SECRETARY MIKE JOHANNS: Thank you very much. Thanks for that very nice introduction. I tell you what - when they start quoting from the State of the State addresses I used to give, they are digging deep. That's impressive.

It is good to be here. Again I thank you for that very nice introduction, the warm welcome. I was kind of glancing around the room when the reference was made to the fact that I grew up on a dairy farm in North Central Iowa. I don't know if there's any Iowans here today, but --

[Applause.]

Yes. University of Iowa? Iowa State?

[Laughter]

There is no rivalry between Cy and Herky, right?

It's good to see my friends from Iowa. I was looking around the room, and not everybody knows where Osage, Iowa, is at. It's not like it's at the center of the state there. But I thought maybe I would explain that before we started. I don't want you focused on where I grew up while I'm trying to talk to you.

So I'll explain where Osage is at. Osage is actually just south of Stacyville and St. Ansgar and straight east of Manly, so.

[Laughter.]

Now you know where Osage is at.

Let me just say I have some comments I would like to make today, and then I think there's even a few minutes set aside for a couple questions before I head out the door.

Let me start out and say it's a pleasure to be here today. USDA is very happy and privileged to be a cosponsor of this forum. We think this forum is very important. I do want to thank the other cosponsors as well as our folks, the National Academy of Sciences. We appreciate your support also.

I also want to recognize my USDA colleagues, and I think there's many of them here today, but there's a couple that I would like to single out, if I might just start out and say, I appreciate their work in advancing education in food and agriculture. I'm referring to Under Secretary Gale Buchanan who I spoke to outside the door, and Administrator Hefferan and Jeff Gilmore of CSREES.

A couple of days ago it was announced that the National Academy of Sciences member John C. Mather would share a 2006 Nobel Prize in physics. And that NAS members Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello would be awarded the 2006 Nobel Prizes in physiology and in medicine. Well, of course, I offer my congratulations to them and to their pursuit of knowledge for the betterment of our world. Their collective work has provided us with answers to some of the big questions of our 21st century.

Back in 1953 another pair of members unleashed secrets that have had really an immeasurable impact on agriculture. I'm referring to Crick and Watson's discovery of DNA, the structure of DNA. Their work informs the sciences, science as far as the eye can see, from tracking BSE to genomics to nutraceuticals, to biosecurity. There is hardly anything that we touch that wasn't impacted by their great work.

For those of us in agriculture, it means that biological science is the new physics, the cutting edge of 21st century discovery, and absolutely fundamental if students are to meet agriculture's demands in the future.

As the new agriculture increasingly becomes an area of basic sciences related to wellness and sustainability, we must ask ourselves what more can we do to help young people prepare for and embrace this very exciting future?

We must find new ways to inspire students to seek agriculture as a lifelong profession and help them recognize that this industry is filled with opportunity and reward and fulfillment. And that's really why we gathered here today. It has been quite some time since a group as prestigious as this gathered specifically to focus on this subject. In fact it's been about 15 years, over a decade.

National conferences on agriculture, higher education and science literacy were held in 1988 and 1991. But make no mistake about it, I'm not suggesting that we neglected the subject over the last decade and a half, but quite the opposite is true. USDA now invests more than $100 million annually in higher education programs through 20 national initiatives. USDA works with the nation's colleges and universities to transform programs of study to challenge students who have broadening professional interests and backgrounds.

Agricultural and natural resources colleges have grown and they've adapted and they've changed. They've expanded disciplines to include areas like rangeland, human development, and communications. They have changed their structures and recognize that traditional majors are projected to decline. Yes, we've done well, but we have so much more that we need to do.

I believe that we have a responsibility to be visionary, to be leaders, and ask ourselves how we build on current efforts to attract bright young minds to agricultural studies.

I happen to believe that if we set our minds to it that, of course, we're going to succeed. After all, USDA and the Academy both exist today because a great leader had vision about America's strengths. That man, of course, is President Abraham Lincoln who created the USDA in 1862 and the Academy in 1863.

During that same period, the Land Grant System was also established for a--and I'm quoting-- "practical education in agriculture and the mechanical arts for the common man," unquote.

Way back then President Lincoln recognized the importance of agriculture, the importance of education, and then the importance of combining the two. His words ring as true today as they did in the 19th century. He said--and again I'm quoting--"Upon the subject of education I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in," unquote.

We are fortunate to have a well-trained force of scientists and technicians and other professionals who represent the strength behind a food and fiber enterprise that provides us with a safe and abundant and affordable food supply. And now we include into that equation energy because after all 20 percent of our corn crop this year will be processed into ethanol and 8 percent of our soybean will be processed into biodiesel.

This workforce is the product of a higher education system that quite honestly is the envy of the world. Ladies and gentlemen, it's interesting to me as I travel the world and I sit down and talk with leaders in other countries and I ask them where were you educated, and invariably they mention a university or college system right here in the United States.

But this workforce across the world is nearing retirement. That large baby boom generation of the late '40s and '50s, my generation, will soon leave their offices for the last time. Vast numbers of experienced scientists, technicians and other professionals will need to be replaced over the next two decades.

Now consider this. Many of the young people who will replace these retirees are already here in our educational system, and many are not studying science and they are certainly not studying the agricultural sciences.

