My deep appreciation to Senator Harkin and to the Water Environment Federation for putting on this conference. Quincalee Brown and the Federation have done a tremendous job bringing together speakers who represent where the agricultural, environmental, and municipal communities stand on these tough issues. My thanks to all of the co-sponsors whose support makes this meeting possible, to the program and exhibits committees for their good work, and especially to co-chairs Ted Payseur and USDA�s Pat Millner.

It�s an honor to be here with the individual who�s been sounding the alarm on environmentally responsible livestock production perhaps the loudest and longest. There�s a little of Senator Tom Harkin in the words of playwright George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

I want to thank the Senator for an unreasonable determination to take the world of animal agriculture and adapt it � through technology, through conservation management, through policy � to the needs of farmers, a sustainable environment, and the nation�s future. Progress depends on it.

Since we�re all here in a spirit of collaboration, let me tell you a little about where USDA is coming from on water quality.

We�re coming, first, from the headwaters of the major river systems in the West. Many people don�t realize that our National Forests are the source of water for most of the Western United States. They�re natural guardians of our water � filtering out sediment as snowmelt trickles into lakes and streams. One of USDA�s proudest mandates is managing public forestlands, a role that�s critical to the quality and quantity of the waters flowing from those major systems.

We�re also coming from the 70 percent of America�s lands that�s in private hands � and the 80 percent of that private land that�s in agricultural use. Odds are good that your water � whether you�re from New York City or Cumming, Iowa � has passed through agricultural land.

So USDA comes to this conference with a comprehensive sense of America�s watersheds ... from the most remote with headwaters in forests and mountains ... to the agricultural that takes in cropland and animal operations ... to the urban including cities and industrial complexes.

And we have a sense of the big picture in other ways, as well. Many of the issues we�re raising here go to the heart of the future of animal agriculture in the United States. Livestock and poultry production generates $100 billion each year in farm revenue. The nation�s economic stability depends on its strength, as do rural communities and a sustained, high-quality food supply for the American public. The fact that improperly managed Animal Feeding Operations contribute to pollution � through excess nutrients, odors, greenhouse gases, and pathogens -- must be balanced with the fact that they�re one of many contributors.

The President�s Clean Water Action Plan says polluted runoff is the most important remaining source of water pollution. Animal agriculture has garnered much of the notoriety in this area. It�s a significant land use in many watersheds. Public criticism has been triggered by outbreaks like Pfiesteria in the Chesapeake, excessive runoff from dairy operations, and offensive odors from hog and poultry operations.

But we�re here today because we recognize that this issue is bigger than any one sector. We need science-based solutions that work well for the unique needs of the livestock sector, and recognize the financial constraints that most AFO owners and operators face. We need the biosolids and waste water industries to concentrate efforts on technological solutions that are affordable on the farm, building on their knowledge and the critical mass of technology that�s already accessible to industries and cities.

We know at USDA that agriculture can make a historic contribution to clean water. We�re moving in two major directions to make that happen: first, by achieving a comprehensive, sustainable conservation policy ... and, second, by bringing together conservation and science -- farmers and researchers -- in a practical collaboration rarely undertaken on this scale.

On the policy side, we�re driven in the short-term by the Unified National Strategy on Animal Feeding Operations we issued last spring with EPA. Our goal is to minimize adverse water quality and public health impacts of the nation�s AFOs by the year 2009. This is a direct response to the President�s Clean Water Action Plan. To put it in historical context, it takes our efforts to a level beyond the accomplishments of the past quarter-century under the Clean Water Act. This is something the Vice President challenged us to do. He urged us to demonstrate that a sustainable agriculture can be part of the solution by dramatically reducing harmful runoff.

This is an exciting opportunity for us at USDA. It�s a chance to help our AFO owners and operators meet their economic and environmental needs by starting out on a strong collaborative note among USDA, other federal agencies, local and state government, and the private sector. Collaboration will build the capacity to ensure sustained support to producers and operators in the years ahead. It will let us fully use the conservation tools we laid out in the 1996 Farm Bill.

We expect that 95 percent of the nation�s AFOs will voluntarily develop their own comprehensive nutrient management plans by the year 2009. The key word is voluntarily. That means they�ll need help in the form of education, technical, and financial assistance. It's USDA�s people, our delivery system in the field -- working with local conservation districts, state conservation agencies, and the private sector -- that makes the work happen ... and will guide producers as they get their nutrient management plans in place to tackle one of the biggest conservation issues facing agriculture.

Our voluntary programs have a solid track record. We have more than 100 partners in the National Conservation Buffer Initiative, for example. We offer farmers and ranchers the help they need to plant grass barriers shielding nearby waterways from agricultural lands, preventing up to 80 percent of farm run-off from reaching our rivers and streams. About 620,000 miles of buffers have already been established.

The core of our programs is landowners taking the lead. We�ll look to them to develop and implement site-specific conservation plans that work for them in their communities and in their watersheds...

... through strategic approaches like the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program, a 14-way partnership that includes the dairy industry, USDA, and EPA. Supported in part by USDA�s Environmental Quality Incentives Program, local dairy farmers are learning to assess and monitor their water quality and develop management practices based on their specific resource needs.

Helping producers with nutrient management goes to the heart of our conservation policy. The health of our private land is in the hands of millions of individuals, who know and understand their land and its problems. The sum total of their commitment determines the health of the nation's land. Environmental benefits are quality-of-life commodities, every bit as critical as corn, wheat, and cattle.

