Presenting information at Cairo University on the Cattle Information Center was Dr. Samy Abou-Bakr. He describes that there are two different water buffalo dairy and feedlot systems. One is old and one is new. In the older model, the herd size is small, handled with lots of labor and very little if any records are kept. In the new, the …
Cairo University Ag School
The first stop for the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team today was Cairo University and specifically the ag school. Our first presenter was Dr. Rabie Ragab Sadek who gave us an overview of the Center Information Systems Center of Egypt. The project was created to develop a cattle information system that would provide statistically representative, adequate data for cattle …
Improving Feedgrain Access In Egypt
In Egypt, the Agricultural Minister Counselor for the United States is Jonathan Gressel (pictured center). He met with the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team today at a late lunch and we really appreciate him taking time for the visit. John says his primary mission is market access and development for U.S. products. He says that currently Egypt is an …
Egypt Grain Inspection Lab
The Executive Director of the Regional Center For Food and Feed is Dr. Mohamed F. Emara. He was our host this morning for a tour of their Grain Inspection Lab. I remember touring the lab on my trip here with USDA back in 1999. RCFF operates three regional feed grain laboratories, one in the Giza headquarters, one at EI-Oekheila Port …
New Shipping Port In Morocco
Morocco is nearing completion of a major new port facility south of Casablanca. The El Jaddah Port was one of the stops for the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission. While there we met with Ammar Bouchaib, pictured left, who is not only involved in shipping grain into the country but also has a large storage facility for feed products. I …
Morocco Ag Attache Working For U.S. Agribusiness
The Regional Agricultural Attache for the United States in Morocco is Hassan Ahmed. I first met Hassan when he was posted to Cairo and I was traveling on a USDA FAS trip that included stops in Cairo and Alexandria. I haven’t seen him since then until today but we still remember the “camel story” among others. Some of you have …
Morocco’s Office of Cereals
The Moroccan government’s “Office of Cereals” is led by Mr. Abdelali Aziz, General Director (pictured center). He spoke to the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission this morning about the status of corn imports into Morocco and touched on quantity, quality and standards. He also commented on the impact of the USGC’s programs on the poultry and beef sectors. He says, …
Growth of Grain Imports In Morocco
The Director for the Mediterranean and Africa for the U.S. Grains Council is Kurt Shultz. He’s been our main guide and font of information so far. I spoke with Kurt this morning to get an overview of agriculture in Morocco and the potential it holds for U.S. grain producers. He says that the USGC became involved in Morocco about 15 …
Optimizing Corn Yields Report from AGMasters
Since the students did such a great job of blogging the AGMasters Conference, I am just going to re-post a few of their posts here, instead of doing it myself. See photos from the conference on the AGMasters Photo Album This one was written by Megan Ott and Jared Roskamp: Participants from this year’s AGMasters Conference had the privilege to …
Meet The USGC Corn Mission Team
Here is the 2009 U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team. Ready to rumble in Morocco, Egypt and Jordan. This photo was taken today in Frankfurt airport. We have arrived at our first Moroccan destination and are getting ready for a meal and initial briefing on our activities. I’ll know more in a little while and will be posting some more …