So how do we inspire young people to fully embrace agriculture-related careers in fields of study? It's a great challenge for us. Perhaps the first step is to ensure our young people are aware of agriculture and then make sure they know it represents enormous opportunities, cutting edge research, and technological advances.

In a nation where farm workers make up only 1.4 percent of the workforce, fewer and fewer young people have a sense of where food comes from, and most kids have no idea how sophisticated this industry has become and how much lies before us in the future.

We need to strengthen agricultural literacy programs aimed at our growing urban population. As a nation we need to kick it up a notch as they say. It's one thing for me to recall my days as a boy on that family farm, that dairy farm near Osage when four or five families farmed one section of land. And it wasn't too far before that where farmers were still walking behind horses hooked to a plow, all in one generation.

But it's another for the 98 percent of this nation's population, those not involved in production agriculture, to be locked into this image. The fact is, a full 17 percent of the nation's workforce is either directly or indirectly related to the food and agricultural sector and to renewable natural resources.

Our challenge is to make students aware of the current opportunities that exist. We need greater focus on hands-on, real-world experiences to give our students an opportunity to see for themselves the tremendous opportunities that await them in agriculture.

They need to meet the scientists who are winning Nobel prizes for their innovations and see how their work has transformed the world and transformed agriculture. They need to make the connection between the food pyramid and the science that supports that. They need to make that connection when they look at a cereal box or the McDonald's salad.

They need to think about the agricultural nutritionists who put that all together.

Let's go one step further to consider the significant role that agriculture plays in several of the most important and highest-profile issues facing our country. On the subject of international trade, for example, USDA is very intimately involved in the Doha Development Round of World Trade Negotiations, a round that has the potential to lift millions out of poverty.

In fact we helped set the stage for the U.S. to make a tremendously remarkable bold proposal about one year ago. It's disheartening that other countries have not yet matched our ambition, but the dialogue continues and we're right at the center of that dialogue. That dialogue goes on every day at the staff level around the world. I am personally involved with it.

USDA agricultural experts stationed in 70 countries around the world are impacted by this.

Now how many young people do you suppose realize that through hard work and some international studies a career in agriculture will literally take them around the world?

Let's examine another major issue of our time: U.S. dependence on foreign fuels. I truly believe that a significant part of the solution is going to be found right here in rural America where we're growing barrels of fuel by the bushel. Ethanol has broken through commercialization barriers, and it won't be long before new forms of home-grown renewable energy become mainstream.

I wonder how many young people today have considered that a career in agriculture could lead them straight into the energy laboratory where they might invent a new way of producing renewable fuels.

Imagine contributing to the security of our nation in such a fashion. I can imagine it because I've seen our laboratories where it's being done. But can our young people envision it? Are they learning about the possibilities in our high school classrooms, or are they learning about the agriculture of yesterday, the agriculture I grew up with?

It's a beautiful story. I love to talk about it, but it's so much different today. Teachers, parents, and students need to understand that 21st century agriculture is a global enterprise based in science, which needs constant growth in discovery and in application.

We need to expand to be more innovative, up-to-date, and assertive through agricultural educational programs, right from K through 12. Of course high schools must educate kids about more than just the opportunities in agriculture. Our young people need to learn the basics of science and they need a foundation upon which to build.

The reality is that many U.S. students lack that fundamental knowledge, and our country must do better. That's why the President stressed American competitiveness in his State of the Union and the nation's investment in technology science and research. That's why the federal STEM initiatives are so critical to our progress. This is certainly more than just a K through 12 issue; strengthening education in the biological sciences at all levels is critical to our progress.

Trying to meet the interest in young people is the first step. Then we must turn to our institutions of higher learning and convey to them the enormous responsibility they bear when it comes to preparing students for careers in such a dynamic, changing industry.

Graduates will face new technologies and issues that don't respond to traditional discipline-based approaches. They will face increasing environmental concerns, the influence of globalization and consolidation and integration on the business structure that supports our food system, the spread of pathogens on a global scale, the food supply that is driven by customer sophistication not just here but worldwide.

To prepare students, colleges should strive for continuous innovation in curricula, teaching, and faculty development. We can add value to our academic programs by integrating teaching with research and extension. As Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has said, institutions of higher education should cultivate a "robust culture of accountability and transparency" in exchange for the public trust and resources that are placed in their hands by the American taxpayer.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see I could not be more excited about what's happening in agriculture today. It sure is different than that dairy farm I grew up on, but very exciting. The changing face of agriculture is just awaiting new leaders and new Nobel Prize winners who will ensure that American agriculture continues to be the most innovative and productive in the world.

Who will these new faces be? Will there be enough of them? Will they be ready for the challenges ahead? I think the face I admire a great deal, who grew up just down the road from where I grew up, Norman Borlaug, who literally changed the face of the world and thereby saved millions of lives.

Well, I thank you for focusing today on the agricultural leaders of tomorrow and ensuring that they are well-educated, well-prepared, and well-aware of the enormous opportunities that lie before them. There is no greater work than guiding young people to be the very best that they can be and inspiring them to take on leadership roles in 21st century food and agriculture.

Thank you.

[Applause.]