This is just under one hour. Governor mead welcome. This is something we have a long look forward to. Its our understanding this is has had atime ag session, with nonmet not act members association. I want to thank scott for putting this together. Have great guests today. Let me start off a gun again a thinking governor bullock. Im chairman of the National Resources committee. Governor brown is the vicechairman. He wasnt able to make it. Please to have governor bullet here. Is the futurehis of food and agg the importance , to includestry innovative examples of sustainable practices. These meetings give us a great hear what other governors and states are doing, share those practices, and influence the national dialogue. m a fourthgeneration rancher im looking forward to going back to that case of being a rancher. About ag andk wyoming, im very proud of wyoming ag. It is our thirdlargest industry. We see many longterm family operations provide not only food, but open spaces, Wildlife Habitats, recreational opportunities, and great traditions. As a rancher and governor of wyoming, i think about where we are going in the future of ag innovation, products, Tech Advances to help ag, increasing trade. All these present great opportunities in the 21st century. Im surrounded by many family farmers today, and not only up on stage here, but many governors come from a nag background from an ag background and understand it deeply. Their advocates for ag. In addition to these ag advocates, we have a panelist that includes a thirdgeneration cow farmer from georgia, a North Carolina hog farmer, and the president of the alliance for sustainable ag. As we all know, farmers and ranchers and those who fish are just the first, rightfully so, known as the first conservationists. They rely on, look the same lands, waters year after year, generation after generation. We celebrate those who sustain the land in wyoming every year trade at the state fair, we honor Centennial Farms and ranches. These are ag businesses is owned and operated by the same families for 100 years or more. Markable,lies are with so much history and experience behind them, so much more ahead of them. Theyre the solid core of american agriculture. You cannot have 100yearold farm and ranch, one into its second century of operation, without commitment to the land and conservation. A centennial operation is a great sign of stewart good stewardship. Excuse me,n today our conversation is particularly timely, as Congress Begins to consider its 2018 bill which will provide stability for americas farmers and ranchers. I am pleased and will further starling, special assistant to the president on ag, robert snyder, president of filter market, the alliance for sustainable act, and zippy due ball, the president of the American Farm bureau federation. Uvall. I am pleased, governor bullock, you are here again, a friend and neighbor. I would appreciate any introductory comments from you. Governor bullock thanks so much, governor mead. Im not quite a fourthgeneration rancher like governor mead. Thats why he can shovel better than i can. [laughter] governor mead you are from montana, you do it very well. [laughter] montana, welock in have 2. 5 cattle for every human being. Thats not unique, in some ways. South dakota is 61. States across our country where we have more nearlytreatment on a has 60 million acres of land. Number two producer of barley and wheat. I think and act producing state, or anywhere across the state the 50 states, we appreciate good food. Farmers and ranchers raise some of the highest quality products loved byrld, products folks across the globe for decades. By 2050, 2050, the population is expected to grow by over 2 billion people. The demand for food is estimated to increase by 70100 from where we are today. Those statistics alone are pretty sobering. Couple that with the fact that the average age of farmers and ranchers in the u. S. Is nearly 60 years old. Its quickly apparent we have to do all that we can to ensure that more young people get involved in agriculture. Yet, like most producers would tell you, anywhere across the country, they would change over the past two decades. Climates forable the next generation. Im pleased in montana, we have programs like growth for agriculture, the grant program, funding project. It allows young folks to continue working in ag and introduce innovative ideas that approach old problems with new solutions. And, inject energy into many of. Ur Rural Communities we need to continually invest in those ideas and the people behind them. To invest Research Dollars to our projects, increasing productions. Its equally important win vessels dollars in progress projects, responsibly managing water quality, increasing soil health, reducing emissions, ensuring we are good stewards to the land week rely on. Farmers and ranchers are some of the biggest conservationists ive ever known. They understand that their legacy, one of the most important things we can do is ensure them that the next generation has the same opportunities reported to them as the previous afforded to them as the previous generations. Finally, the importance of the state and federal governments, as governor mead noted, its something that cannot be overstated. Whether through research or regulation, or a farm bill or other areas, its vitally important that that spirit of cooperation remains the cornerstone of that relationship. Thank you for including me. Thank you all for participating. Gov. Mead thank you, governor bullock. Good to have you here. Thank you for being here. Thank you all for being here. Its my honor to have great sterling, the president s