U.S. AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VISITS FARMS, HOSTS FORUM

Lex., Ky--U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman came to Central Kentucky
yesterday to take the pulse of American agriculture, and farmers let him
know that Kentucky lives and dies by tobacco price supports.

"We are not here to save tobacco," said Owensboro tobacco grower Rod
Kuegel. "We are here to save the family farm. But you can't do one without
the other in Kentucky."

Kuegel's comments set the tone for yesterday's farm forum, the first of
seven such meetings Glickman is holding across the country to see firsthand
how new federal farm policies are working.

Sitting in a warehouse filled with the pungent aroma of cut tobacco,
officials could not have gotten away from tobacco if they had tried.

The farm forum, which attracted several hundred growers from across
Kentucky, included questions that ran the gamut from ostrich farming to
hemp growing. Glickman said he was trying to end the Agriculture
Department's traditional bias toward large operations by emphasizing
research into ways that small and medium-size farms can be competitive.

One farmer (Andrew Graves, Pres. Ky Hemp Growers Coop)) asked why the
government was not moving to help the U.S hemp industry. Hemp is legal in
Germany and Canada, which is providing millions in assistance to get the
hemp industry up and running.

"That issue is to some extent above my pay grade," Glickman said, prompting
laughter.

He acknowledged that farmers in other states also had inquired about the
possibility of growing hemp, a cousin of marijuana that lacks THC, the
substance that causes smokers to get high.

He said the future of hemp is tied up in anti-marijuana issues, so the
Agriculture Department has made no decision on whether hemp promotion would
be a good idea.

"All I can tell you is: Keep the information flow coming," he said.

Earlier in the day, Glickman visited the Woodford County tobacco farm of
Robert Richardson. He told local growers they need to make their voices
heard. All of agriculture faces a tough political situation, he said,
because farmers make up only 2 percent of the population.

John Richardson, who raises cattle and with his brother grows 120 acres of
tobacco, was unimpressed.

"It was about the same thing they say all the time," Richardson said. "They
talk more about grain farmers than tobacco farmers. It gets them off the
subject of tobacco."