Colombia: America’s fifth-largest corn buyer, with upside on the horizon
Written by Jonathan Eisenthal
Jim O’Connor knows about growing corn and about raising animals. That’s why the Blooming Prairie farmer and past Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council (MCR&PC) chair can really connect with overseas corn buyers, when he travels as a representative of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC).
In mid-January O’Connor spent time in Colombia, meeting with livestock farmers and representatives of the feed-grain businesses who supply the country’s fast-growing beef, swine and poultry production industries.
“One of the things they really count on is that we are a reliable supplier,” O’Connor said. “They want to know that they can always get corn for their animals.”
In August, O’Connor began a two-year term as leader of the USGC Western Hemisphere Advisory Team. He traveled to Colombia with team member Jim Douglas, a corn and soybean farmer in Indiana, to help maintain and grow America’s fifth-largest destination for corn, after China, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
O’Connor and Douglas accompanied USGC staff to meetings in Medellin, Bogota and Bucaramanga. They also met with Casey Bean, agricultural representative of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, who is stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota.
“What our Colombian buyers want to hear from us is how our corn is grown, so we do PowerPoint presentations on our farms,” O’Connor said.
The conversations also covered sustainability in U.S. farm practices, which gave O’Connor the opportunity to talk about the research investments made by MCR&PC. Perhaps most important to these feed grain and animal producers are issues that directly impact the quality of the corn: how is the corn dried, handled and stored? How is quality maintained while it is in transit from New Orleans to Cartagena?
With a free trade agreement in place, the U.S. and Colombia currently spend $8 billion in trade. Major Colombian products bought by America include fruit, coffee and chocolate. They are also the largest overseas supplier of cut flowers to the U.S., O’Connor reported.
“I told the folks we met with that I would come home and tell everyone to buy flowers for Valentine’s Day,” O’Connor said.
Taking advantage of O’Connor’s and Douglas’ presence, USGC staff presented a report called “Colombia: 2040.” Food wholesalers and retailers, as well as poultry, swine and cattle industry representatives, were polled to gauge the market’s growth potential. The outlook is very good, O’Connor was told. Colombia has undergone an economic transformation that has brought with it demand for better food from its consumers.
As part of its mission of expanding international markets for corn farmers, Minnesota Corn has long supported USGC. To learn more about USGC and its work, visit grains.org.