advisor on ad, food assistance. It got to tell you, its nice having that decision, the deep background in ag that you do. Member whoformer 4h hails from a century family farm and was carolina senator tell us his chief of staff and former general counsel to the North Carolina department of ag. Please join me in welcoming ray starling. We look forward to your opening remarks. Ray thank you. [applause] thank you for both of you governors. We are really excited about this panel as well, the fact that you had the foresight to have this conversation. We sometimes feel in the ag sector when we are talking to our stakeholders that we are sometimes the last conversation thats get that gets to be had. Looks like here, we are one of the first. We look forward to this continuing to be a dialogue. He mentioned keywords in your remarks, or ships, economic activity, handing the keys to the next generation. These are all topics we talk about frequently. Today, youve asked us to talk about trends, things we see in regard to the future of food and agriculture. Our remarks might be nontraditional, because when you expect to talkou about farm bill and policy pot generally. Working inout an policy, and one of the ,uestions i have notwithstanding the beauty of your home states, the fact the fact that you have Beautiful National parks there, we find ourselves here in this ballroom with no windows. We were all in agreement that the next time we did this, we will but you almost us. Lets but commit to that right up front. My firstes a general, point is there is a general that there should not be, that if we are doing anything in our economy or society the same way, if we are selling or buying something the same way we were doing it to generation ago, th en matt that methodology is ripe for disruption. Thats happening at an accelerated pace that we dont talk about much, and that is in a retail sales space. One of the trends that im watching is, we seem conduct consolidation and that fate space, the methodology change in the way food is marketed. Think we are about to be in a new era in regards to, we see retailers like amazon and walmart changing the way theyre selling food, looking to sell food online, shipping food, things of the nature. In the United States annually, about one dollars is spent on food. 21 2 of retail attachments people are buying food to prepare, the other people are buying perp food thats already prepared. Thats on this side of the recession. Ive been in d. C. Long enough to find all of the bojangles around town. Now that ive relocated them, we will put the Retail Services backup. Now, we will be in a different food, regarding how to buy over the next couple of days. I think that is Something Interesting around town. The second point i want to make for conversation is, we have always had an Agricultural Policy that had policy is regional, meaning that that the federal level, with regard to how we negotiate farm bill ,andag and policies different regions of the country bring different needs to the table, and different thoughts about how our policies should work. I thought, and id be interested gentlemans thoughts later not right now, id like to finish my own thirst first [laughter]. I thought that was beginning to the debates inht food and ag policy were more production methodology, where you have a sincere policy about organic versus conventional, different styles of production. I see now as we are getting back into the writing of a farm bill that seems like our fight over ag policy is going to continue to be regional, i just flagged that. Thats worth talking about. We can do that more later. Thirdly, one of my big personal challenges. I worry. Im a lawyer by trade, so i worry i feel like for a living. Nothing worse be more than worrying and looking round nothing worries me more than worrying and looking around, thinking people should be worried, and they are not worried. That makes me more worried. The few things i want to flag that i hope we are all worrying about and going to talk about more, and that list is really about for items one. Insurance longer, but the things ourink about are landgrant University System and its longevity. Its the main way we do ag research in the public sector. Its also been for several generations now the main place we disseminate week our research. It began to have more private folks involved, consulting directly with farmers, but i think that system faces challenges that are beyond the funding questions. Theres always funding issues, from the questions when it comes to the landgrant system. I think there are challenges that, that we need to be paying attention to. Number two, longterm views about how we support our farmers at the federal level. In the last farmville, i think everybody would agree that a migration of funds out of title programs,rect subsidy more into Crop Insurance and other tools, the safety net. My concern is if we dont continue to tell stories about how those are reported, that, that their legacy is going to be lessened in terms of their longevity. The third is threats that are frankly posed by the way we trade. Saying, threats posed by trading partners who are trading strategically and selfishly. In some ways, you cannot blame them for that at the same time, we have placed an emphasis and are a world leader in treating freely pick trading freely. If there are people trading selfishly and strategically, we are tried in trying to trade fairly. Last but not least, the world of data, and what it brings to the farmer himself. Really ripe for disruption about input costs, production, what their land is capable of doing. Thats going to be exciting to watch. My 22ndt