Nebraska Farmers Examine Export Markets in South America

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. – Corn Board member and district two representative, John Greer from Edgar, Nebraska recently had the unique opportunity to experience a global market in South America from both the eyes of a customer and competitor. 

Greer was a member of the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC) Grain Export Mission (GEM) that travelled to South America to observe local conditions, learn about trade opportunities and constraints and also meet with foreign customers eager for insight into U.S. production and export systems.   Greer and his group visited Colombia and Brazil while another GEM group visited Argentina and Mexico.  

“Traveling to South America was an exceptional opportunity to see the global market place at work”, said Greer. “After spending some time with buyers and end-users in Colombia, we were pleased to hear that the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement has created significant market opportunities for U.S. corn and corn co-products.” 

Colombia is the second largest corn importer in the Latin American region and a country in which the United States traditionally captured more than 80 percent of the market, though there had been erosion in U.S. market share due to unfavorable tariff treatment.

This year, Colombian buyers returned to purchasing U.S. corn, driven by price and advantages from the implementation of the free trade agreement.  In fact, the country exceeded its tariff rate quota (TRQ) in June but still continued to purchase U.S. corn.

Greer’s team also visited Brazil, a critical competitor for U.S agricultural exports but a market that faces many challenges with infrastructure. Understanding the current reality and the future prospects of Brazil’s agricultural production is vital for U.S. farmers as they continue to export their commodities into the global marketplace.

“Colombia and Brazil are emerging economies that have remarkable global potential,” said Greer. “As they continue to work to overcome their security and infrastructure problems, I predict their grain and livestock industries will develop into even greater market prospects for American exports.”

At the completion of the mission, the two GEM groups met with USGC leadership and staff in Panama to debrief about their experience. Alan Tiemann, farmer from Seward, NE and at-large director on the NCB and vice chairman of the USGC, led many discussions with the GEM participants during their time in Panama. The participants concluded their mission with a tour of the Panama Canal, which gave them an opportunity to see first-hand the progress of the Panama Canal’s expansion project.

“The purpose of the GEM is for participants to gain a clearer understanding of the challenges, opportunities and competition we face in the international marketplace, said Tiemann. “The opportunity for American producers to personally communicate and establish relationships with these key end-users and buyers is an essential piece to our global success. With 95 percent of the world’s population living outside our borders, global awareness and connections are increasingly vital for everyone involved in agriculture.”

John Greer and Alan Tiemann group photo: John Greer, (first on left) and Alan Tiemann (second from the right) with members of the USGC GEM to South America.

Podcast: Every gallon of gas contains at least 25% ethanol

In this podcast, Debbie Borg, farmer director on the Nebraska Corn Board shares about the Brazil fact-finding mission to learn about their ethanol industry. A significant fact that Debbie learned was that every gallon of gas contains at least 25% ethanol. And they've been doing this for over 40 years. You can read her blogs on the mission here.

Now, Click here to listen to the podcast.

This podcast is part of Nebraska Corn Board's series called Kernels of Truth, featuring Nebraska Corn Board members, Nebraska corn farmers and cooperators of the checkoff programs.

Kernels of Truth podcasts are also available on iTunes! Click here to subscribe.

Nebraska Corn Producers Return from Mission Excited About Brazilian Biofuels

A group of Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio corn farmers have returned from a multi-state trade mission to Brazil excited about the potential relationships and similarities of ethanol fuel.

The objective of this joint mission was to gain a better understanding of Brazil’s role in the worldwide market of energy and agriculture and determine how Nebraska and the United States can be partners with Brazil on worldwide ethanol markets. Participants on the mission included farmer-directors on the Nebraska Corn Board, Debbie Borg from Allen and Dennis Gengenbach from Smithfield, as well as Kim Clark, director of biofuels development on staff with the Nebraska Corn Board. Read Debbie, Dennis and Kim’s blogs from the Brazil mission here.

