One of the U.S. Grains Council’s most powerful tools for building ties with foreign customers is its ability to arrange on-farm visits that immerse teams in the real world of U.S. agricultural production.

“Having teams visit our farms and see how we do the production helps them to understand that we can provide the grain they need,� says Roger Zylstra, an Iowa Corn Growers Association director who has welcomed many groups to his grain and hog operation.

“It’s also extremely valuable to build those relationships with teams,� he says. “Personal relations with suppliers are especially important in regions like Asia.�

Most recently, the Council arranged farm visits for Taiwanese and Chinese teams bound for the World Pork Expo – an experience that participants said they will remember all their lives.

Duane Carrow, a hog and grain farmer from Marshall, Minn., hosted the Taiwanese team.

“We gave them a tour of our crop production equipment and our grain storage and load-out facilities and a look at our swine nurseries,� Carrow reported. “We happened to be loading some corn to ship out, so they had a chance to get a handful and talk about the yields and quality, and I was able to explain the environmentally friendly way we grow our crops. It really brings home for them how the United States is the best place in the world to grow corn.�

Carrow also arranged for the group to visit a neighbor’s family-run farrowing facility for what he calls “a really good down-home tour� and to meet with animal nutrition experts from Marshall-based Ralco Nutrition.

“We brought them back to the house for a backyard barbecue with pork ribs. A couple of neighbors joined to share the camaraderie and build friendships. It’s important for our customers to meet real farm families,� Carrow said. “It’s important for us to demonstrate that we care about our product and our customers.