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

Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults. After growing up on a dairy farm, everything in life seemed easy

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.

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

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

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.

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