Thank you Mr. Chairman.  I am pleased to be here for the last in our series of hearings on agricultural research.  I look forward to hearing the testimony of the excellent witnesses assembled today.

I am especially pleased that today the Committee will hear about some of the successes in developing new uses for our crop products.  Few topics elicit as much excitment from farmers and ranchers as the development of new markets for their commodities.

Development of new uses can turn wheat straw or corn stalks into building material, or oils and lubricants from oilseeds can both employ more workers in rural America and provide value-added income to farmers and ranchers.  A new value-added cooperative or processing plant can add millions to the economy of a rural town.

Efforts are currently underway to develop these new crops and new uses, but more can and should be done.  The AARC Corporation was created to help commercialize alternative crop products.  AARC currently funds 66 projects in 32 states.  Currently AARC funds are leveraged at a rate of nearly 4:1 and the corporation is on target to privatize in 2002.

What is needed to commercialize more new products is research to support new crop development.  We need plant breeders who focus on developing new crops and crop varieties with unique oil and fiber traits.  We need research into how to grow new crops.  These efforts can lead to new sources of market-based income for producers and revitalization of America’s rural towns.

Finally, Mr. Chairman.  I want to thank you for holding this series of very important hearings.  They have certainly given the Committee much to think about as we approach the reauthorization of agricultural research and education programs.  The research system clearly has served this country and indeed the world well over the years, but, as we have heard from many witnesses there may need to be some changes to ensure that American agriculture has the information and technology to excell in the next century.  I look forward to working with you and the rest of the Committee in a bi-partisan fashion to complete this very important work.