That�s why we held five regional forums across the country this fall, only the third time in U.S. conservation history that leaders have called a national discussion of this scale. We�ll be summarizing the discussions and feedback at a National Conservation Summit led by Secretary Glickman December 7, in Ames, Iowa. Tom [Harkin], hope to see you there. We�re looking for the kind of specific information and direction from the states that will guide a national conservation strategy for the 21^st century.

It�s my belief, for example � and Secretary Glickman�s belief � that we can�t regulate our way to sound conservation. We can�t take a one-size-fits all approach to the needs of specific problems on specific farms. But we can make the policy choices � and effect the changes � that will help the nation�s private landowners protect the environment and sustain the nation�s resources.

One change, for example, is the Technical Guidance for developing Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans � CNMPs. The Guidance will be the foundation, the ultimate referral point, for the technical standards that will guide producers as they develop their individual CNMPs.

Everyone will be reading from the same script. Folks associated with fertilizer companies and cooperatives, for example, have a strong history in nutrient management planning but limited experience with animal waste. With the Guidance and standards in place, and the training and certification of public and private conservation planners that will follow, AFO owners and operators will have a pool of resources to call on ... resources that will help them use sound science and proven technology to develop their Plans.

The standards must be backed by the latest science. That�s why USDA directs about $7 million to research in animal waste management each year at 20 USDA laboratories across the country, with our university partners carrying out additional research. But this is a cross-cutting problem that impacts a broad range of agricultural public interests. So much of our other research � in pre-harvest food safety, animal health and nutrition, water and air quality, for example � directly relates to waste management and builds our knowledge.

Precisely because this issue is cross-cutting, we�ve taken a multi-disciplinary approach to all phases of research in manure production. Stakeholders throughout agriculture and industry advised us to focus research on three major problems � nutrient issues, pathogens, and air quality.

As a result of this inclusive process, our Manure and Byproduct Utilization National Program is now on a fast track. Outlines of the in-house research projects to make up the program are coming in. Full project plans are due in December. The program will go before a peer review panel in February.

This is a fine example of the new way our Agricultural Research Service is doing business. We�re tapping stakeholders right from the start. We�re listening, we�re talking with EPA, with technology folks and many others. We�re working toward a balanced approach to research, and putting the results before a group of peers for evaluation.

We're not in the business of telling folks what to do. We are in the business of developing the science that stands behind the department�s and the nation�s highest priorities � food safety, nutrition, the environment, trade. This research not only makes high-tech advances possible, but practical and workable...

... advances like the new variety of low phytase corn that, when fed to pigs and chickens ... plainly put, means almost 50 percent less phosphorus comes out the other end. This is a big, clean water event ... one that�s good for farmers, too, because they get to spend less on dietary supplements because the phosphorus in this corn is more readily absorbed by the animals ...

... or advances like adding value to chicken feathers. Working with industry, our research team is looking to transform a disposal problem into products ranging from filters and insulation to paper and fiberglass substitutes.

Last August, President Clinton joined us at USDA to sign an executive order pushing development of 21^st century bio-based technologies. He talked about making living, renewable resources the raw material of tomorrow�s economy. He said that "microscopic cells are being put to work as tiny factories � they convert crops and even waste into a vast array of fuel and material ... our ability to use waste in these ways will be critical to our future."

Just as critical to investing in basic research is investing in the applications of that research. Without the educational reach of the land-grant universities through Extension, research doesn�t move to the field. It does no good.

That�s why USDA�s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service recently helped spearhead an "Alliance for Environmental Stewardship." The workshop called for a comprehensive approach to watersheds, to nutrient pollution and management, and urged a level playing field for all sectors.

Dr. Frank Humenik at North Carolina State�s Animal and Poultry Waste Center sees cooperative extension as an agent of change in agriculture. He's emphatic that the six major land-grants forming a consortium on animal waste got their start with Senator Tom Harkin signaling this need at Iowa State.

NC State and Iowa State have also joined other U.S. universities, government and industry in a public-private partnership with Taiwan and other countries � Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The Environmental Center for

Livestock Waste Management, based at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology in Taiwan, is a unique effort to create a "clean revolution" for the 21^st century. USDA joins the U.S.-Asia Environmental Partnership, led by the Agency for International Development, as a major participant. U.S. industries are donating equipment. Some of the best minds in U.S. agricultural and civil engineering are donating their expertise.

What we�ve proposed with Taiwan is this. While some U.S. lagoon systems still work in some locations, they�re not an effective answer. Taiwan is one of the top hog producers in the world. But the Asian waste situation is even more acute than ours because lagooning is not an option. Asia has as many hogs, but is land-short. We all need a treatment system that�s cost-effective but carries a "small footprint." We need a better mousetrap than lagooning. So let�s get together. We�ll showcase American technology and leadership on a working farm in Taiwan for all of Asia to observe.

That showcase opens next month. If we realize the Center�s goals, USDA hopes to transfer the resulting technologies and policies back home to U.S. farmers and companies. In the long run, U.S. equipment manufacturers will sell products in Asia and North America. In the big picture, this is more than just a hardware exchange. It�s a knowledge exchange that includes faculty, students, and industry collaborating on research. This could become a global model for tackling a 21^st century challenge that clearly knows no borders.

The bottom line is that USDA is using every tool available to us � from research, to technical and financial assistance and education incentives � to tackle the job of cleaning up our waters. This conference is an extremely important notch in the belt of open-mindedness, networking, and collaboration � key points in reaching and sharing science-based solutions to these tough issues.

Across the Potomac, I have a poster on my wall of a clean, cascading river. The poster is called American Rivers. Running along the bottom is a quote by naturalist Henry David Thoreau: "All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself."