Remarks by Deputy Secretary Richard Rominger 1999 Pacific Rim Sustainable Resources Forum Seattle, Washington -- July 16, 1999 "Betty, thank you very much. Betty Riley is a friend and a real dynamo. She's the highly respected President of the California Association of RC&D Councils because of the kind of leadership, insight and progressive thinking that brings all of us here today. Betty, it's a privilege to be here and to open this conference. "Congratulations to the Pacific Rim Regional Association of RC&D Councils for gaining official recognition by the Board of the National Association of RC&D Councils in the past year. That's been years in the making ... you had to demonstrate the organizational capacity to represent Councils in the Pacific Rim Regional Association, and you've done that. This conference is a tremendous show of that organizational strength. It's also an example of what RC&Ds are all about -- pulling the best of people and resources together based not on geopolitical boundaries, but on what makes solid, practical sense for natural resources and local trade. " I want to thank Coordinator Shelly Glover, all of the sponsors, and everyone involved in the details of this conference. USDA is proud to be a behind-the-scenes supporter. "You've laid out a very ambitious agenda. It's with good reason that the National Association of RC&D Councils has flagged it to members across the nation. "This two-day agenda is like a road map to the future. It offers the big picture and plots the details. It takes the traditional concept of sustainability -- the idea that we can generate wealth from our natural resources, not at their expense, and build viable and sustainable domestic and international markets. But it adds the nuts and bolts, exploring how to develop skills that you can take away and apply. It's a classic example of building civic entrepreneurship, which goes to the heart of the principle of sustainability and government supporting local, active leadership. "In that sense, as in many others, the nation's RC&Ds have been accomplishing for more than three decades what the nation is just catching up to now. Right now, 315 RC&Ds serve more than 2,000 counties in all 50 states, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin... and we have 38 applicants waiting to serve 200 more counties. Under the RC&D umbrella, there are 20,000 volunteers nationwide from locally elected officials, to state representatives, to private industry. " Twenty thousand volunteers how many other programs can inspire that kind of conviction? ... the conviction that individuals, at the local level, working together, are what make the difference in our communities and our environment. "This meeting salutes this unique combination of private enterprise and creative federalism, and urges us to build on it. It's a challenge to step back and do some hard rethinking for the next century in terms of partnerships, interaction, innovation, and inspiration. USDA'S APPROACH TO A SUSTAINABLE AMERICA "We're doing some of that rethinking ourselves at USDA. As this nation reconsiders almost half a century of conservation policy, our approach to sustainable development captures our shared responsibility for the health of our soil and natural resources and its ultimate connection to action at the community and local level. "In the broad national sense, sustainable development is a challenge to urban and rural communities to work together to fight urban sprawl and the loss of farm, ranch and forest land. It's recognizing the vital urban connection in the nation's social, economic, and environmental health. It's cultivating a deep awareness among city folks that agriculture produces other commodities air, water, soils, wildlife habitat, landscapes on which we depend for our well-being and which make agricultural production possible. "In many ways, it's recasting for modern times the words and wisdom of Chief Seattle, " All things are connected like the blood that unites one family." "In the agricultural sense, sustainability recognizes that our farmers can be responsible to their families and livelihoods ... can be productive and profitable ... and still be wise stewards of their lands and environment. "With the historic reform of our conservation policies in the 1996 Farm Bill, we expanded the definition of 'environmental benefits' to include not just comprehensive soil conservation, but protection of wildlife habitat and the health of our rivers and streams. Our voluntary, cooperative programs recognize that no Americans have more at stake in the health of the land than those who get their living directly from it. We established conservation programs that are genuine conservation programs. "Since 1996, we've built on the Conservation Reserve Program by providing strong economic incentives to help farmers do the right thing by their land in high-priority areas. In six states now across the country, local areas are tackling their own specific problems ... reducing the amount of sediment, nutrients and pathogens that make their way into water supplies ... delivering safer drinking water for millions of New Yorkers and protecting habitats for endangered salmon and trout here in the Pacific Northwest. "These efforts illustrate that farming, water quality and environmental protection are fully compatible