U.S. Grains Council (USGC) officers and key staff traveled throughout India and Myanmar last month to examine the potential for development and U.S. grain sales in those growing and complex markets.

USGC Chairman Chip Councell, a farmer from Maryland, and Vice Chairman Deb Keller, a farmer from Iowa, also had the opportunity to help open a new dairy research and training facility in Kaira District with a uniquely Indian tradition of cracking the coconut before revealing a plaque naming the building.

The project is being carried out with the support of USGC and the Kansas Corn Commission and in cooperation with Amul Dairy, a cooperative that has brought millions of smaller Indian dairy farmers into a collection system over the last six decades.

The goal of the facility is to provide space for both research and training focused on dairy production efficiency. Scientists have space to do feeding trials with dairy cows to determine how best to raise them so they can enter the milking herd more quickly, at approximately 24 months of age versus 36 months of age. There’s also space for local training activities.

The photos in this essay explore that experience and the partnership USGC is building in India to help local farmers become more efficient and profitable dairy producers using high-quality feeds.

In this video, Councell “cracks the coconut” before pulling a decorative curtain to reveal a plaque commemorating the opening of the new project building.