said, advertisement about the administrations agricultural priorities, there are really four. We can come back to these over and over again. They are my touchstone, in terms of how i use my time at the white house. At the top of that list is expanding ag trade. Second is dealing with labor challenges in a culture. Isrd is reform, fourth making sure that agriculture in were rolled america are included in our conversations about infrastructure. Gov. Mead thank you very much for being here. Thanks for your comments, ray. Governor bullock, i will turn it over to you for the next introduction. Gov. Bullock thank you, ray. Its my great pleasure to introduce robert snyder. The president of the lines of Sustainable Agriculture since 2014. The alliance is comprised of members representing all facets of the u. S. Agricultural supply chain. Members employ more than 5 million people, representing combined revenues of over 1. 5 trillion. Umm, im not sure that even governor mead could outfarmer this guy [laughter] rob liveshe fact that on a family farm started in west 1789, if i understand correctly. Please welcome rod snyder. [applause] rod snyder i appreciate the introduction. The to have this topic on agenda. So critical at this moment. Folks in the room have probably heard of the white house, farm euro. The me tell you about field to market. We are the largest Multistakeholder Alliance in u. S. The two working on the sustainability of commodity crop production. We have nearly 140 members from across the supply chain that includes the farm bureau, as well as Food Companies, agribusiness companies, environmental groups, universities as well. Aroundormed 10 years ago this question we were formed 10 years ago around this question about what does agriculture look like in terms of sustainability, and what do like, andrends look how will Consumer Preferences potentially drive impact on the way back at the farm gate, in terms of expectations of how we grow our food . We notice consumers were asking lots of questions about where and how their food was produced. They wanted to see greater transparency. Companies in particular are looking at a demographic of their buying choices and preferences. They are responding by pivoting their brands in such a way so that they are more transparent and focused on sustainability. Several Major Companies in the food chain have made very public goals. General mills, they are looking at the 28 reduction at omissions across this budget for 2025. Cocacola has a water neutrality goal. They want to see a replenishing using. Water they are these companies cant reach these kinds of goals and targets on they are back with farmers. Is theart of the impact result on the farm. In the last two years, Many Companies have begun to partner with them in a more intentional and collaborative way to help drive improvements in support farmers in this journey. Thats a little bit different than the last century, the main conversation around conservation sustainability was through the bill. Lle the farm this has been a critical piece of how we tackle environmental challenges on private land. Its the largest investment in private Land Conservation in the United States, and pledges 444 million acres of land, larger than all the land managed by wildlife, blm, the department of the interior. Significant. Most consumers to recognize that. Is for that now. Were seeing private Sector Companies get involved in regional conversation programs, which brings public and private dollars to the table to help farmers around issues of water quality, omissions, and Wildlife Habitats some companies. Involved have been active in that space land olakes working with, the conservatives in conservation in indiana. This is an opportunity that i think the whole Industry Needs to Pay Attention to. Its bringing that needed transparency the customers want to see to the supply chain in a that could be disruptive. The last thing element and building will mention, building on comments ray mentioned, it may not look like it did 2030 years ago, but theres tremendous expertise at the state level. Weve seen Food Companies turning to land grants not only for research, but also for the extension service, to the work with farmers on the ground, to help advance environment targets theyve been setting. Right now, weve got General Mills working with kansas eight around wheat. Kansas state around wheat. Thats a great way to close, and i look forward to the questions. Gov. Bullock thank you very much, its my pleasure to introduced introduce zippy duvall, the president of the American Farm bureau generation. Zippy is a thirdgeneration farmer from georgia. For those of you can see, cut this wonderful tie on with cows on it. Is it be used to be in the dairy business. Now, hes in the beef cattle business. I want to you to answer if those are dairy or beef cows. Thats your first question, zippy. [laughter] very pleased to have you here. Appreciate your organizations great work. Zippy, welcome. [applause] zippy well, thank you governor. Angusare beef cows, black cows. Thats what i have back on my farm. I grew up wanting to be of be a beef cow farmer. When i got of the h2 going to the farming business, there wasnt a whole lot of money to be made when i got into the farming business, there wasnt a whole lot of money to be made. This is my 32nd here growing poultry. 