Growing up on a dairy farm, you certainly learn discipline and a commitment to purpose.

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

The world is really figuring BSE out, and that's positive.

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

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

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.

We're going to do everything possible to make sure that food safety is always paramount, and that we work with the industry as aggressively as we can to make sure that we're paying attention to the food-safety issues.