In Mexico and across Southeast Asia, the Council’s offices are working to increase U.S. DDGS exports, focusing on the potential for its use in the diets of ruminants.

The Council’s Mexico office has been conducting grassroots market development work for U.S. DDGS to small-scale ruminant producers in Southeast Mexico. The Council started working in this region in 2015, showing cattle producers how they could supplement their grass-fed cattle with U.S. DDGS and achieve faster growth rates and earlier-to-market cattle. At the beginning of 2023, Council staff spent time in the region sharing results of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) trials with ranchers in the area who had not been aware of the product and its nutritional components in their animals’ feed.

Later in the year, the Council and several industry cooperators conducted a Dairy Cattle Roadshow in Jaliso and Coahuila, the two largest dairy-producing states in Mexico. Through this program, the Council and its collaborators were able to reach a new market of end-users and open up the possibility of significant corn and corn co-product sales in the country. Dairy is a strong, growing industry in Mexico, and it is extremely important for stakeholders there to understand the quality and availability of U.S. feed grains as they expand their operations and increase output.

The work being done in Southeast Asia to promote DDGS in ruminant diets is ramping up across the region. The Council’s team is prioritizing education in the region due to the lack of understanding of DDGS use in animal feed. The team has worked to open a new pilot dairy demonstration farm and feed quality research lab in Thailand, while also working to bolster Indonesia’s dairy sector through hosting a series of seminars.