. >> tom vilsack, joining us on "newsmakers" this week. thank you very much. we're going to spend a couple of minutes where we help understand what the secretary had to say and i want to start with mike. he talked about regional differences and commodity differences. what do you know that the secretary was unwilling to say about this? >> i put the bait out there but he would not buy. every farm bill is a regional flight. to say it's a fight is not to say it's wrong, but it is the nature of the business. western dairies in california, where many of my papers are, the areas are large. that compares to wisconsin, is a very different man than the for inputing costs. it is very complicated to get them aligned and difficult to unnecessarily aligned southern cotton growers with western cotton growers. crop growers in california often have nothing to do with wheat growers in the midwest. the differences between the processors and producers can be great. what the secretary was dancing around is the fact that there are inherent fights and they are never resolved to ever

. >> now, agriculture secretary vilsack speaks at this year's rural summit. he has spent a year visiting farmers, ranchers, and residents of rural america to get their ideas on building the economy. this is 50 minutes pipit -- this is 50 minutes. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> good morning. it is great to be here with you as part of this national summit for rural america. welcome to my home state of missouri, to jefferson county and to jefferson college, whose namesake, thomas jefferson, was famous for many things, but especially for agricultural innovation. as we emerge from the worst economic crisis since the great depression, we must make it smart and strategic investments that not only grow jobs in the short term, but develop economic strength for the long term. i believe america is at its best, especially rural america is at its best when we face a challenge and we work together to get the job done. that is part of the core values of our country. here in the heartland of

we continue to press them working with secretary vilsack from the department of the agriculture to open the market back up to beef which we have been excluded for far too long. as we have mentioned to senator cantwell what we are trying to get china to do in every case is just follow the internationally accepted standards and act on a sound science chris cemetery products. the good news is we do have surplus in our agriculture exports for china, the frustration, we have specific products like beef and poultry in which they have just been -- >> again you are using he word at the press encourage and talking. i believe frankly no country of drastically out of the goodness of its heart eckert lowers the entry barrier. they ask them to do something. unless it is in their own advantage of economic advantage to do so. we need to leverage. we need to leverage. the country's lot produce a trade barrier out of the goodness of their heart unless there is much richer. then it is no longer in the goodness of their hard on the self-interest. what leverage do we have. senator, i would agree and tell y

tom vilsack is our guest to talk with reporters.e is speaking about a farm policy. >> the id ministration has attempted to curtail these payments to the wealthiest farm. i think the chairman has indicated the need for us to look at the way in which these are structured so we can determine have to provide a broader safety net and make sure it is fair and reasonable and one that does not break the bank. i am anxious to work with him. the president is interested to work with him to see what a concept he has. risk-management has become an important tool in terms of reducing and spreading the risk. i cannot want to prejudge the process until i have an opportunity to see what the chairman put on the table. host: you can see the full discussion on our program tomorrow. as far as twitter is concerned, there is this as he describes himself michigan is next. caller: i have been self employed master plumber and have had no work in several years. i cannot blame the obama administration at all. work dried up. new construction was in february of

corn soy blend which has a higher protein content as part of school feeding programs and secretary vilsack and i had the chance to visit a program and islam and the beer in kenya and we met with probably 300 kids that were in the school getting a little red cup filled with corn soy blend. we asked as many kids as we could what was the most important part of school for them and it was getting that cup of high-protein food. we have to just remember that our food assistance plays a critical role in supporting vulnerable populations around the world and at the same time, we have real opportunities to use local procurement to create the kind of markets for small-scale farmers that can help lift them out of poverty through their own hard work and ingenuity. so our future effort is doing just that. usda has invested in those types of efforts that as head of usaid so is important to both sets of tools at our disposal because again to address hunger, we really if we are going to win, we need to use every tool at our. >> you stated on several occasions that in development and specifically agricultur

sunday, agriculture secretary tom vilsack talks about real economic issues and foreign policy. he is interviewed by ellen ferguson of "congressional ferguson watch "news makers" tomorrow on c-span. >> everyone has an agenda. as long as you know what their agenda is, that is the story you can write about. >> of the pastor, brody mullins has written a series on lawmakers overseas trips funded by taxpayers. he is our guest sunday on "q&a". >> next, vatican analyst john allen discusses the future of the catholic church. he spoke about the papacy of benediction xvi, how the church is dealing with sexual abuse cases, and whether the church should involve itself in foreign affairs. from boston college this is one hour 20 minutes. >> good evening. john, thank you for that extraordinarily generous introduction. although i know, particularly being here at boston college in such an extinct -- distinguished academic community, is profoundly committed to the quest for truth. i still obliged to offer one small amendment to the introduction you just heard. it is true as john said and as the s

agriculture secretary tom vilsack. host: you are concerned about the greek economy.we guest: we have had a robust set of commitments from china and the grain area. we are seeking to reopen markets in japan, korea, and taiwan for our beef and pork products. we have renewed discussions with russia on poultry. there are opportunities for us outside of the european union that are important and we will continue to expand those opportunities, to make new partnerships. one of the reasons why the president focused on the transpacific discussions is a way of multilaterally engaging in the new trade agreements. there are free trade agreements converse will hopefully be able to work on and ratified -- in panama, colombia. there is a lot of trade opportunities outside of the european union. host: you can see the entire interview on "newsmakers" at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. let's take a look at other news right now going on. this from the associated press, two new jersey man who allegedly intended to kill american troops were arrested saturday before boarding flights on their way