Indiana Agricultural Trade Mission - May 2007
Germany and the United Kingdom
May 14th - May 19th, 2007
Governor Daniels and state economic development officials are currently leading a trade mission to Europe. Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller and ISDA Deputy Director Beth Bechdol, as well as leaders of the hardwoods industry, are among the delegates. You can follow the progress of the Governor’s Trade Mission by reading Andy Miller’s daily blog.
Sunday, May 13th - Day 1
We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, early Sunday morning to lovely weather and great hospitality. We are staying in an older part of Frankfurt, a city well known for its dramatic architecture, and we had the opportunity to explore some today. We ventured to their Skyscraper Festival, being held again for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. The festival was full of acrobatic performances and great fireworks displays.
We also spent time today getting to know the other members of the delegation, who represent a wide variety of business interests and backgrounds from all across the state. Our first official event was a dinner hosted by leaders from the state of Hessen. We enjoyed a lovely meal with many new potential business contacts in a 500-year-old restaurant near the city center. We would certainly have difficulty coming up with that kind of history in Indiana.
Beth and I depart early tomorrow morning for a full day of events. We are most excited to tour Germany's version of BioTown, USA - a small village called Juehnde with about 750 residents. We'll also join Ray Moistner, Executive Director of the Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association, and Dave Bramlage, Sales Manager of Cole Hardwood, Inc., in Hamburg for meetings with key hardwood industry contacts and importers.
- Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller
Monday, May 14th - Day 2
We left Frankfurt very early this morning by train to Goettingen, about two hours northeast of Frankfurt. While the rest of the delegation made their way to Stuttgart to have a timely tour of the Daimler-Chrysler plant given today’s announcement, Beth Bechdol and I spent several hours in the small village of Juehnde - otherwise known as Bioenergiedorf or Bio-Energy Village (a.k.a. "BioVillage").
Sound familiar? It should...BioVillage is the German version of Indiana's very own BioTown, USA in Reynolds. Juehnde has about 750 residents and is the first village in Germany to produce its complete heat and electricity supply from bioenergy.
Project planning began in 1998 and the village officially reached self-sufficiency in energy production in June 2006. The project is carried out by the University of Goettingen and is financially supported by the German Ministries of Agriculture and Energy.
We were completely struck by the similarities in planning for BioVillage and its approach to generate energy. Community support was one of the most critical factors in choosing Juehnde.
There were 17 interested villages in the area who wanted to earn the title of "BioVillage" – four eventually competed for the distinction through an evaluation process and Juehnde ultimately was selected. The sources of biomass are all agriculturally based and include manure (from about 450 cows and 1,000 pigs), crops of all different species (a total of about 300 hectares) and wood chips (about 300 tons) each year.
The primary motivation for creating BioVillage matches squarely with that for BioTown, USA - energy self sufficiency and sustainability. However, the next most critical objective for BioVillage was to protect the area's environmental resources and plant diversity and deal with impacts of climate change. In contrast, BioTown, USA focused next on economic development opportunities for rural communities. What was so striking was that despite these different motivations, both approaches culminated in the same system and model.
We had the opportunity to share the story of BioTown, USA which was equally impressive to our hosts. We hope to solidify a partnership between the two communities - perhaps even explore a sister-city relationship. I'd encourage you to learn more about BioVillage by visiting the website (you may need German translation assistance) at http://www.bioenergiedorf.de/
We left Juehnde and traveled again by train two hours northwest to Hamburg where we met fellow delegates Ray Moistner from the Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen's Association and Dave Bramlage from Cole Hardwood, Inc. They spent the earlier part of the day in meetings with several hardwood importers and are confident that sales of Indiana hardwoods will come from reaching out to these businesses. We ended our day in the beautiful port city of Hamburg at a dinner hosted by Cole Hardwood for a few German hardwood industry leaders. We learned much about their existing business relationships and German market dynamics - I'm confident more Indiana hardwoods will be in Germany very soon.
Tuesday, May 15th - Day 3
ISDA Deputy Director Beth Bechdol, Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association Executive Director Ray Moistner, Cole Hardwoods, Inc. Sales Manager Dave Bramlage and I left Hamburg early this morning and flew south to Duesseldorf where we met a few other members of the larger delegation. We were about to tour a large biodiesel facility in the area called New Energy West (NEW), a joint venture owned by Thywissen, Bunge, Diester and RCG Ag Cooperative.
