Mike Johanns
Mike Johanns
Michael Owen "Mike" Johannsis a former United States Senator from Nebraska, serving from 2009 to 2015. He served as the Governor of Nebraska from 1999 until 2005, and he was chair of the Midwestern Governors Association in 2002. In 2005, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the Secretary of Agriculture, where he served from 2005 from 2007, becoming the fourth Nebraskan to hold that position...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth18 June 1950
CountryUnited States of America
I will always advocate we should support agriculture,
Given the severity of the hurricane, the agricultural losses could have been much greater,
There are so many commodities in the affected areas, like rice, cotton, sugar cane, cattle and chickens, ... Many grains that are stored can't handle the heat and humidity.
For the past two years, Allan has demonstrated outstanding leadership at USDA Rural Development, ... The people we serve in rural America and USDA will all benefit from his experience and knowledge in this new position.
I describe the current farm bill as perhaps the most high-risk approach we could take for our nation's farmers and ranchers in the future, ... Some have expressed concern about giving up what is considered to be the current safety net. I ask you to contemplate the purpose of a safety net, and whether current farm programs truly fulfill that purpose for American agriculture.
The farmer in Central City, Nebraska, is feeling the impact of this. The farmer in Hope County, Iowa, is feeling this,
I never would have believed as a candidate for the U.S. Senate that the U.S. government could buy GM without a hearing, with no vote, yes or no. There are billions and billions of dollars at stake here.
The CRP is a priority for President Bush,
Agriculture is very sensitive to (energy) issues, ... It's fertilizer-based and the irrigation equipment ... the tractors, the combines and all of that ... run on diesel. So it's a very difficult situation out there.
I indicated to minister Nakagawa that we received their questions and we are in the process of completing the responses. I also indicated that we anticipate submitting those responses to Japan next week.
We had Taiwan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Oman open their markets to our beef, and we're excited about that.
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.
On the professional side, those 18 years on the farm instilled my love for agriculture.