Two groups of farmers recently experienced a unique opportunity to see both a U.S. grain customer country and competitor market country during the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC) Grain Export Mission (GEM), held Nov. 30 to Dec. 13.

One group composed of U.S. barley and sorghum producers traveled to Mexico and Argentina, where they met with contacts looking to expand their businesses in part by using U.S. grains.

Mexico is consistently a top market for U.S. barley, taking more than 100,000 metric tons (4.6 million bushels) during the 2013/2014 marketing year. Even with this strong demand for U.S. barley, the Council believes there is potential for additional exports to serve the country’s up-and-coming microbrewery sector.

Like many artisanal producers, microbreweries are generally fiercely proprietary about recipes and loyal to established suppliers and product origins. The Council has been actively exploring opportunities to engage this growing sector in Mexico and expose the brewers to U.S. exporters of malt and malting barley. Capping off this trip, a GEM participant from Montana who produces barley is in the process of sending samples of U.S. barley to Mexican craft brewers he met on the trip to create sample drafts.

A second group of participants traveled to Colombia and Brazil to observe local conditions, trade opportunities and constraints and to meet with local contacts, including farmers. This trip is described in depth in an audio interview available here. 

Both GEM groups completed their missions in Panama where they visited the Panama Canal, which is in the process of being expanded. When complete, the expansion will solidify Panama’s unique global logistical advantage and provide opportunities for bigger vessels to efficiently transport grain around the world.

More about the GEM trip was reported about in a prior edition of Global Update, which is available here.

You may also click here to view more photos of the mission.