Brazil is the number one sugarcane producer and exporter in the world. They are also the number two producer of ethanol, following the United States, and the number one ethanol exporter worldwide. It is also mandatory that at least 25% ethanol be blended in each gallon of gasoline.

“The trip was definitely eye opening and educational. All of the commonalities and similarities of Brazilian agriculture in comparison to the United States are amazing,” said Debbie Borg. “The biggest issue they are dealing with is drought. It is very severe and their sugarcane, corn, soybean, and coffee crops are suffering.”

Brazil’s closed-loop ethanol system of producing electricity from bagasse, the byproduct of sugar and ethanol production, is well known. Although the U.S. does not produce electricity from ethanol production, the U.S. produces distillers grains for livestock feed.

“Our ethanol story and the production of distillers grains are important for the ethanol industry in the United States. We need to be better about reaching out to consumers and educating them,” said Dennis Gengenbach.

During the trade mission, the team also:

• Met with UNICA – the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association representing sugar, ethanol, and bioelectricity producers - discuss sugarcane producers and expectations in Brazil
• Visited the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory to discuss sugarcane varieties and GMO’s in sugarcane
• Met with Delphi Powertrain South America Tech Center to learn about flex fuel vehicles, how they differ from flex fuel vehicles in the United States and what information could be communicated to automobile manufacturers in the United States
• Visited the Zilor Group to understand how the biggest global trader of sugar and ethanol operates and how their operation differs from operations of similar size
• Met with the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil to understand their livestock industry, how it differs from the United States, potential partnerships to expand exports to foreign countries, and where the livestock production needs to expand in Brazil and the United States.
• Met with the Ministry of Agriculture to understand agriculture as a whole in the country of Brazil—and how ethanol impacts consumers and government decisions.

Family Farming in Brazil

Debbie Borg, Nebraska Corn Board member from Allen, Nebraska, sends this post from the current mission to Brazil:

We had the opportunity to spend half a day with a 3rd generation  farmer at the Cascata Farm, a centurion farm founded in 1915.

It is a 1,100 hectares (or 1100 x 2.5 = 2750 aces).  They grow around 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of coffee (100% Arabica coffee which is the highest quality), 200 hectares (500 acres) of sugarcane with is leased to the area sugar mill and 100 hectares (250 acres) of corn.

Most of the corn is used for what is called, “renewing” in the coffee area.  One row of corn is planted between new coffee trees.  This serves as a windbreak for the new coffee seedlings.  This row of corn is hand harvested and then run through their combine.

We learned that coffee is a biannual plant and only harvested every other year.   We saw coffee trees that were from 1 to 15 years old.  A new coffee seedling doesn’t start producing until it is 2 1/2 years old.  We were told that there are 100 year old coffee trees in the area.

Here is a new and old coffee harvester.
  
The main topic amongst the farmers is the drought they are experiencing. The worst they have seen in over 50 years.  And because coffee is a biannual plant, not only is this year’s crop going to be short but next year’s crop is also being affected.

The interesting comment heard from the farm mom was, “In the United States, the farm family does the labor.”  The Cascata Farm place was home to 25 families that live and work on the farm but the farm owner family does not live on the farm - except to spend the weekend (Friday - Sunday) at the farm.  Plus they had about 50 additional workers that are bused in each day with more labor was hired during the coffee harvest.

In addition to crops, they had dairy cows and produced just 400 liters a day and a small feedlot to background cattle.

Brazil Research Focused on Ethanol Efficiency

Nebraska Corn Board member Dennis Gengenbach of Smithfield, Nebraska, submits this post from the current fact-finding mission to Brazil:

Ethanol production in Brazil is significantly different from what we have in Nebraska.

The trip to the Brazilian Bioethanol & Science Laboratory was a learning experience. In the past, sugarcane was burned to remove the sharp leaves and leave the stalks behind, which contain the sugar. Because of environmental concerns, the Brazilian government banned burning and forced the growers to manually remove the leaves and cut the stems off to harvest the sugarcane—a monumental, labor-intensive process.

