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FAEA Executive Director to Speak at USGC Anniversary Meeting
Richard Fritz, executive director of the Food and Agriculture Export Alliance (FAEA), is scheduled to speak at the U.S. Grains Council’s 50th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting, July 18-21.

Fritz’s relationship with the Council began approximately three and a half years ago with the founding of FAEA. Formed to capitalize on the strength of existing export organizations, FAEA works together with its five cooperators and foreign regulatory agencies to help facilitate international trade and improve food and feed safety by assisting nations to develop applicable regulatory requirements.

The five cooperators of FAEA include: the U.S. Dairy Export Council; the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council; the U.S. Meat Export Federation; the U.S. Soybean Export Council; and the Council.

“The five cooperators got together and decided to work on long-term issues related to market access, looking at the rules and regulations that countries are developing,” Fritz said. “They also are trying to help countries put in place rules and regulations that meet international obligations for trade.”

In his presentation at the Council’s upcoming meeting, Fritz said he plans to address three topics: the history of FAEA and why it exists; the countries it works in and the accomplishments in those countries; and the future - what FAEA hopes to accomplish in the years ahead.

“Issues that need to be addressed include opinions on feed additives and encouraging Vietnam to adapt its own plant health law based on an understanding of the U.S. system of production and residues and handling diseases in plants. FAEA, the Council and the other collaborators need to work on encouraging Vietnam to adopt a science-based feed safety regulatory system,” Fritz said.

Chinese Feed Group Using DDGS at Near-Maximum Levels After Two Years of Use
When China-based Shandong Zhonghui Group Corporation began importing U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) two years ago, they set in motion a series of actions for what has become an astonishing success story in the U.S. Grains Council’s history of marketing DDGS overseas. Two years after first purchasing U.S. DDGS, the Shandong province feed company, located northeast of Beijing, now uses near-maximum levels of the ethanol co-product in its poultry and swine feed rations and plans to increase their current levels.

“Shandong Zhonghui Group has adopted DDGS in their rations as fast as any feed mill we have seen worldwide, pushing the limits in their diets with reasonable regard for feed quality and safety,” said Dan Keefe, USGC manager of international operations.

Keefe was recently in China where he met with representatives from the feed company.

“This is an ideal case of market development work. This company attended USGC seminars, experimented with the feed, visited the United States to tour the plant and began buying DDGS in 2008 only to have fully adopted it to near-maximum levels in their rations within two years.”

Shangdong Zhonghui Group is one of the largest, single U.S. DDGS importers in China, purchasing 200,000 tons per year with plans to import at least 240,000 tons in the 2010 fiscal year. Keefe said the company has a long-term goal of producing 3 million tons of feed on a yearly basis.

“Within their poultry operations, they are currently feeding DDGS at 6-8 percent inclusion rates and 10-15 percent in their swine feed rations, depending on growth stages,” Keefe said. “They would like to increase those rates for poultry use and save money on feed, but are limited by problems related to their use of a domestically constructed pelleting machine.”

The Council will work with them to resolve pelleting issues and to support exports of corn to China for all the private sector feed mills and livestock.

The Council is optimistic about the relationship that has formed with Shangdong Zhonghui Group and looks forward to the company’s attendance at the 50th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting in Boston, Mass.

Written by Jodi Kiely, USGC Contributing Writer

Dan Glickman, Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Speaks About His Experiences with the U.S. Grains Council
During my six years as Secretary of Agriculture, exports of all farm commodities were a high priority-livestock products, fruits, vegetables and especially grains.

An important part of my work as the Secretary of Agriculture was making sure that the United States continued to export U.S. farm commodities at record levels and provide U.S. grains for humanitarian assistance.

The U.S. Grains Council facilitates the delivery, sale, transportation and distribution of U.S. grains overseas.

During my time with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, even before large surpluses existed, we dealt with a depressed market. Prices were down and we had large carry-overs of grain stocks most years.

Over the last few years, the United States has seen a growth in demand in places like China, places where one sees a lot of livestock production and thus a demand for feed grains. And hopefully, working through cooperators, like the Council, the price of grains will increase as well.

U.S. agriculture is one part of the economy that thrives in open markets. Overall, both the agriculture and grains industries have been at the forefront of trying to keep markets open around the world, which I think is good for the United States.

The Council works with USDA overseas, where the U.S. government promotes U.S. products. The Council is more than just selling U.S. products directly, and more than just being a part of humanitarian assistance programs. It is about an effort to market and sell U.S. products overseas to stimulate global economies. This is often done so in a value added situation, where there is more value in the product than just the raw commodity.

I strongly believe that agriculture has to be internationally focused. I think it is important that farmers and U.S. government officials realize that the United States’ ability to survive and flourish economically is dependent on its ability to assist in feeding the populations of many nations beyond the United States. 

