Wrap-up of USB tour

Friday was day 5 of the USB See for Yourself tour.  It started with a visit to the Aquatic Depot, a company specializing in the production of tilapia.  Francisco de la Torre, deputy regional director for the U.S. Soybean Export Council in Latin America and the Caribbean, told me that Mexico is very intent on increasing its fish production with an eye on the U.S. market.  In fact, the Mexican government is subsidizing aquaculture development, providing grants of as much as 50 percent,  and making low interest loans on the remainder. 

Some large American grocery chains are also investing in Mexican fish farming.  Americans are increasing their consumption of fish by more than 15 percent annually and tilapia has become very popular because it doesn’t have the “fishy” taste of other species.  Francisco expects fish production in Mexico to double in the next few years.  USSEC is working with researchers to develop fish feed that utilizes a higher percentage of soymeal in place of fish meal.

We also visited one of Mexico’s largest soybean and canola crushing plants, AGYDSA.  This is a huge and very modern facility.  They were unloading a train of canola from Canada during our visit.  They told their soybeans are railed in from Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas.

Closing thoughts-Saturday was travel day as we returned to our homes in the U.S.  It was a great week and it really confirmed our belief that we must continue to find new uses and aggressively promote our agricultural products to our customers in the U.S. and abroad. 

A comment made by USSEC staffer really put the potential of Latin American and the Caribbean into perspective for me.  He pointed out that this region has 300 million people, equivalent to the population of the United States.  There is huge potential for growth in this region of the world, a next-door neighbor to the U.S.

I have returned with many interesting interviews, and over the next few days I’ll be posting more of our visits from the USB tour in different sections of the Brownfield web site.  Check back often for more reports from the 2009 USB See for Yourself Tour.

An inside look at the PROAN operation

Day 4 of the United Soybean Board’s See for Yourself tour was another full one. We left the hotel bright and early for a two-hour drive to the PROAN operation near San Juan de los Lagos. PROAN is one of the largest ag enterprises in Mexico, consisting of egg, milk and pork production. Actually, you could add chicken production to that as well, as they also process the hens once their egg-laying days are over. PROAN told us they have 20 million hens distributed over 10 separate facilities in central Mexico. The facility we visited had 1.2 million hens. We watched the workers inspecting, boxing and shipping the eggs. It was very efficient and very impressive. The same was true at their 5,000 cow dairy. We did not visit the swine operation, but saw a presentation on it.

We also visited one of PROAN’s two feed plants (very modern and clean)and railroad reception terminal where trains transporting soybean meal, DDGS, corn, sorghum and other materials are unloaded. These folks use a tremendous amount of U.S. soybean meal and they have also been using significant quantities of distillers grains from the U.S. While the DDGS has become a competitor to soybean meal in animal diets, Alberto Celis, who is an animal nutrition consultant to the U.S. soybean industry here in Mexico, says soymeal still has the upper hand. Celis told me that soymeal is more consistent and has more research backing than DDGS. And Juan Roberto Vega, a nutritional consultant to the PROAN dairy, says the price of the DDGS has more than doubled in the past year, which has made it less attractive. Of course, soymeal has also increased in price and Vega says he would like to see more consistency in the protein levels of the soymeal they get from the U.S.

General impressions from day 4-the PROAN operation is probably as sophisticated as you would find anywhere in the world. It is very impressive. It’s obvious the Mexicans do not face the same environmental regulations that U.S. livestock producers are operating under. And they told me the animal rights people have not made their way into Mexico as of yet, although they fear it is imminent. Do we really want to drive the livestock industry from the U.S. into Central and South America?

Today, Friday, we will tour a fish farm in the Guadalajara area. The folks representing the U.S. soybean industry here are very excited about the potential for growth in aquaculture. More on that later.

Ken Anderson

Arriving in Guadalajara

After a long day of travel Wednesday, we arrived in Guadalajara, Mexico to begin the second portion of the United Soybean Board’s See for Yourself tour.

Upon arrival at our hotel, we heard presentations from the people who represent the U.S. soybean industry in Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional director Bill Brant told us that the Latin American region is the #1 soybean meal and soybean oil market for the U.S. and the #2 market for soybeans (behind China). Mexico’s purchase of U.S. soy products has seen steady annual growth of three to five percent in recent years. However, the global recession, combined with the H1N1 flu scare, has stymied that growth, at least for the time being. One of the big problems is a 40 percent drop in what Brant calls “foreign remittance” to Mexico. Those are the dollars sent back to the U.S. by guest workers in the U.S. Tourism in Mexico is also down and lower oil prices have also been a factor in the slowdown in Mexico’s economy. But Brant says “we’re holding our own” on soy sales and that U.S. market share has actually increased in 2009.

One of the purposes of this tour is to give soybean growers a close-up look at how their checkoff dollars are being spent. And for many of the participants, it’s been a real eye-opening experience. Marvin Stech of Osmond, Nebraska told me he used to look at the checkoff as just another tax. But after seeing the research and new uses, along with the domestic and foreign marketing programs, he’s changing his mind. Terry Lieb of Monticello, Illinois has also been impressed by what he’s seen. As he puts it, “some people don’t like paying that money, but once you have the opportunity to see what it’s used for, it’s money well spent.”