activities. As part of President Clinton's Clean Water Action Plan one of the first comprehensive efforts to assess our water quality problems we've launched a national strategy on animal feeding operations, hands down the biggest conservation issue facing agriculture. "I want to salute the work of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds to address the Clean Water Act and set up a recovery plan for endangered species. "Through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, USDA, for the first time, is targeting substantial conservation funds to the technical, financial, and education assistance our farmers and ranchers need to prevent pollution and protect their income. Our wetlands merit attention because they yield the full range of environmental benefits. We're ensuring their protection through a combination of federal and state regulatory programs and economic benefits for private landowners. "At USDA, we're gratified by farmers' response to this range of voluntary, incentive-driven programs and we're constantly building on these programs to help farmers and ranchers achieve sustainable practices. CHALLENGING YOU TO CHALLENGE US "But what the Farm Bill gave in the way of tools to build a more sustainable conservation policy, it took away in terms of government involvement in the marketplace. Agriculture's vulnerability to changes in the market to falling prices, bad weather, record worldwide production and a global financial crisis is painfully evident in many parts of the country. As Secretary Glickman said Tuesday, in a major address on biotechnology at the National Press Club, " Like consumers, farmers need to have adequate choices made available to them. But today, American agriculture is at a crossroads. Farmers are currently facing extremely low commodity prices and are rightfully asking what will agriculture look like in the years to come and what will their roles be. "That also means they have more responsibility and more pressure. And much of the pressure they face originates from sources beyond their control. We are seeing social and economic trends that have a powerful effect on how farmers do business. We are seeing increased market concentration, a rise in contracting, rapidly evolving technologies such as information power and precision agriculture in addition to biotechnology. We are seeing different marketing techniques such as organics, direct marketing, coops and niche markets, and an expansion of non-agricultural industrial uses for plants. We're all well aware of ethanol, but scientists are coming up with agricultural products that are used to produce everything from kitchen counters to motor oil to cosmetics." "With government edging out the back door of income support and market stabilization ... with our dependence on global financial markets ... and with heated questions about free and fair trade as we go into the next World Trade Organization round here in Seattle, starting November 30, U.S. farms, forests and fisheries face tremendous pressure and opportunity. There's a real need for farmers and forestry producers to take the lead in the day-to-day business of agriculture. They must become market-savvy entrepreneurs, but they can't go it alone. "USDA has all kinds of resources research, education, information, and technical and financial assistance. Our surveys tell us that the number one commodity you need from us is technical assistance. But to get the biggest bang for the buck, to tackle local issues, we need strong links among federal, state, and local efforts. RC&Ds are the mortar that fills in the gaps in local, state, and federal planning, and bring a strong local perspective to the table. "I'm challenging you today to challenge us -- tell us where we're succeeding, where we're falling short, where the real needs are. We recognize that we must change, just as you are. We have a large, complementary multi- agency force on the front line. Our folks work shoulder-to-shoulder with you, and we need you to push us to a higher level of awareness and participation. "Taking a cue from the Pacific Northwest, are there ways we can do a better job of partnership and offer stronger interaction? Here in the northwest, new combinations of partners keep coming together at the watershed level as part of the solution. Not only do these new partners promote sustainability, but they demonstrate that individuals, on a voluntary basis, can make real contributions to watershed health. "USDA is paying close attention to this kind of local, collective strength. To do the best job for you at the local level, we must be a strong and savvy team. We must adapt to local needs. Are we applying our services effectively and efficiently? To prepare for the demands the next century will put on local sustainable development, we're conducting entrepreneurial training across USDA agency lines through the work of Randy Williams and the Extension Service. "You have very different expectations of the USDA employee than you did 20 or 30 years ago. Then we could afford a more direct one-on-one relationship. We'd kick a few clods of dirt and whip out a brochure. Now we all suffer information glut. As President Clinton has said, "Every single day ... 