Quotes from Mike Johanns

The president has been a true friend of the ag industry, because he continues to invest large amounts of money at a time when savings is really the goal of the federal government to deal with the deficit.

I ended up being the governor of a very ag state, Nebraska.

The big producer is going to figure out how to deal with whatever the rules are, but the little guy who is running a few hundred units or maybe feeding 1,500 cattle a year, how will they ever comply with these requirements?

There is a certain amount of momentum that is achieved when one country after another reopens their borders.

I meet with people in the industry on an ongoing basis.

We need to always be vigilant on the sanitary issues.

My goal with the Canadian border is the same goal I have for Japan and Korea.

In beef trade issues, we base our decisions upon science.

The goal is to normalize trade relations based on sound science and consumer protection.

Food safety involves everybody in the food chain.

The world is really figuring BSE out, and that's positive.

We asked ourselves and the world to base decisions on good science, and I really believe the United States can be the leader in delivering that message to our international trading partners.

We're going to do everything possible to make sure that food safety is always paramount, and that we work with the industry as aggressively as we can to make sure that we're paying attention to the food-safety issues.

Science is the international language, so when we are able to convince countries that good decision-making for human health and animal health is based upon science, that's a real success story for us.

This president has said this has to be a priority for our nation, protecting our food supply from terrorist acts, so he continues to provide the funding that is necessary.