750,000 rollers a year. Its what we consider small. We will try to still be doing that. Ive been to all the states in my first few years as president of the American Farm bureau. That was one of my goals i set out to do. I went to every state. A lot of states, i got to meet the governors of the state. To first off state say thank you to the great hospitality of the people in your state. Agriculture across this country is unbelievable, and has educated me to a level to where i want to be a good president for all of them. That was my intent. I heard people talk about sustainability, and when you talk about sustainability, normally you think about environmentalist sustainability. On a farm, it means so much more. Truly, agriculture, the men and women of agriculture own that word \ agriculture started. In the garden of eden, and we would sustain ourselves all these years. We will continue to do that , but it gets more and more difficult every year. I thought it would be three years of sustainability. One is economic sustainability, generational sustainability, environmental sustainability. When you Start Talking about economic get to think about youve got to think about what everyone is going through now. Weve seen farming come down 50 over the last five years. Its very a very difficult time out there, so we have to think what can we do to relieve that problem . We need a farm bill thats going to go into effect this yearm, and we appreciate the governors , and congress in pushing that putting that farm bill together. Farmers to mind having buyin and Crop Insurance, participating programs for conservation and other areas, as long as theyve got a partner with an American People and american government. Well mind doing that. We need we dont mind doing that, and we need a good farm bill. Cantow crops, they borrow their operating loans without proving to have Crop Insurance. Its important we do that. Then move on to trade. 95 of people in this world live outside of reporters. We have saturated the market here in america. The only way to get our prices level for them to a us to return the cost of production to make a profit is to be able to sell these products overseas. Trade is important to agriculture. I know that during the discussions of nafta that we are throughght now going right now, our words are to do no harm. Agriculture has flourished within this trade agreement we call nafta. We called on the United States theident, called on you governor, and let your voice be , how important i for culture is in your state. You made a huge difference the white house, keeping the president aware huge difference, calling the white house, keeping the president aware. Important. Ure is so roads, bridges, dams , so important. Really and truly, and i heard the secretary said this and i agree. What sets us apart from the rest of the world is our infrastructure. We can produce it, delivering on time, do it consistently deliver it on time, do it consistently. What makes it possible his the wonderful and the structure we have across this country. Yes, it is crumbling, but we have a president that wants to rebuild. We are proud to hear that. I want to touch on one thing. Both these gentlemen touched on. The infrastructure around research and velma dollars in our land grants. If you look at whats going on and whats happened during the last and development in our land grants. If you look at whats going on and whats happened during the last 15 years, its sad. Its all trust research. But make money off of it. They are giving us an honest opinion on how research hits our the, then the hit to extension service. Building that instruction back, its so important. Infrastructure back, its so important. Researched of element dollars, in china, its 31 to america. We used to be on the cutting edge. Generational sustainability. How are we going to bring young people back to the farm . If you look around your states and see farmers, the average age is 58. Thats younger than me, and they are all getting ready to hang their hats up and retire. Sustainability on a farms profitability. Young farmers will come back to the farm and grow in droves about five years ago, when prices were good. Now, you cant even get them to consider it. The reason they want as they got to make a living. Theres not a living to be made in farm country today. Weve got to make sure that we make get a profitable, find broughtcies and these things and we brought these up so they can be profitable. They want to be comfortable out in Rural America. We are so proud to have the president at our National Convention in nashville to sign executive orders to, to spread s across Rural Americas. Our farmers are depending on that broadband, heart ipads,ogy, tractors, managing our land, doing a good job for the American People. We are dependent on doing that. Environmental sustainability is also important, and the conservation piece of the farm bill is so important. If you look at the protocol to equip environmental protection, incentive programs, i just know it as equipped because i participated in it over the years. Itsroblem with eqip is not enough money. Farmers are lining up to participate in eqip to take a National Resources on the farms and be a part of what the federal government and the public of america, to make sure resources stay healthy. Theres not a lot of money there. Its been successful. If it wasnt, they wouldnt be lined up to do it. Uhh, uhh, umm, enviornmental,s biotechnology. Is biotechnology. People want to give biotechnology a bad name, but let me tell you something. We look at how we form today with the technologies we have, including biotechnology, compared to what went on in the re light years ahead when it comes to conserving soil and waters, light years. We could not have done it without biotech. Biotech lets us use less water. It lets us spray less pesticides. Land andus save the keep it there. We offer to use cover crops. Allows uss to do that. Biotech