07/07/08 President on Food & Agriculture

President on Food & Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Last week President Bush delivered a message regarding his visit to the G8 summit where he plans to discuss a number of topics including agriculture, food and the energy crisis. This will be his last visit to the G8. From the White House lawn Bush said food security will be getting a boost. BUSH: On the food issue, I've announced that the United States would make available nearly $1 billion in new resources to bolster global food security. Once again I'll be going to the G8 and talking about the great compassion and concern of the American people in addressing problems. He was adamant that teaching other countries to grow their own food is a priority. BUSH: We need to help severely affected nations grow more of their own food. It's one thing to provide food; it seems like -- it makes sense to me to say, we're going to help you become more agriculturally self-sustaining. This has been a issue in the United States Congress, by the way. Unfortunately, we tried to get this in the farm bill. Our members of Congress decided against this plan, this way forward. But it makes sense for the United States if we're going to be providing food aid to encourage people to grow their own food so we don't have to deal with this problem on a regular basis. Bush also plans on discussing bio-technology and trade issues. BUSH: I'm also going to make sure that the world understands the importance of advanced agricultural technologies, including biotechnology, to help nations grow food so they don't have to come to the world for help. We'll also be talking about export restrictions and tariffs and subsidies. We will work to tear down barriers to trade and investment around the world. It's an opportunity for those of us in the G8 and the other nations coming to talk about a successful round of Doha. The United States is firmly committed to Doha. We're working hard to get this done by the end of the year, and it will be a good opportunity in Japan to discuss what we need to do together to open up market access and to reduce agricultural subsidies. Energy is also going to be major subject at the G8 and the President says there are plans in place. BUSH: The 2009 budget requests more than $4 billion to support technologies that have the potential to avoid, reduce and sequester greenhouse gases. In other words, we've got a strong agenda when it comes to providing money to encourage the advent of new technologies. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.