an estimated $1 at any time 2 billion that s missing from the fund. this hearing is a little more than an hour. [inaudible conversations] this hearing of the committee on agriculture to examine the mf global bankruptcy will come to order. i thank you for joining us today for this important hearing, and i d like to thank the ranking member and staff in help of pulling this hearing together and i thank our witnesses for being here. each member of the committee understands the importance of the futures market for farmers and ranchers across the country. for decades, futures markets have been a trusted tool for businesses seeking risk or to manage the risk. the bedrock of the trust in these marketses is based on the fundamental protections demanded by mandatory segregation of customer funds. this is supported an an explosive growth in recent years providing farmers, ranchers, businesses throughout the economy with risk management tools. these tools allow businesses to reduce th