Saudi Arabia feed grain buyers visit Minnesota corn farm

A team of six feed grain buyers traveled from the sands of Saudi Arabia to the farm fields of Southeastern Minnesota on Tuesday, Aug. 19, to get an up-close look at a Minnesota corn farm.

Most people think of Saudi Arabia as a desert, but it has regions where farming is possible. The country is also home to a handful of large dairy operations, including Almarai, the largest vertically integrated dairy company in the world.

You can find poultry and beef operations, too, as well as crops such as wheat, barley and sorghum.

So far this marketing year, which ends on Aug. 31, the U.S. has exported 37.4 million bushels of corn to Saudi Arabia.

Cary Siferath from the U.S. Grains Council traveled with the buyer’s team to Minnesota. The team included officials from three large Saudi dairy operations that collectively milk about 250,000 cows. A representative from Saudi Arabia’s largest feed company was also part of the group.

“We’ve seen U.S. corn market share come back up in Saudi Arabia,” Sifferath said. “We want to build on that. It’s important to have these corn importers come to the U.S. and meet with corn producers directly.”

The six-member team visited Marty Amundson’s farm in Zumbrota, Minn. Marty farms with his family and is the former Chairman of the Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council.

“From the farmer’s perspective, it’s beneficial to meet with foreign buyers to not only learn more about what they want from our product, but also develop relationships that help open additional markets for Minnesota corn,” Amundson said. “The team had a lot of good questions and I was proud to show them what corn farming in Minnesota was all about.”

Sifferath shares more details about the visit and U.S. corn in Saudi Arabia in the below radio interviews:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjoX4zNVQQ&feature=youtu.be