Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for coming out today.
I want to follow up on one of the questions asked by my colleague regarding the concern. We heard that one effect of the PACA cancellation, I think it was in October 2014, is that while some of the issues become the lenders', creditors', those people who.... Once you start to tinker with some of their abilities to reclaim, what happens is then the funding is not available to the farmers in terms of the funds needed for their production, for their sales, and for their operations.
Has there been any discussion, though, with these organizations, and with the lenders particularly? It always seems that while the banks get in first and they get their cut out of it, the other creditors get left behind. They get to split up the very large sums that are sometimes left. By the time they are done, they basically get nothing, or very little.
Have you had any discussion with the round table of people involved? That would be the financial, the processors, and the sellers. Is there a balance that can be reached with the understanding, as mentioned before, that we don't have a product that you can take a lien on. The lien has gone away because of the perishability of the product. Have any of those discussions happened that you're aware of through the organization, through the horticulture group, or through the government agency?