USGC Annual Meeting: Exploring the Role of Trade Policy in Food Security

With a background in trade policy and trade negotiations, Daniel Whitley will provide insight into how countries can benefit from trade and how trade policy can help a country become food secure at the U.S. Grains Council’s 51st Annual Board of Delegates Meeting next week in San Francisco, Calif.

Whitley, deputy-director of Global Policy Analysis at the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), is a member of a panel being moderated by Ellen Levinson, who heads a consulting firm that specializes in government relations and international development.

The panel will focus on different components of food security, encompassing everything from domestic production to the role of trade.

At FAS, Whitley leads a team of agricultural and international economists who analyze global agricultural markets and advise senior government officials of market potential. He began his 13-year career working in trade policy and negotiating market access issues in the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization. During the 2008 farm bill, he served as a senior agriculture fellow in the U.S. Senate.

For more information about the Council’s 51st Annual Board of Delegates Meeting, go to www.grains.org.

Seeing is Believing: Ecuadorian Team Studies US DDGS Utilization in Mexico
In the process of growing Mexico into the United States’ second-largest market for U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), the U.S. Grains Council has transformed Mexico into a powerful international showcase for the benefits of U.S. DDGS utilization. As the Council works to increase DDGS market share in Latin America and throughout the world, it is certainly helpful to point to ongoing successes where high-quality U.S. DDGS has been embraced. Recently, the Council’s Latin America and Caribbean Region office escorted a team of Ecuadorian feed millers and nutritionists to see the use of U.S. DDGS in Mexico firsthand.

Team members were encouraged to interact and share question with their Mexican counterparts about DDGS use. A main focus for the Council during this trip was to educate the Ecuadorian team on proper DDGS inclusion rates in their feed formulations.

“Giving end-users the opportunity to see U.S. DDGS at work was incredibly helpful for this team. Seeing this process in Mexico, another importing market, certainly helped the Ecuadorian team visualize using the product themselves,” remarked Kurt Schultz, USGC regional director for Latin America and Caribbean region.

Ecuador has imported DDGS in the past and is currently considering resuming those imports. Through escorting this team from Ecuador, as well as another team planned later this year, the Council hopes to create yet another consistent, reliable market for U.S. DDGS. With the successful example of Mexico, there is much reason to be optimistic.

The Longevity Grain: Council Markets Barley in Japan
Due to uniquely high levels of nutrients, protein and fiber, barley is quickly gaining recognition as a versatile food option for health-conscious consumers. The U.S. Grains Council has recognized this market opportunity for barley in Japan, a country whose rapidly aging population is creating increased demand for high quality, healthy foods. The Council capitalized on this potential by sponsoring two advertisements in this month’s edition of the widely-read Japanese health magazine Today’s Health to emphasize the positive health effects of eating U.S. barley.

The advertisements, which reached the magazine’s readership of 300,000 people, educated readers on the numerous health benefits of U.S. barley. Specifically, the ads focused on U.S. barley’s high levels of beta-glucan, a unique nutrient that has potential benefits for heart health as well as for lowering one’s risk of diabetes.

The advertisements also featured an interview with Kimihiko Banno, a representative of the Toyohashi Ryushoku Industry Co., which sells a pearled variety of U.S. barley named “marumagi” that is particularly high in beta-glucan. Mr. Banno spoke about his experiences as a barley processor and the positive feedback he received from consumers who have incorporated barley into their diet.

Although barley is a staple of certain traditional Japanese dishes, barley is predominantly used today as a feed grain in Japan. As Tommy Hammamoto, USGC director in Japan, notes: “By sponsoring these advertisements and raising public awareness of barley’s healthful effects, we are hoping to win over new consumers who may not think of barley as a health food.”

US DDGS Exports to Southeast Asia Up on Year

The U.S. Grains Council is pleased to report that exports of U.S. DDGS to Southeast Asia are currently up 20 percent over last year. So far, USDA reports total sales of 507,440 metric tons, with Vietnam importing the highest total amount and Malaysia and Cambodia reporting the highest percent growth. Please refer to graphs in the PDF version for a detailed report.

COUNCIL NEWS
51st Board of Delegates Meeting
With next week’s 51st Annual Board of Delegates Meeting net week, July 25-27, the Council’s Washington, D.C. office will remain open with reduced staff. The office will resume full operations once the meeting has completed. Follow the council on flickr to see photos of the event as it happens. Visit www.flickr.com/usgc.

COUNCIL ACTIVITY CALENDAR
July 25-27: The Council will host its 51st Annual Board of Delegates Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Delegates will meet to share ideas, set the Council’s agenda for the upcoming year, and listen to expert speakers share their thoughts on the conference’s theme of “The Year of Competetiveness: Meeting Global Demand.” For more information, contact Marri Carrow, USGC manager of communications, at mcarrow@grains.org.

July 30 – August 7: The U.S. Grains Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, will organize a team of Japanese regulators involved in the food, feed and environmental approvals of biotech corn events in Japan to travel to the United States for meetings with U.S. government regulators, biotech seed companies and biotech industry organizations, as well as U.S. corn farmers and companies involved in the production, distribution and exports of U.S. corn to Japan. These meetings will educate Japanese regulators on biotech corn events in the pipeline for entry into the Japanese regulatory system, and to see how their regulatory approvals and regulations need to be able to work with the U.S. corn production, distribution and exports system. For more information, contact Anne Pelkey, USGC manager of international operations for Asia, at apelkey@grains.org.

Quelle: US Grains Council