We need to always be vigilant on the sanitary issues.

Fortunately, when it comes to meat and poultry, I have the really wonderful situation of having producers and processors that produce and process a very high-quality product.

In 75 foreign countries, we have a presence in the USDA.

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

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.

The big producer is going to figure out how to deal with whatever the rules are, but the little guy who is running a few hundred units or maybe feeding 1,500 cattle a year, how will they ever comply with these requirements?

There is a tremendous amount of support for the approach we have taken, which again is to base our decisions on risk analysis and thoughtful scientific process.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

My goal with the Canadian border is the same goal I have for Japan and Korea.

One of the things that I always say about bioterrorism, whether it's ourselves at the federal level, folks at the state level, or folks in the private industry, we've done many great things, especially since 9/11.

Our job is to ensure that meat and poultry products are safe, wholesome, accurately labeled for the benefit of the American consumers, and to make sure that they are in compliance with all federal laws.

The meat and poultry industries are outstanding industries, and it's going to be a very natural fit for me.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Food safety involves everybody in the food chain.

I meet with people in the industry on an ongoing 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.

The industry is becoming very ready for animal identification.

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.

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.

We need to always be vigilant on the sanitary issues.

My favourite smell is horses. In fact, most of the time, I do smell like horses.

I would be daft to say I wouldn't like to try Hollywood. But my main dream is to keep working. Keep loving what I am doing.

In the end, we are part of this region, and we are affected by its developments. What we may do or not do in the future depends on the nature of what happens here in the region.

Our best thoughts come from others.

All politics to me - Indian or white - is an illusion preventing us from being authentic because we're communicating through something that isn't real to us.

I just finished my 11th book last week, so I'm ready to start the next one.

I want to see peace in the country.

We must all assume out responsibilities to take the country forward.

Who isn't fascinated by evil?

Hollywood's all about, 'Let's make this easy: This is what you do, so you go over here in this group, and we're not gonna call you.'

At times, I will get in the studio and force myself to just write an entire front-to-back record, and 'Let Me Go' is one of these.

When they boo you, you know they mean you.

People who do crime do it for reward. But you end up in jail - that's no reward. Through crime, your ambitions are low.

You don't make spending decisions, investment decisions, hiring decisions, or whether-you're-going-to-look-for-a-job decisions when you don't know what's going to happen.

Laughter is brightest in the place where the food is.

To be alive as a human being is to know, in the same way as it is to have a heart that beats.

The more democratic and open a society is, the more it's exposed to terrorism. The more a country is free, not governed by a police regime, the more it risks hijackings or massacres like the ones that took place for many years in Italy and Germany and other parts of Europe.