Mike Johanns

“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.”

“Producers are so much better-educated in issues related to terrorism.”

“People enjoy our meat and our poultry, as I do as a consumer.”

“This president has said this has to be a priority for our nation, protecting our food supply from terrorist acts, so he continues to provide the funding that is necessary.”

“I ended up being the governor of a very ag state, Nebraska.”

“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.”

“We had Taiwan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Oman open their markets to our beef, and we're excited about that.”

“Today, we can tell people we have a testing process and facilities in place on a nationwide basis.”

“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.”

“There is a certain amount of momentum that is achieved when one country after another reopens their borders.”

“The goal is to normalize trade relations based on sound science and consumer protection.”

“On the professional side, those 18 years on the farm instilled my love for agriculture.”

“I meet with people in the industry on an ongoing basis.”

“We need to always be vigilant on the sanitary issues.”

“The industry is becoming very ready for animal identification.”

“In beef trade issues, we base our decisions upon science.”

“In this day and age when we do so much business in foreign trade, we need the ability to identify trace an animal very quickly, identifying where it came from - where it has been, and where it is at today.”

“When one cow was found with BSE in 2003, many of our trading partners closed their borders to our beef.”

“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.”

“Food safety involves everybody in the food chain.”