1.4 billion e-mail messages cross national borders. There are now over 7 billion e-mail messages every day just within the United States." You benefit from and fall victim to -- Internet overload, as we all do. Our collective challenge is to provide the training and assistance that distills information and helps communities understand the long-term effects of their decisions on the environment. "My compliments to the leaders of the Hawaiian Reforestation Environmental Education Program for their model work. Tropical forests and sugar cane fields are being reestablished, and you've done a first-rate job of reaching out to urban centers and schools to promote an appreciation for these sustainable efforts. The National Association of Conservation Districts notes that this is among the premier environmental education programs in the country. INNOVATION TAKES MANY FORMS "We also need your input to adapt our research in the most effective ways. How can we do a better job to bridge the technology transfer gap? How can we better coordinate with individual state economic development offices and agriculture departments? The RC&D Councils offer the opportunity to match state and local needs with technology coming from our federal labs, including the Agricultural Research Service, and the Forest Service, as well as universities. "One excellent example is a technology that's turning a neglected resource western juniper into new products, new markets, jobs, and sales. In just seven years, Larry Swan with the Forest Service, working with RC&D Councils and local businesses, put together a network of public and private partnerships to build a new industry based on this underused natural resource. There was no information on juniper wood, so he developed the expertise for commercial applications from ground zero. Now more than 35 firms are using juniper products, sales are grossing over a quarter-of-a-million dollars a year, and 30 jobs are directly related to juniper harvesting, processing, and marketing. "That's technology transfer that fits the scale of local needs! "Beyond the potential in forgotten resources, we need to keep pushing the possibilities of our resources by adapting them to changing market needs, here and internationally. As President Clinton stresses, " The United States has 4.5 percent of the world's population, 22 percent of its income. We cannot sustain our standard of living unless we sell some things to other people. It won't happen." "In 1998, U.S. agricultural exports totaled $53.6 billion. Wood product exports were almost $6 billion, and fishery exports over $2 billion. Each farming export dollar generated another $1.28 in support activities, injecting $122 billion into the national economy. Last year, ag exports supported jobs for three-quarters of a million Americans ... one-third of them in rural areas. In fact, no other industry contributes a greater share of its export benefits to rural America. And let's not forget the 800,000-plus jobs supported by the wood and fisheries industries these people are the backbone of the Pacific northwest. "The stakes are high. And when we add value to the product, the payoff is even greater -- in U.S. jobs, in profits, in a stronger economy, and in revitalized rural communities. For more than a decade, export sales of high- value products have outpaced domestic sales by a wide margin. "Look, for example, at the U.S. wood processing industry the world's largest and growing fast. Not only are housing starts the lifeblood of the economy here at home -- 1.6 million housing starts in 1998, based primarily on wood products -- but the U.S. is the world's most diverse producer and exporter of sustainable wood products. Exports account for 8 percent of total U.S. wood product sales. Between 1990 and 1998, the export share of value- added wood products shot up from 56 to over 70 percent. That means more U.S. jobs created by the 2-by-4 housing packages and building products supplying Japan's residential housing market ... more U.S. jobs for all the hardwood lumber and veneer going to the furniture markets of Europe and China. "In these ways, the U.S. proves over and over that it is one of the few countries that can "walk the talk" on sustainable resource management, pushing constantly to find win-win solutions for environmental and industrial needs. "These are solutions to President Clinton's challenge to create "a global economy with a human face -- one that rewards work everywhere; one that gives all people a chance to improve their lot and still raise their families in dignity; and support communities that are coming together, not being torn apart." Perhaps the greatest challenge, the President has said, "is the need to find a way to grow the global economy, and to continue to improve the environment ..." "Whether we're talking about reaching out to all partners in a watershed to solve a common problem, coming up with innovative wood products, or tagging salmon so the public is notified that it's been produced in environmentally- safe ways, we're demonstrating what John Muir, the father of U.S. conservation, said over a century ago: "When we try to pick anything out by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." This conference builds on that theme for the next century in ways that are productive, profitable, and sustainable. My thanks for your good work and for inviting me to take part in this important discussion. "Thank you." #