Speaking at the Sparks Companies' Annual Food and Ag Policy Conference, Senator Roberts said, "American agriculture will play a significant role in feeding liberated Iraq and helping to provide food security in that region. Despite temporary market adjustments that are sometimes associated with the purchase and/or release of commodities to support emergency food aid efforts, I submit that the act of providing food aid over time, produces dividends for American agriculture."

In February, Senator Roberts was successful in convincing the Bush Administration that the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program - which efficiently provides food for children in developing nations - will continue to be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

"Strong trade ties foster closer relations and closer relations improves communication between nations," Senator Roberts said. "Further, providing food aid gives many people a means to spend less time seeking the next meal and increases the possibility that young people can receive an education and improve their lives."

Turning to domestic issues, the Senator addressed concerns with the current farm bill. "I had warned the farm bill would not provide assistance when producers had no crop to harvest, and that is exactly what happened in the Plains states," Senator Roberts said. "Producers that had complete, or nearly complete, losses of their wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybean crops saw drops of up to 60 percent on their government assistance in the first year of this legislation. In fact, we recently had a report from our state FSA office in Kansas that between 20 percent and 25 percent of the loans through that agency are delinquent in Kansas."

"I hope that times will be better this year, but if we suffer another year like last, it is going to start raising serious questions on the long-term viability of this farm bill. I still hope that some will eventually figure out that it is revenue, and not price, that matters on the bottom line," Senator Roberts said.

Senator Roberts predicted additional changes to the crop insurance program would be examined this year. "We will probably have hearings, and that is a good thing," Senator Roberts said. "We need to conduct oversight on the changes we made to the program in 2000.We will listen closely to all recommendations, but I want to point out that for the 2002 crop, the program has provided nearly $4 billion in indemnities to producers. In 1998, nine percent of insured acreage was covered at a level of 70 percent or higher. In 2002, 53 percent of all acreage was covered at 70 percent or higher."

Senator Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, also addressed the potential for agroterrorism. "It would be very easy to do – particularly with livestock diseases such as foot-and-mouth. And, the impacts could be devastating," Senator Roberts said. "We have put a lot of focus on border inspections and protecting our processing facilities. We must extend this focus to the farm level."

Last Congress, Senator Roberts introduced legislation to address this issue by significantly expanding research programs and upgrading our research facilities. Many of these provisions were included in the Bioterrorism Bill signed into law by President Bush last year.