cooper actions we and approve their information collections. and the paperwork reduction act when it things we do is review all the funds agencies put out on the public so we work with the agency to make sure they are minimizing the reporting and disclosure requirements they are imposing on the public. i think it's interesting that fcc chairman pai who was a law school classmate of my also at chicago is working on creating this office of economic analysis. we anticipate this office is going to build on some of the long-standing economic principles that are used in regulatory review. we want to make sure that part of this process agencies regulatory to solve an actual problem, such as the substantial market failure. as part of good regulatory practices with want ag

howeve'm going to warn the commissioner that he decides when day to slaughter and sell his chickens, that usda secretary perdue might want to talk to him. last year some food policy advocates were a little disappointed when yet another medical doctor was nominated to head the fda. the concern was that dr. gottlieb would focus only on the drug and medical products and neglect the app, which is food. these concerns, however, were unfounded. and just his first year commissioner gottlieb has shown that he is a vigorous supporter of implementation, a passionate proponent of the important role nutrition plays in health and he has committed to improving the effectiveness of food recalls. before handing the mic over to dr. gottlieb, i'd like to leave him with a challenge. psalm 28 years ago, hhs secretary louis sullivan addressed this very conference. he said the grocery store has become a tower of babel, consumers need to be languished scientist in mind readers to understand the many labels they see. well, eight months after that speech congress passed the nutrition labeling and education act. so, dr

. >> it's interesting because the federal budget, $79 million nondiscretionary i mean not defense r&d. usda gets about $4 billion. if we were back up 11% the way we were in the 60s what could we do in agriculture that you could win on both sides? that is really i think the consensus among myself and my colleagues is we just don't have the money. >> it's hard to imagine that it's quite commonly estimated that we'll be able to feed everybody at the level that we are custom. there are a lot of arguments back and forth and it's a theory you hear quite often and it's hard to imagine why it's a good idea to cut those funds available to create food. >> listening to you i have become even more pessimistic than i was when i walked in the door. that's life. i guess my reaction was and i haven't read your book is what you have described is faced with what i consider a crisis you have two schools of people who are far less interested in the gearing out how to solve that crisis than in how to win over their opponents, the issue was decided they would like rather than talking about the crisis. it does se

. >> it's just interesting because the federal budget, $79 billion nondiscretionary, i mean nondefense r&d. usda gets about $4 billion. you just wonder if we're back up at 11% the way we were in the '60s, what can we do in agriculture that you could went on both sides? so that's really i think the consensus is among myself and my colleagues is we just don't have any money. >> it's hard to imagine how any time when it was quite, , estime will have to grow twice as much food in 2052 feet everybody at the level which would be tough. there's a lot of arguments and back-and-forth about that but that's a figure you hear quite often get it sorted imagine imagine why to good idea to cut the funds available to people have to produce. >> thank you. >> next question. >> listening to you i become even more pessimistic than it was when i walked in the door. >> i'm sorry. >> that's just life. i guess my reaction was that, i haven't read your book so i don't know if this is accurate, is that what you describe is faced with what at least i consider a real crisis, you have two schools of people who are far less

romano, in your testimony you referenced important distinctions in the fcc's usf and usda and programs. in terms of persistent rural broadband challenges. you also stated that it is essential that these long- standing complementary relationships between are you as and usf initiatives continue. how do you envision improved coordination going forward between the two federal agencies? so that we can avoid possibly overbuilding so we can look for more enhanced accountability, but still maintain the integrity of these programs? >> thank you, senator. they have worked very well together in the past. there have been times where communication might have been improved. but by and large, the communication has been highly effective and relatively consistent. the question now is we are entering a new program with a farm bill coming up. this an opportune to make sure we have the right -- we have two different programs providing two different providers. we will be pitting programs against each other. we will help with the affordability of the network. having guard rails in place, having guard rails

it's going to be incumbent on me to talk about these things and usda,bout them with hhs, and my colleagues in the white house. todayings we talked about , you're going to hear is continuing to talk about them much more. today, i haveork been at the agency almost a year, a lot of my work today has been focused on getting the nutrition facts label implemented in an appropriate way. that has driven a lot of our agenda. that has been a very busy agenda. conclusiona foregone we were going to be able to implement these things on the timeline we did. those who lament certain delays of those rules, there are a lot of challenges getting big rules like that. the fact we were able to do it on the timeline we did is a testament to the hard work of people who have been tasked with these things. now we are at the point where we can look beyond that and start ,ooking at framing new ideas framing the narrative around those new ideas. that's going to be a big part of trying to achieve what you are setting out. >> thank you. you said lots of terrific things have moretent to understandable labels. that seems in ten

and whether or not you're participating in the rural america task forhat is convened secretary purdue at usda. >> okay. so thank you for both those questions. it's essential v.a. maintain the most contemporary approach tos . we need to move toward those technologies. a team i met with this weekend are using laser fittings the way you and i talked about and that's best practice. and we are making sure we are learning about what new therapies and diagnostic approaches are out there. we are working with 3d printing. we have developed a new prosthetic arm with darpa and so it's exactly this type of focus that we need to be doing. but we work with private companies that tell us about new ways to learn. in 2017, we had 722 720,000 usi telehealth. we had 110,000 rural veterans in one quarter using telehealth and so you can see it's increasing. we can now provide service across state line and it's essential to reach those veterans. in terms of the budget. we are seeing an increase for rural health in telehealth. i've been to a number of meets with the telecommunications leaders in the rural areas thr

the tpp approach? >> i would say there's an enormous amount that needs to be done at usda which you know of more than i i've were also point out japan is somebody which is reasonable to suggest the a united states - i suspect at some point there will be something with respect to a different category. they are an independent country and in the case of korea we are renegotiating the course and i think even the courser of negotiation or agricultural sales and i would say korea has bought more agriculture not unrelated to the fact that they want to get the deficit down and they want to show this important agreement to united states. it's an example of ways thatt pressure does have an effect on agricultural sales. we ought to use that pressure when we can. my hope is that we end up with successful negotiations that would lead to additional sales. with respect to japan that's more of ae. position that i hav. i think it's reasonable to expect at the appropriate time. it's probably not the appropriate time right now. that is something that's coming ratherou quickly. >> senator warner. >> thank you mr. chairman

and whether or not you are participating in the rural america task force that's made up of cabinet secretaries and convened by secretary perdue over at usda. secretary shulkin: ok. so thank you for both those questions. it is essential v.a. maintains the most contemporary approach to prosthetics and orthodics. this needs to be a foundational service for us. and i do believe the research funds needs to be moving us towards those contemporary technologies. i was this past week at the las vegas v.a. i asked about this. i met with their team. they are using the laser you and i e way that talked about and that is the best practice. we are making sure we are learning what new therapies and diagnostic approaches are out there. as i mentioned we are working with 3-d printing. we have recently developed a new prosthetic arm with darpa and so it's exactly this type of focus we need to be doing and i will make sure we are using the very best technologies. but we do work with private doctors who are constantly telling us new ways to learn and we are committed to that so thank you for that on the telehealth services, as you know in fiscal year 2017 we

we have a situation in the united states where there is double evaluation or usda has a program that'spretty ridiculous and ther there's a number of ust are trying to, so my question is can you speak to how the catfish issue in particular has an impact on the negotiations? >> let me say with respect to the first element i outlined we didn't put it on the website we found if we say some into anyone it's in the paper so it saves the issue everything becomes public in five minutes. we have criteria and one of the elements of this is the national security interest of the united states so we do have that as an issue and it is a broad decision on his part. he defines national security in the conventional way but also more broadly as affecting the u.s. economic security as a part of the national security you will see that as a theme that has run through the national security strategy and trade and the national security is defined broadly in the united states can't defend its allies or anything else unless it has a strong economy so that is something the president has brought. the issue of the

doing to maintain and build on the relationships we have with these key asian countries absent a tpp approach? >> i would say there's an enormous amount of stuff being done at usdaf which you i'm sure know more than i do. i would also point out that i just mentioned that. -- that japan is somebody upon which it's reasonable to suggest the united states have an fta and we've asked and they're in their own political thing but i suspect at some point that will be something to move forward with. with respect to korea, they're in a different category. they're not in the tpp, they're an independent country and in the case of korea we are renegotiating chorus around even the course of that renegotiation has been good for your agriculture sales. i would note korea's bought a billion dollars more agriculture in the last year than they did before and i suspect it's not unrelated to the fact that they want to get the deficit down and show this is an important agreement for the united states. i think it's an example of ways that pressure does have a positive effect on agriculture sales and we ought to be using that pressure when we can so my hope is that we end up with a su

the jobs, it's not going to matter. >> jennifer, what are you doing to try to fix that >> currently usda estimates there are tens of thousands in agriculture companies that are going unfilled. >> because you can't find qualified people >> can't find qualified people that's what bayer and national 4-h is doing to raise awareness for our health, nutrition and food supply. we take for granted our food supply. >> is it that it's not sexy? people want to go to silicon valley and create self-driving cars and learn how to code. >> it's true when you think about how a young person can apply science in a way that's going to affect everyone's life and make it better every day, food, nutrition, health, those are everyday needs and this is really -- for us, we're inspiring young people we believe they can make a difference in the world and really empower them through agriculture science. >> dr. jemeson, i've spoken to you in the past about s.t.e.m., how eager you are to get people involved in s.t.e.m. how much tougher is this, agricultural sciences? >> agricultural sciences, there's some differences a lot of it is life sciences and biol

he served as a cleared advisor and later chairman of the usda-ustr and animal products agriculture trade advisory committee. a lot of words but a very important committee. and it was during the negotiations of a variety of trade agreements, including australia, bahrain, colombia, panama, and peru. obviously he's been everywhere. gregg's background and experience gives him a leg up in the challenge of serving as the chief agriculture negotiator at ustr. he understands what trade means to the agriculture industry, and he has the experience to help maintain u.s. agriculture's role as a supplier around the world. certainly a big challenge today. at a time when the agriculture economy is in a rough patch -- the fourth year of prices buy low the cost of production, pretty much across the board, all across the country -- and commodity prices still falling, farmers and ranchers now depend on trade more than ever. we need continued focus on exporting, not just what we make, mr. president, but also what we grow. let me repeat that. we need to export not just what we make -- there is a lot of focus