Before his appointment as the 23rd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Clayton Yeutter’s career included production agriculture, private law practice and distinguished public and private-sector service in agricultural policy development, economics, marketing, and trade. He recognized that water legislation, taxes and various other policy issues were of paramount importance to Nebraska’s agricultural community. His advice to farmers, “If you want to make your living by speculating, get out of farming and devote your time and energy to studying the markets. If you want to make your living farming, use the markets to hedge but not to speculate.”
Thank you, President Waldo.
Governor Orr, Mr. Secretary, Congressman Bereuter, Members of the Board of Regents, distinguished guests and friends, it is a great pleasure to be here tonight for the happy occasion sponsored by the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement. What a great evening for Nebraska agriculture. Personally, I am honored to be able to play a small part in this tribute to a great individual.
We have had some outstanding individual among the 89 awardees nominated since 1917, and tonight is no exception. Sometimes the choice was a difficult one among many qualified candidates. But this year the individual selected by the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement is so well known and so highly respected that the choice was obvious.
Dr. Clayton Yeutter is currently serving as our U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. This key and difficult role has been the domain of a number of outstanding individuals. To be the Secretary of Agriculture for the 1990s – a time of global enterprise and rapid technological changes – demand vision, excellent judgment, and leadership. President Bush was fully aware of these requirements when he chose Secretary Yeutter.
Dr. Yeutter was born in Eustis, Nebraska. He was a precocious achiever. His childhood years on the farm were the difficult years of drought, depression, and world war.
Clayton was graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Agriculture "with high distinction" in 1952. He ranked first in the class and was named by the National Block and Bridle Club as the outstanding animal science graduate in the United States. Today, he is one of our most outstanding alumni.
After five years in the U.S. Air Force, Clayton returned to the family farm and ranching operation near Eustis in 1957, and three years later, made a decision that became a turning point in his life; he chose to return to the University. From his experience on the farm he recognized that water legislation, taxes and various other policy issues were of great importance to the agricultural community.
This man is so versatile that while still managing the farm, he completed the requirements for a Juris Doctorate in the Law College in 1963, where he again ranked first in his class, and he followed with a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics in 1966. His dissertation covered water law and water administration in the Central United States.
In 1966 his talent and ability were sought in the political arena, and he became Executive Assistant to Nebraska Governor Norbert Tiemann. In this capacity he participated in drafting legislation to broaden the state's tax base and to provide state aid to education. We are still enjoying those decisions today. He also helped in the effort to establish National Resources Districts reflecting hydrological boundaries. His work there is well remembered for his advocacy of the principle that water does not flow down county lines.
He directed the University of Nebraska Mission in Colombia from 1968 to 1970. This was an agricultural technical assistance program which involved the participating of six Midwestern land-grant universities, with funding from the Agency for International Development, the Kellogg Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. Dr. Yeutter was called back from Colombia in 1970 to assume the post of Administrator of the Consumer and Marketing Service of the USDA.
His abilities were soon recognized in Washington, and what followed was an escalation of responsibilities through several posts. He was Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs, and Deputy Special Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President. This latter post carried the rank of Ambassador, with responsibilities for conducting trade negotiations on behalf of the President and the U.S. Government.
In 1978 he left government service to become President and Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world's second-largest futures market. His advice to farmers – and you farmers still need to heed this advice – was to promote the principle that if you want to make your living by speculating, get out of farming and devote your time and energy to studying the markets, but if you want to make your living farming, use the markets to hedge but don't speculate.
He resigned the Mercantile Exchange presidency in June 1985, to accept appointment as the U.S. Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President. This is a cabinet post reporting directly to the President on all trade matters.
Colleagues and observers know him as a positive and effective negotiator, as evidenced by the free-trade agreement with Canada, trade concessions by Japan, and excellent dialogue with the emerging European Economic Community. He was an advocate of the USDA Export Enhancement Programs, which subsidizes export sales of U.S. farm products with the expectation that countries involved would rethink their subsidy policies and participate in productive trade negotiations.
On assuming his current post as Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. Yeutter spoke to the National Association of Agricultural Journalists and identified some priorities for his department. You agricultural people will appreciate this. Included in the list were securing an International Agreement on Tariffs and Trade leading to comprehensive agricultural trade reform, helping farmers obtain a larger share of their income from the marketplace, revising USDA lending policies, and establishing effective policies for rural development.
What makes this man so successful? His friends and associates cite a number of personal qualities that have contributed to his success. He has been described as a man in perpetual motion, one with an amazing capacity for work, a competitor, is self-confident, has a rapid-fire delivery and a remarkable memory for details, situations, names and faces. He is noted for his enthusiasm, candor, and spontaneous smile as well as his outstanding leadership qualities.
But as an educator, I know one can tell much about an individual from his doctoral dissertation. So, let me tell you about his: to begin with, you cannot miss it because it is the largest dissertation in that part of the library stacks. It weighs about seven pounds. And it is at least three inches thick – dwarfing most of the 400 or so theses around it. It contains almost six hundred pages, including multiple appendices, illustrations, legal documents, and other supporting evidence.
Perhaps most telling about this outstanding Nebraskan is a very warm and grateful section of acknowledgements. The section closes with the dedication of his dissertation to his late father Reinhold Yeutter, who was, he, "an outstanding farmer who carried the nickname "Doc" as well as any Ph.D. ever will."
In the spirit of that thought, we honor a statesman and Nebraskan, the Honorable Clayton Yeutter, who will add luster to the distinguished company of awardees he joins tonight, ... as well as any ever will.
