The U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission Team has concluded visiting Egypt. Tomorrow it’s on to Jordan. Before finishing today we sat down for our debrief which includes documenting our observations and making recommendations based on what we saw. Those will be provided to USGC in the form of a final report. I have updated the Eqypt photo album from our visits today.
To get some producer feedback on our time in Egypt I interviewed Darren Armstrong, North Carolina. Darren says the biggest thing you see immediately is the potential. He says that in just a couple of years we should see significant growth. He says we need to keep our quality up and take care of the market by supporting Dr. Soliman, USGC Country Director. He thought the feedlots we visited were well taken care of and are becoming more efficient. He’s glad to see how ddgs have been so well accepted here and that is good for American producers. He says it’s, “been like a look back in history.” He compares where a lot of the Eqypt countryside is with where we were at in America not that long ago.
You can listen to my interview with Darren below:
The face and voice of the U.S. Grains Council in Egypt is Dr. Hussein Soliman pictured in the center of our Corn Mission group while visiting our last stop in the country. He has been working on behalf of U.S. grain producers for almost 20 years and has not only seen Egypt become one of our top importers but can take a lot of the credit for helping make it happen. You won’t find anyone more passionate about what he does. All of us on the team are very appreciative of his assistance and guidance while visiting this week.
Now that the modern form of open feedlot management has come to Egypt there are an increasing number of producers using the system. One of them is Ashraf Taha, pictured on the right.
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In this week’s column, Pablo talks about the impact of this year’s weather in South America. Here’s a sample:
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.
Looking at the dollars and cents of the agriculture industry today can be tough at times. With sky-rocketing input costs and low-profit margins, producing food has become an even more challenging “game” than ever before. Because of the struggling economy and decreased consumer spending, there are less dollars to go around, and that means ag lenders are having to tighten their pocketbooks, as well.
“Producing first generation ethanol from corn is a mistake,” writes Al Gore in his new book, “
Everyone has that farmer or rancher in their life to shop for this Christmas, and boy, can it get tough to select the perfect gift for this category. Every year, I think my dad counts on getting Coveralls and pliers from Santa, and I’ll admit, we struggle trying to shop for him. If you are like me, you spend many painful hours trying to navigate the aisles of Sears, Menards or Cabelas in the hunt for the best present, only to purchase the same things year after year. 
The Chairman of the