Rainbow Trout DDGS Feeding Trials Underway in Japan
Since April of this year, Japan has been experimenting with U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) as a feed ingredient for rainbow trout at a commercial aquaculture farm in the Aichi Prefecture. The trials are being conducted in response to the rising cost of fish meal, a high demand ingredient throughout Asia and a product that is currently in limited supply.

The U.S. Grains Council recently had the opportunity to observe the feeding trial during a visit to Japan last month. Council representatives toured the Ure fish farm of the Aichi Trout Farmers Cooperative Association where the USGC-led DDGS feeding trials are underway.

According to Hiroko Sakashita, USGC associate director in Tokyo, preliminary results suggest no positive or negative influence when compared to rations using fish meal and soybean meal minus DDGS. The trials are using high-protein DDGS with about 20 percent of the total feed partially replacing fish meal and soybean meal. The experiment will continue throughout the summer and the findings will be presented in September.

Mr. Akihiko Kobori, chairman of Japan Trout Farmers Association, told the visiting Council delegation that the association first tried to reduce the inclusion ratio of fish meal by replacing it with grain-derived meal.

“A decade ago we succeeded in reducing fish meal by 10 percent of the total feed by replacing it with corn gluten meal and soybean meal,” he said. “Five years ago, we heard about DDGS as a new high-protein feed ingredient and researched how to use it in aquaculture through the Council’s help.”

It was last year that the association decided to conduct Japan’s first DDGS feeding trial in rainbow trout as part of the industry’s intent to find a reasonably priced, high-quality feed ingredient.

While the DDGS market for the rainbow trout in Japan will not be as large as markets of other animal sectors, the basic findings of this trial will have a great impact on the larger sea food market as a whole, Sakashita noted. Additionally, since Japan’s livestock industry also uses fish meal in compound feed for layers, broilers and swine, the trial’s findings will be reviewed closely by Japan’s livestock sector in light of expectations that fish meal will continue to be expensive and in tight supply in the future.

Written by Jodi Kiely, USGC Contributing Writer

COUNCIL NEWS

Condolences
Please join the Council in extending sympathy to the family of Jim Broten as his mother Helen, passed away two weeks ago. Broten is the past chairman of the Council and the current chairman of the North Dakota Barley Council.

For more information regarding where to send letters of sympathy, please contact the Council at 202-789-0789.

Register for the USGC International Distiller’s Grains Workshop in Southeast Asia
The U.S. Grains Council, in partnership with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), is sponsoring a DDGS seminar and trade conference in Southeast Asia July 29-Aug. 11, 2010. The Council extends an invitation to U.S. DDGS exporters and producers to attend this seminar to initiate face-to-face introductions with foreign end-users and importers.

The Council will assist members with hotel arrangements, but travel and hotel costs will be the responsibility of the participant. The Council and FAS will pay for the seminars, marketing materials and translators.

If interested in attending, please contact Kimberly Karst at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or 202-326-0637.

COUNCIL ACTIVITY CALENDAR

July 11-17, August 1-7 and August 22-28: Three teams, comprised of Mexican representatives of the livestock and feed milling sectors, will travel to Texas to meet with sorghum producers and traders and visit elevators to learn about the characteristics and quality of the current sorghum crop. For more information, contact Gina Tumbarello, USGC manager of international operations for Rest of the World, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

July 12-16: The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) will hold its annual Corn Congress in Washington, D.C. Voting bodies of NCGA gather twice a year, Corn Congress and Commodity Classic. During Corn Congress, action teams and committees meet for two days of informative sessions and trips to Capitol Hill. U.S. Grains Council Chairman Rick Fruth will present the current international trade and export situation at one of the two-day sessions. For more information, contact Marri Carrow, USGC manager of communications, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

July 19-22: Council members, guests and staff will travel to Boston, Mass., for the Council’s 50th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting. Registration for the Council’s 50th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting is now available on the Council’s website, www.grains.org. 

Join the Council July 18-21, 2010, for a meeting packed full of world renowned speakers.
- Ambassador Carolina Barco, Colombian Ambassador to the United States
- Ambassador Islam A. Siddiqui, Chief Agriculture Negotiator for the Office of the USTR
- Dr. Joseph Glauber, Chief Economist for U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Mr. Hanvar Li, Managing Director and Chief Analyst of Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. Ltd.
- The Honorable Daniel R. Pearson, Vice Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission
- The Honorable James Miller, USDA Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services
- Mr. Richard Fritz, Executive Director for the Food and Agriculture Export Alliance
- The Honorable Clayton Yeutter, former Secretary of Agriculture 

For more information, contact Shannon Schaffer, USGC director of membership, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or Valerie Smiley, USGC manager of membership, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .