Chinese trade team gets up-close look at Minnesota's corn harvest
A Chinese corn and dried distillers grains (DDG) team traveled to Minnesota on Friday and Saturday to walk in a Minnesota corn field and visit businesses that play an important role in driving our state’s agriculture — and overall — economy.
Saturday was another beautiful fall harvest day on the Thalmann family farm in Plato. Brian, now the operator of the farm that has been in the Thalmann family since 1877, hosted the 13-member Chinese team for a tour and overview.
The team drove their black passenger bus directly onto one of Brian’s corn fields for an up close look at a combine and grain cart in action. For many of the team members, it was the first time they’ve seen an American corn field and held an American corn cob in their hands.
“These visits are a great way for us as farmers to meet face-to-face with current and potential foreign customers,” said Brian, who estimates that over 400 foreign visitors have toured the Thalmann family farm since the late 1970s.
Before visiting the Thalmann farm, the team stopped at the CHS river terminal in Savage. The terminal can store over 550,000 bushels of corn and sends about 30,000 barges annually down the Minnesota River to the Mississippi, and, eventually, to the Gulf of Mexico.
The team was able to see grain trucks unloading corn that will eventually be transported via rail during a visit to the United Farmers Co-op shuttle facility in Brownton on Friday.
Before traveling to Brownton, the Chinese team talked DDGs and exports with Renewable Products Marketing Group, an ethanol marketing company in Shakopee.
There was also a visit to the Interstate Mills feed mill in Hayfield. Interstate’s facilities in Hayfield and nearby Owatonna are capable of producing 470,000 tons of swine feed annually.
Since the summer of 2013, the Minnesota Corn Growers Association has teamed with the U.S. Grains Council to host foreign trade teams from Taiwan (twice), Morocco, Saudi Arabia, China and Japan. The visits help strengthen current foreign markets for Minnesota corn and develop new marketing opportunities.