done more for sustainability and environment than anything else. I want to conclude by saying this, to bring it back to trade. Want to thank you all again for what youve done to help keep this on the mind of the president. We want to make sure that we do not harm, because we want from a 2 8 billion worth of trade 23 years later, now 40 billion worth of trade because of nafta. Its been a good bill for agriculture, and we want to continue to do that, but we have to tear down the barriers around the world where we can touch the other 95 of the population in this world. Ts what will make agriculture sustainable, when we make it profitable again. I want to thank you for the opportunity here, to have my board is going to be delighted that the governors across this country, has put agriculture on the front burner and, want to hear from us. Thanks, i look forward to the conversation. Thank you very much. Right, i will start with you. Coming off of zippys great comments, i think about sustainability. Last fall for example, i went on a trade mission to taiwan. When you start the conversation with, our you guys in favor of trade . Its a difficult question. For me, so important. He zippy said, youve got to get that next generation interested in ag. You have to have not only sustainability, but reasonable expectation a reasonable expectation of sustainability. Its hard to buy that farm or ranch and be in and out in five years. It takes many years to pay those off. I also think, when i think about act, it really puts our country in a difficult place if we as a country get to a point where we cannot feed ourselves. Pray come i guess the question , in the longterm or shortterm, how do you see ag expand trade expanding, and what do we need to be doing s states to make that happen . Ray let me start with the second part of the question. States are inevitably wonderful partners with regard to trade, department of commerce and agriculture. These are private parties. In the markets, a lot of those buyers are tied up with the government. When our growers take trips , with commerce secretary or secretary of ag, thats a helpful thing. I would say continue doing those things and investments. Secondly, in terms of the Bigger Picture of what we want to do, we want to follow the money. Is to be sustainable. You want folks to come back to the farm. You get to rank sustainability in rate of return. We know where those margins are today. This would regard to our largest commodities. Thats and what can we sell overseas . We have more than enough to saturate our own market. When we look around the world, in my view trend wise, theres two things to watch. One of those is, where can we sell feed for states growing more for a growing middle class thats eating more eggs than meat . Secondly, where can we sell approaching ourselves . Where we want to focus on that is southeastern asia, markets , just given the Economic Situation of those countries where you literally have a growing middle class. Thank you. You arestion for you, talking about the importance of nafta and out of that board. We for dating totally, and i believe it is true, even the discussion of nafta can affect commodity prices. I think thats important to how you discuss it. Howink it reflects home important that is to ag producers. Hear from your members on getting to the end game, the ministration is working on and you all care about. Ray its so important. Our people are wired up. It they are nervous, but we still seem to have faith in this administration. Favorite thing to do is being in the president the room with the president talking about nafta. When you Start Talking about nafta, and it makes the other countries nervous, weve seen mexico, have corn, rice other places. Canada get canada to talk to our administration. Tariffs on what we have going into canada. Fair trade is what we want to work for. That wee areas in nafta would support, but all in all as is a wonderful trade for us and we dont want to do any harm. Hes going to do better for us. Every time we have discussions with either those countries are other countries, we talk about ,ny particular barrier going up i will immediately get phone calls from a counterpart across the country saying, you know where they are going to get to you. They will hit agriculture first. Perfect example, 80s, terrible time for agriculture. 23 times a week, you hear about a farmer committing suicide across the country. Took aned that was we embargo off for russia. We are very sensitive to trade. Were always the one that gets in first. Thank you gov. Mead let me turn it over to governor bullet. Gov. Bullock i think all three of you for being here. He listed your for worries. Was the effect of longterm views regarding how we support our farmers or our producers. Hoping each of you would plow that a little deeper, what youre doing right, what do we need to be doing as we go forward. Let me start with, im going to give the second them a second, but i think education continues to be key about putting things together. One of those is having a healthy conversation about how important, and we all agree how important it is to agriculture, but if we look at some and ifs not that, its an and a look at trading partners around the world in places where we may not be selling what we believe we could sell more efficiently, part of that is because they have subsidy systems where they have artificial in very. To their product. When we evaluate our own farmers, which no doubt are expensive, theres a conversation about money with regard to funding the farm bill. Around the world, europe for instance, subsidizing their Wine Industry alone more than we