Mechanical equipment is being used in some areas; however, only one row of sugarcane is harvested at a time. One of the projects being conducted at the lab will develop a machine to accomplish the sugarcane harvest more than one row at a time.

After learning about the genomics and harvesting process, it was a fascinating experience to see sugarcane planting in the field. They have to till the dirt to prepare the soil. Without tilling the soil is too hard and the sugarcane root won’t be able to grow and nutrients can’t reach the plant.

They till about one meter or three feet down. It is also common practice to cover the sugarcane stalk that is planted in the ground (which becomes the plant) by hand with dirt. During planting, ash, lime, and phosphorus are applied. This is the only time nutrients are given to the plant. Although there may be a more efficient process of planting sugarcane, much of the work is done by hand.

The United States is much more advanced in farming practices and is continuously looking for ways to improve these practices. Although Brazil is advancing, it is at a much slower pace.

Tomorrow we are off to the largest sugarcane mill in Brazil. They harvest 800 million tons per year.

PHOTO ABOVE: Dennis Gengenbach of the Nebraska Corn Board (left) talks with representatives from the Bioethanol Science & Technology Laboratory in Brazil.

Biofuels Lessons from Brazil

Kim Clark, director of biofuels development for the Nebraska Corn Board, sends this post from the current mission to Brazil:

Hola de Ribeirao Preto, Brazil!  It is Sunday morning and we are on a domestic flight up to Brasilia. It has been a very enlightening, busy week.

So far we have been to Delphi Powertain Systems, the Case IH manufacturing plant— which was an interesting experience itself-—with the scores of squeegees that came out after 4 inches of rain fell in a matter of 45 minutes. The rainfall was so heavy the gutter system couldn't keep up and the plant floor was covered in water. Nearly every employee grabbed a squeegee and started pushing the water down drains. For safety reasons we couldn't see or watch any tractors being assembled.

We have also visited with sugarcane farmers, watched sugarcane being planted, toured a peanut processing facility, and visited a livestock farm.

Here are the top three areas that we see the United States improving based on what we have seen and heard so far on this trip:

1. To stay ahead of international competition, we need to expand ethanol exports to other countries especially targeting China to reduce pollution.

2. Expand distillers exports. The ethanol production in the United States isn't expected to decrease—and we don't want it to—so we need to expand distillers exports.

3. There are large areas of Brazil that still are arable but undeveloped. They have the capacity to expand ethanol production with their second-generation technology and their closed loop technology—producing electricity, using the bagasse (one of the byproducts) to operate the plant. We need our ethanol, especially second-generation ethanol, to remain sustainable.

The week in Brazil has been busy and we haven't yet visited with Brazil USDA-FAS, the Brazilian corn growers association, and other government officials. I think the best is yet to come!

Ciao!

A sugarcane planting machine in Brazil. Sugar cane is the primary feedstock for ethanol production in Brazil.

Brazil Biofuels Mission – Every gallon of gas includes ethanol.

A delegation from Nebraska is currently on a mission to Brazil to gather information on that nation's agricultural prowess and its leadership in ethanol. The Nebraska delegation joins other farmers and corn state staff from Iowa, Indiana and Ohio.

The purpose of the mission is to monitor South America’s future capacity to compete and/or partner with Midwestern agriculture in servicing worldwide energy and livestock markets as well as see the country during sugarcane harvest and processing.

This post comes from Debbie Borg, Nebraska Corn Board member from Allen, Nebraska.

“After a very long 12-hour plane ride, we arrived to begin our Brazil mission.

My first major finding is that every gallon of gas sold in Brazil contains no less than 25% sugar cane ethanol.

Read that again…..EVERY gallon of gas sold in Brazil contains at least 25% ethanol. And yes, they drive many of the same cars and trucks that we do.

So why is there so much push back in the USA at only a 10% ethanol blend?
And 25% ethanol is just the beginning as many Brazilians use from 25% to 100% ethanol. This has been the norm for the past 40 years.

So I say that 200 million Brazilians can¹t be wrong. Ethanol can work in any vehicle.”