Agriculture committee  I want to make it clear that as we talk really about the entire industry, we're equally concerned about our packing and processing industry. We're at serious risk right now of seeing further erosion. We learned back in 2003 that you never want to be as dependent on foreign proces

Agriculture committee  I guess so. First of all, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the invitation. And congratulations on your appointment, and to all members of the committee. We greatly appreciate the fact that you are looking at competitiveness. We feel that's obviously an important thrust. The past f

Agriculture committee  Actually, that's what we said. Clearly--look at the inventory numbers--we saw our industry reduced by another 5% this past year. In some years, the cow numbers were down more. In the last seven years, we've gone through four what I'll refer to as 50-year events. All of them have

Agriculture committee  That's a number of questions to answer. As far as the final three are concerned, no. We're also looking at increasing the 70%, but.... I'm not sure anybody has seen any recent numbers on debt that would be reliable. We meet with the Bankers Association at least quarterly to try

Agriculture committee  We can talk. The Ontario Cattlemen's Association is meeting today. That didn't come up at their meeting, but I can try to get an answer.

Agriculture committee  John may want to add something to this, as he attends numerous meetings throughout the U.S. regularly. He was in our embassy in the U.S. before he came to work for us. So I'll make a few brief comments and then ask John to comment. I guess on the last point on whether we should

Agriculture committee  That's a fairly simple set of questions.... First of all, on the issue of demand and what happened, a number of us were very actively involved in the industry through the eighties into the nineties. There's an assertion that Cargill in particular coming in was the reason that a

Agriculture committee  There were a range of things. When we analyzed it, I think it looked at part of the issue but not the whole picture, as we talked about demand and the ability to satisfy those customers around the world. I'm not of the opinion any longer that there's such a thing with globalizati

Agriculture committee  First, we were talking about debt, and I said it was considerably exacerbated in areas by weather. The whole question of the current financial situation, as I alluded to, was a series of events that have created it, so I'd like to put that in proper context. In my mind it's impor

Agriculture committee  First of all, in terms of the numbers that have been related there, we operate on the world market in what we receive. When you take a look at this--and it hasn't been easy, which is their assumption, that it's been a cakewalk--the question then is why are we seeing our processor

Agriculture committee  Yes, we'd agree with that. As I mentioned, there are some regulatory issues, and we have a bit of breathing room that our dollar has given us. We'd better take full advantage of that as we speak.

Agriculture committee  We've always been a proponent of age verification. The only issue was whether it should be mandatory or whether we should try to encourage an environment for doing it and make sure the systems are ready for it.

Agriculture committee  Yes, we are a proponent of age verification. And in regard to our beef advantage here, that's one of the conditions of being part of it, that producers will. We believe that Japan is ready to move to 30 months. In terms of Korea, we are recommending to take Korea to the WTO. We

Agriculture committee  Absolutely, the more you can address it through good, effective negotiation and good relations.... The best dispute is one you prevent, and the next best is the one you can resolve quickly.

Agriculture committee  I'll take the first one, and I know John would like the pleasure of answering the final one. Just simply addressing business risk management gives you the ability to get to where you can overcome these challenges. You have to create the right environment. As producers look at t