subsidize all of agriculture. Fighting in a hand tied behind our back. If we are also supporting our farmers without Crop Insurance and even some of our trade promotion stuff. Gov. Bullock i would just add i would add is Budget Constraints continue to get , thisr and more difficult has changed a lot over the years as well, and has gotten more difficult. Ive seen things that folks start to point out is that we have to work harder to justify this. The conservation for example, which and certainly most aboutar with, we talk this in terms of how many dollars went out the door, how many acres, this bat and the other. Consumers and the public wants to understand, what the actual tangible benefit of the programs . Nutrientlk in terms of loss thats been prevented, soil erosion, wildlife benefits that in builtup . We have to start, when it comes to the farm bill because theres so much misunderstanding, we have to begin talking about the benefits in terms that the public will grasp and understand. Otherwise, it will be harder and harder to defend these. I will hit from a different point of view. If you talk about bringing young people back to the farm, thats one of my worries, ray, is how we keep young people involved. I see more and more states moving away from funding, ag education. More and more states moving away from helping push our programs. If we dont give children a of this great industry, and a knowledge of where their where their food comes from outside of walmart, wherever you guys shop, they will never come back. Thats the first place we touch them is in high school through those programs. Even if they dont end up in a culture, look what great leaders they developed. Think trade, which is so important, everybody around the world wants to know whether food comes from. Everybody. A lot of you when you go here for your state, i know a lot of you take state Farm Bureau President for someone in agriculture with you, i salute you. If youre not, you need to. They want those people around the world and in america, they want to know where the farm thats growing their food. It adds so much to the discussion if they can have a conversation with the person that has a knowledge of how their growing their food. Let me put it up to the effort other governors. You know, i, when i came in office, oil dropped to 26 a barrel. Ae of the things that was disturbance was agriculture. When we became a state, we is to raise 50 of what we consumed. Now, we raise 5 . To theture is rising surface in a significant way. One of the things were concerned about is good security in alaska. Suddenly, we have empty shelves. On alaskansing grown, trying to emphasize that, we have a farm to school program. Etter schools, local produce we try to increase cap. We have a competition we started with safeway and fred myers, other retailers. We just have a celebration of the governors house, a big dinner for a retailer who sold the most. For trying to work that 5 up, 2 billion industry in alaska. My question to you, and ray, i admire that he only has one thing to worry about. Ray good. [laughter] i like to feel better. Gov. Walker you want to feel good. Theres more to worry about. Is, do we grown 100 of our food or import food . Ray great question. I will answer it, but trying to exactuhh, exposing statistics, but break it up by some sectors of our plate, if you will. Obviously in some places, the numbers are beneficial. In some places, they ought to make us nervous. We are bringing in a substantial amount of what we consume here in the United States. If you look at for vegetable sector, we are probably bringing in somewhere around 1 2 and 41 1 2 and 1 2. Thats bringing a boom, they can bring a product tier round which increases the demand for the products, therefore increasing the domestic demand for that product. Then youve got inflations like our traditional protein, chicken, beef. Were obviously doing that more efficiently, folks around the world. By the time you have infrastructure, very little of that is coming in from elsewhere. Thats my level set on what we are doing their. Thats how each of those sectors requires a different answer for how we strengthen this, lessen our dependence on foreign growth. Gov. Bullock governor hutchinson. Thank you. Hutchinson thank you for your information this morning. [inaudible] one of the editorial writers i thought it was important. [laughter] it shows how important education is, and there is an opportunity to let us know tapping on the firm. I love how young people are engaged [inaudible] trade. Wanted to discuss one thing thats important [inaudible] i want to think the administration for their leadership. The secretary, i want to commend him for his work. [microphone level turns up] maybe now i will be heard. [laughter] rates, they still have to deal with sanitary agreements, or inspections. Can you comment on the status of that, knowing how just a small part of the china market, but it would mean i know theyve opened up their beef, which is a great victory for us. Can you comment on where we are in terms of where we are finishing the deal, and expecting to go to china . Let me answer start the answer by saying we have a room full of governors and media, a guy from the white house. Im probably the only one that doesnt want to make new years with my answer here. News with my answer here. [laughter] what youre talking about in the context of everyone is in the room is a contact a package of things. There was this dialogue going back and forth with china, which is not unique. A number of administrations began with an earnest conversation with china about how do we open certain doors to selling our products