Today, Thursday, we take a two-hour drive to visit one of Mexico’s largest egg producers. The company is called PROAN and it has more than 15 million hens distributed across several facilities in central Mexico. They also have dairy and swine operations. The PROAN group buys soybean meal from local crushing plants, then produces the feeds needed for the operation in two computerized feed plants. It should be a very interesting and informative visit, as the poultry industry accounts for 70 percent of soybean meal consumption in Mexico.

Stay tuned for more reports from Mexico and USB’s See for Yourself tour.

Ken Anderson

Uses and marketing of soybeans and products

Day 2 of the USB See for Yourself started with reports from USB personnel on new uses, domestic marketing and international marketing of soybeans and soy products. So far this year, soybean exports are up 10 percent and soymeal exports are up 8 percent. Paul Burke with the U.S. Soybean Export Council says he expects the rest of the year to be strong, and it looks like the first half of 2010 should be very good as well. China is the driving force in soy exports, and a growing aquaculture industry is helping drive that growth.

Back in the U.S., transfat issues have hurt demand for soybean oil in recent years, but help is on the way. Mark Winkel of USB says as soybeans with increased oleic, stearic acid and omega 3 are released over the next five years, he expects soybean oil to recapture lost market share-and then some.

In the afternoon Tuesday, we learned more about the state of soy ink. We visited the printing plant of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which has been printed with soy ink for many years. We also visited on the top ink suppliers in the country, INX International. Well over 20 years ago, soy ink was one of the original “new uses” for soybeans. Today, there’s both good news and bad news for soy ink. The bad news-as circulation of newspapers and magazines continues to decline, so does their usage of soy ink. The good news-the green movement that has swept the U.S. in recent years has more of the large independent printing shops asking for soy-based ink.

This morning, Wednesday, we’re at the St. Louis airport preparing for our trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. More later.

Ken Anderson

‘See for Yourself Tour’ kicks off in St. Louis

The United Soybean Board’s week-long See for Yourself Tour got underway Monday in St. Louis. It featured a very interesting “behind the scenes” look at Lambert St. Louis International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest airports. Since 1998 the airport has been using a B20 biodiesel blend in all of its stationary generators, airport equipment and firefighting equipment. Fleet manager Mike Bernich told us they experimented with different blends, from B5 to B40, before it was determined that B20 would work best in the St. Louis area. Bernich is totally sold on biodiesel-he says it has increased the life of their fuel injectors and fuel pumps, and the equipment emits a noticeably less offensive odor using the biodiesel blend. (One little side note to the airport visit. With President Barack Obama scheduled to arrive in St. Louis Tuesday for the major league All-Star game, the U.S. Secret Service was using the airport’s fire house as a staging ground for the presidential motorcade. We got to stand next to the presidential limousine and snap a few pictures.)

From the airport, we traveled to St. Louis University, where Dr. Shelley Minteer and her crew have been focusing on the research and development of glycerol “biobatteries” for portable power (i.e. powering cell phones, laptops, sensors, etc.). Dr. Minteer explained that living cells (i.e. in your body, in bacteria, in soybean plants) have proteins called enzymes that catalyze the oxidation/breakdown of fuel. They are studying employing these enzymes to completely oxidize glycerol to carbon dioxide in a battery to obtain higher energy density than lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries that are currently used for portable power. If successful, it could increase the use time of these batteries by twenty-fold. It’s one of those long-range research projects funded by USB that shows great potential.

USB plans tour

Brownfield’s Ken Anderson will participate in the United Soybean Board’s second annual “See for Yourself” tour July 13-18.The tour begins on July 13 in St. Louis and ends on July 18 in Mexico, the number one importer of U.S. soybean meal. Along the way, participants will tour several facilities that represent various end users of U.S. soy and have the opportunity to interact with USB leadership. Tour participants will also be asked to provide their perspective and feedback on the soybean checkoff.The trip is designed to give soybean farmers with little or no firsthand knowledge of USB a look at their checkoff in action. Several of the checkoff’s areas of focus, including biodiesel, new uses, animal agriculture and international marketing, will take center stage during this whirlwind tour.

The 10 soybean farmers taking part in the tour are:

• Andy Bensend, Dallas, Wis.
• Wilfrid Bibus, Chesterfield, N.J.
• David Bray, Oakland, Neb.
• Chris Danner, Templeton, Iowa
• Christopher Gibbs, Maplewood, Ohio
• Terry Lieb, Monticello, Ill.
• Kevin Scott, Poneto, Ind.
• Marvin Stech, Osmond, Neb.
• H. Grant Troop, Oxford, Pa.
• Dale Workman, West Lafayette, Ind.

Selected staff and farmer-leaders of USB will accompany the group. Stay tuned and watch for reports from Ken the week of July 13.