The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) recently led a group of Japanese corn millers to visit the U.S. corn value chain in Kentucky, with a focus on new and young buyers to introduce them to the quality, availability and leading conservation practices that underpin U.S. corn production. Participants learned about the Council’s CSAP program and SCE web platform, tools available for buyers to receive assurances of the rigorous standards U.S. corn products are grown with.
USGC Director in Japan Tommy Hamamoto spearheaded the group and USGC Director of Global Sustainability Carlos Suárez joined to give an overview of the CSAP’s role in benefitting international customers.
“Japan enjoys a strong trade relationship with the U.S., and there is growing interest among Japanese buyers and end-users, especially food manufacturers, in food production due to consumers’ concerns. It is important for the Council to show them U.S. farming practices help pass healthy farmland to their children and grandchildren,” Hamamoto said.
The team visited an array of farms working under a corn, wheat and soy rotation, where buyers were able to appreciate advanced resource-saving farming technologies and conservation practices.
Other stops included deep dives into other applications for feed grains, like distilling, to give buyers a wider range of knowledge of U.S. corn’s quality and safety. The delegation also met with a conservation group to discuss the latest tools and technologies farmers have at their disposal to increase yields and reduce input costs like water.
“Mature markets around the world have a serious interest in their goods being produced in an environmentally conscious way, and showcasing the leading conservation practices implemented by growers such as those we met in Kentucky prove U.S. corn’s reliability at a relatively low impact for the global marketplace,” Suárez said.
“The CSAP promotes the work growers are already doing and lets customers, in Japan and elsewhere, feel safe in their choice to choose U.S. corn.”
Learn more about the Council’s work in Japan here.
About The U.S. Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union. The Council believes exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture’s profitability. Detailed information about the Council and its programs is online at www.grains.org.