with in country. Those conversations have consistently gone splendidly at the beginning, then over time, you realize the list of things that you have, you are not able to check all of those boxes. I would say sincerely and transparently, guarantees we have from the chinese are that they will come into their inspection, to pass their sanitary tests, they dont have nervousness about that. We will be transparent about that. What you are seeing with regard to the delay is precisely, i believe, the thing that frustrates the president about trade. A want to set say, said set of rules, a level playing field, then lets compete in be transparent about the reasons we are or are not allowing a product to come in our country. Nonterrorists barriers to trade is this idea come inspected to how you are praising things, process, or we will manufacture a process for us different than all the rest of the industrialized world that applies to this particular product or line of trade. We will work those things out. We want to do that. I certainly am not in the process of any major announcement. Im certainly optimistic and hopeful, but at the same time, you guys are only in town till tuesday and i doubt we will announce it before then. Call me and make sure you are there if you do. Governor cooper, thank you. Now its giving right. We were trying to keep his microphone down, not yours, governor hutchinson. [laughter] gov. Hutchinson spoken like a true North CarolinaGovernor Cooper spoken like in our trash true north carolinians. Spoken like a true north carolinian. It will think turn things around when they get access to highspeed internet. Have you had discussions regarding the structure bill, whether there is potential for proposals to be made, regarding broadband and we have a lot of competition for the infrastructure money. Theres a long way for it to go. This, andou see either that infrastructure bill or in other areas . Great question. I would point to three things. The first is as your question posits. The president has proposed, for the dollar amount, 200 billion200 50 billion that we hope to leverage up to over 1 trillion, 25 of funds president has our dedicated solely to roll america solely torural solely to Rural America. Theres very few strings attached, handed out to governors of each state. Wanted toe reason we do it that ways which really believe in this idea of laboratories of democracy. We believe you all at the state level are held accountable and have a better idea of what sort of investments need to be made at your state. Some states have made tremendous progress through the years on expanding broadband. If we were to hand you thats, maybe thats not where you would choose to spend it in your state. First and foremost in the infrastructure package that the president s proposed, 25 set aside for parole, and that money is handed to the governors in each of the states. Obviously, we would be thrilled if a lot of that went to broadband. Secondly, you saw the executive. Ction we want to talk about how we will leverage federal assets, particularly in your western states where the federal government is a large percentage of landowners. We have powers, infrastructure, property that can elaborate by thatr the government can be leveraged by either the government or other properties . Thirdly, how will we invest with what we were arty spending, and leverage it that are already spending and leverage a better . Budgetsve money in some for broadband and health care. Has recognized, previous administrations have recognized that hospitals and medical care for ally on this technology. There are grants programs for accident extending Health Programs into Rural America on broadband. We want to look at how money is being spent, and make sure its not siloed. Twocan we put those funds together, and do things at that time . It sounds cliche, but genuinely that effort is going on. Theyre trying to believe, and we are trying on the programming side to make that progress process as efficient and safe economically and is economically ecologically successful, but installing broadband, particularly in Rural America. One thing we are looking at is part of a bond that you have to post firtash pursuant to federal law with regarding to putting in fiber is a bond that was designed to cover the risk of a pipeline leaking. Cable leaks, it doesnt go very far. Represents a different situation. Maybe we still need something for environmental compliance. For it need to be different fiber, other kinds of infrastructure, energy or utilities that we might have out there. All of those things are above, all of the above approach. I cant overemphasize that you all from our perspective are the people that should have the pen, the Steering Wheel of how we are going to deploy these dollars. Its different parts of rural across the met america, different solutions. We think you are the best ones to be able to figure that out. You can say amen. Were out of time. Want to thank the panel for getting the opportunity those of us sitting here, many who come a governors cannot be care right now, we want to keep ag, discussions here at mga. We recognize what it means to our economy. You all have been great at providing information to us. We hope we will continue to have this discussion of nga. Us moreyou will provide with education. We applaud you for your service. Thank you. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [indecipherable chatter] health and human secondbest Services Secretary alex is are addressed at the National Governors association about treatment. The governors spoke about what they are doing to address the issue. This is just over one hour