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 ended up being the governor of a very ag state, Nebraska.
Fortunately, when it comes to meat and poultry, I have the really wonderful situation of having producers and processors that produce and process a very high-quality product.
The goal is to normalize trade relations based on sound science and consumer protection.
There is a tremendous amount of support for the approach we have taken, which again is to base our decisions on risk analysis and thoughtful scientific process.
Today, we can tell people we have a testing process and facilities in place on a nationwide basis.
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.
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.
In beef trade issues, we base our decisions upon science.
My goal with the Canadian border is the same goal I have for Japan and Korea.
When one cow was found with BSE in 2003, many of our trading partners closed their borders to our beef.
We need to always be vigilant on the sanitary issues.
There is a certain amount of momentum that is achieved when one country after another reopens their borders.
The world is really figuring BSE out, and that's positive.
The meat and poultry industries are outstanding industries, and it's going to be a very natural fit for me.