U.S. Grains Council Chairman Rick Fruth and Senior Vice President of Operations and Industry Relations Keith Heffernan will host a news conference at the Commodity Classic event in Anaheim, Calif., Friday, March 5, 2010. Fruth and Heffernan will announce “Partners in Agriculture� events and activities and discuss the Council’s involvement.

The “Partners in Agriculture� events will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Iowa-Yamanashi Sister State relationship, which sparked the USDA’s cooperator programs, the famous “hog-lift� and the start of the U.S. Grains Council.

The “hog lift� experience helped lay the foundation for the Council, which set up one of its first international offices in Japan in 1961. There are now approximately fifty cooperators active in the Japanese market.

Japan is the perfect example of how the partnership between USDA and cooperators has been one of the most successful public-private partnerships in the United States, facilitating billions of dollars in U.S. agricultural exports and creating millions of jobs. Today, Japan is largest commercial market for U.S. feed grains, pork, wheat, potatoes and rice, and will return to being the largest market for beef. It is also the world’s largest net importer of consumer-ready food products. Japan’s purchases have been essential contributors to the health of the U.S. economy and will continue to be critical for U.S. agriculture.

For more information about “Partners in Agriculture,� check out www.partners-in-agriculture.org. The news conference will be held from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. in room 213-D, Anaheim Convention Center. The Council will also host booth #633 at the Commodity Classic trade show.