As we continue the work begun four years ago in Melbourne, Australia, I want to recognize Mary Salce.

Mary Salce is a dairy farmer. She is also founder of the Australian Women's Farm Foundation and organizer of the First International Conference on Women in Agriculture. That Conference brought the issues we're expanding on this week into an open forum. It brought together women in agriculture worldwide. It laid out the problems and barriers confronting rural women, and sent the message to global leaders that the time has come for practical solutions.

This week, we've probably all come together with more questions than answers. But that's what this Conference is about. The fact that the momentum is underway is, in itself, a great accomplishment. And the United States is honored to host this meeting. We have a tremendous turnout ... more than 1,000 women from 40 countries. Mrs. Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore and a strong advocate for families, women, and children, and health and education issues, will deliver the keynote address this afternoon. And Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, currently with the President's delegation in China, will speak on Wednesday evening.

In the course of this week, we will explore issues of economics, technology, cooperation, and community -- to name just a few -- that can either block progress or open the door to a solid, productive 21st century for the one-quarter of the world's population who are rural women.

This Conference also reaffirms the U.S. commitment to the goals and process of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in September 1995. At that time, 8,000 Americans joined more than 40,000 people the world over in Beijing, China. Together, 189 governments adopted a Platform for Action -- the strongest and most comprehensive statement on women's rights and public policy ever agreed on by the world's governments.

It was at that time that President Clinton created the Interagency Council on Women. He established the Council not only to track goals and measure results, but to stress that there's got to be a fluidity to this process. Just as the story of women in agriculture is constantly being rewritten, so the Beijing Platform demands a sustained commitment. It demands continual updating and a resolve that U.S. laws, policies, and programs fully meet its objectives. In President Clinton's words, creation of the Interagency Council on Women demonstrates that "We don't intend to walk away from Beijing when it's over."

And we haven't. Instead, we continue to learn.

And what we are learning, as First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has said, "is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations will flourish."

In my own travels -- from sub-Saharan Africa to South America, from Asia to Russia -- I've witnessed the extraordinary power of rural women. In some countries, against great odds, like chronic malnutrition and its root causes -- poverty, income inequality, and political instability -- women struggle to teach, pass along health care advice, build homes, and keep families together in the aftermath of civil war.

These women are truly quiet heroes. They produce much of the world's food, create jobs, manage natural resources, and stabilize economies. They contribute and nurture, sustain the young and the elderly, though survival itself is a battle, poverty a constant companion and education a far-distant dream.

They demonstrate over and over that you don't need to be a hero in the traditional sense to do heroic things.

As a farmer myself -- from the state of California -- my interest in the problems and complexities of the world's rural women is professional, but it is also very personal. My wife Evelyne has been active in our rural community in California. And I'm proud of the many ways the U.S. government -- and the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- help rural Americans bridge tough barriers that separate them from their fair share of economic opportunity.

Rural America represents 83 percent of this nation's land. It's home to 21 percent of our people, and supplies 18 percent of our jobs. In the past 20 years, the percentage of the rural work force employed in farming has dropped from 14 to 8 percent. Non-farm income supports at least 80 percent of America's rural residents.

Helping rural communities make their way in a world growing more competitive and complex is what we consider a solid investment in our people, our nation, and our future.

Businesses, for example, won't come to areas lacking in basic services, infrastructure like housing, electricity, running water. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has brought safe, running water to thousands of people who never had it before. We've helped a quarter of a million rural Americans buy their homes, and make it easier for rural businesses to gain financial backing. In the process, we help create jobs, save existing jobs, help communities and support families.

We target funds to our nation's neediest rural areas -- grants for schools, health clinics, fire stations ... basic institutions that protect life and improve its quality.

We look to our grassroots, our local communities. We listen to the people.

We established a National Commission on Small Farms because we were simply unwilling to stand by and watch our small farm heritage disappear. The results of hearings across the country tell us that yes, small farmers can have a vibrant place in agriculture's future. We've got an action team working on ways to help small farmers reach their full potential in the 21st century.

We adapt to meet real needs, from medical support to distance learning and technology. We strongly endorse farmer-owned cooperatives as vehicles of self-help. Cooperatives may be one of the few ways that farmers can compete in an increasingly industrialized and global food and fiber system.

When cooperatives add value to raw agricultural products, they reap greater profits. The nation benefits -- in jobs, in a stronger economy, and in revitalized rural communities.

In all of these ways, we're helping to move the citizens of rural America -- knowledgeable, skillful and prepared to compete -- into the world of the 21st century.

The goal of this Conference is to offer the opportunity to explore these issues -- and many more -- as they relate to the opportunities and challenges of rural women the world over. I want to thank Conference Chair Jill Long Thompson and Leanne Powell, who worked long and hard to organize this event in such a way that participants can take advantage of 100 breakout sessions led by experts from 20 countries. And I want to acknowledge the role of the Kellogg Foundation, which has shown great leadership in what this event is all about -- focusing on practical solutions. The Kellogg Foundation has provided $70,000 to help cover travel and registration costs for 30 American farm women who otherwise could not afford to attend.

At this time, it is my pleasure to introduce a greeting recorded by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mrs. Clinton is currently traveling with the President's delegation to China. She is keenly aware of women's roles in all facets of the modern world and is outspoken when those roles are constrained by lack of opportunity and by oppression in any form. Mrs. Clinton wanted very much to be here, and asked that this message convey her gratitude to the sponsors and her commitment to the well-being of rural women everywhere.