Rainbow Over Desert Buffalo

Chuck Zimmerman

It is very rare to see a rainbow in the desert according to the people the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team was meeting with at the time. We were on location at the water buffalo feedlot and dairy when we saw this storm on the horizon. It arrived just as we were ready to leave and this was what …

USGC

Feeding DDGS To Water Buffalo

Chuck Zimmerman

The Chairman of the Egyptian Buffalo Producer’s Association is Dr. Saad Alhayani (pictured left). He also owns and operates a very new open water buffalo feedlot and dairy. The U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team toured there this afternoon. I’ve got lots of photos in the photo album. These cute, sweet, little creatures are very different than your average bovine. …

Audio, Beef, Corn, International, USGC

Improving Beef and Dairy Herds In Egypt

Chuck Zimmerman

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 …

Audio, Beef, Corn, Dairy, International, University, USGC

Cairo University Ag School

Chuck Zimmerman

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 …

Audio, Corn, Education, International, University, USGC

Fluidigm System Work Flow

Chuck Zimmerman

In this latest edition of the stories about Fluidigm Corporation you’ll get to meet Amy Hamilton, Technical Support Specialist. Amy works in the lab at Fluidigm headquarters. She walks us through a workflow of the Fluidigm System. As you’ll see in the video, the size and scale of equipment needed for the Fluidigm System to conduct many different simultaneous samples …

Agribusiness, Biotech, Research

Moroccan Market

Chuck Zimmerman

Only the seasoned professional agriblogger can handle taking photos, conducting interviews and shooting video clips, then editing them, uploading them and getting them posted, especially in a foreign country. Video is the toughest part. Listen to the muezzin call during midday prayers while the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission walked through a market in Casablanca, Morocco.

USGC, Video

Improving Feedgrain Access In Egypt

Chuck Zimmerman

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 …

Audio, Corn, International, USDA, USGC

Egypt Grain Inspection Lab

Chuck Zimmerman

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 …

Audio, Corn, Grains, International, USGC

Corn Mission In Egypt

Chuck Zimmerman

The U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team moved from Morocco to Egypt this weekend. We’re now in Cairo and spent the morning at the Regional Center For Food and Feed. Our primary focus was on their grain inspection service which I’ll have more information about in an upcoming post. In the meantime I have a new photo album started for …

USGC

Debriefing On Morocco

Chuck Zimmerman

The Morocco portion of the U.S Grains Council Corn Mission has concluded. The final step for the team was to sit down at our hotel and discuss the visits we’ve made and what we learned. We were asked to submit one observation and action step. You can see our team here in deep discussion. I interviewed Joe Zenz, Wisconsin corn …

Audio, USGC