The approximately 26 million gallon facility was located in the middle of a large chemical/industrial park that totaled 9 square km and employed more than 9,000 people. The biodiesel plant occupied a surprisingly small square footage but was four- to five-stories in height and had a total staff of about 19. Much of the oil used to produce the biodiesel was rapeseed oil with a small amount of soybean oil also going towards production.
Following the tour, we had a chance to relax (albeit for a brief moment) along the Rhine river and enjoy what really was a beautiful day in Germany. We then traveled to the State Ministry of Economy in Nordrhein-Westfalen and met up with the rest of our Indiana delegation and the Governor. At the State Ministry of Economy we participated in a joint Roundtable Discussion on biofuels. We shared developments and more importantly motivations behind biofuels and alternative energy production in each of our states and had a great discussion on potential future partnerships in this area. We were joined by an esteemed group of political officials from the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, as well as private sector leaders.
- Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller
Wednesday, May 16th - Day 4
We left Germany this morning after two very successful days. As we look back on our time here, we believe we had key accomplishments in three important areas. First, we had discussions on critical policy issues such as biotechnology, farm policy, the U.S. Farm Bill and important trade matters with key German leaders and business people.
Next, we clearly enhanced and strengthened our partnership opportunities in bioenergy and renewable fuels. The German government fully supports the development of renewable resources and has launched various research and development programs. The annual budget of the German Renewable Resources Agency totals 53 million Euros, ($72 million) and most of the renewable fuels programs are either exempted from gasoline taxes or given significantly lower tax rates compared to fossil fuels. Governor Daniels was able to share Indiana’s viewpoints on biofuels and bioenergy with German leaders during the Bioenergy Roundtable in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Germany’s “BioVillage,” the equivalent of Indiana’s BioTown, USA, also gives Indiana a unique partnership advantage in the bioenergy arena.
Indiana’s hardwoods industry was our second focus area while we were in Germany. We are confident that we will have direct sales as a result of the many meetings we had and contacts we made during our two-day visit.
Germany is one of the world’s largest importers of food and agricultural products. In 2005, German imports of agricultural products (including forest products) totaled $64.9 billion. While Germany accounts for 20 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports to the EU, the United States’ share of total German agricultural imports was only 2 percent or $1.3 billion (mostly soybeans, almonds, raw tobacco, seafood products, and alcoholic beverages).
This morning we began the second half of our trip with a 2-hour flight to London. Our hotel is The Churchill in a famous part of London near Hyde Park and other familiar landmarks. It has been raining in London for two weeks, so we hope we bring a change to more pleasant weather during our stay.
We leave Germany with a better understanding of their agricultural industry, which represents 1.1 percent of their gross domestic product and employs more than 823,000 workers. Germany is a major agricultural producer of dairy, hogs, cereals, forage plants, cattle, nursery products, poultry and eggs, vegetables, sugar beets, wine and oilseeds.
While the number of farms in Germany has declined to 388,000, production has actually increased through more efficient production methods. Although there are still many small farms with only 5-25 acres, the average farm size is about 109 acres overall.
The delegation had a free evening, so everyone took advantage of it to see different parts of London. Some delegation members visited a pub for a traditional fish and chips meal; others took advantage of shopping in stores like Harrods; and finally others attended wonderful musical productions.
We are very excited to begin our discussions here in the United Kingdom, which will center on policy issues and pursuing more hardwood discussions.
- Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller
Thursday, May 17th - Day 5
Today was our first day of business in London and it was jam-packed. We began with a breakfast briefing by key members of the U.S. Embassy who gave the entire delegation an overview of the political, commercial, agricultural and cultural scene and issues in London.
Much of the discussion centered on the announcement that Gordon Brown would succeed Tony Blair as the next Prime Minister. Unlike in the United States, the Prime Minister is selected by the members of his political party in the House of Commons. Elections for parliament are held when the Prime Minister calls for them or at least every 5 years. Also somewhat surprising is the fact that the Prime Minister has tremendous autonomy in appointing his cabinet and determining the structure of government.
Following the briefing we traveled with Besa Kotati, U.S. Minister Counselor for Agricultural Affairs, and Steve Knight, U.S. Agricultural Specialist, to our meetings. The first meeting was with Martin Haworth, Director of Policy for the U.K.’s National Farmers Union (NFU). NFU is the leading agricultural organization and is very similar to the American Farm Bureau. While our meeting spanned a wide range of topics, the bulk of it was spent discussing biotechnology and trade. NFU shared that biotechnology is becoming increasingly supported by U.K.’s farmers, particularly as demand for key products like corn, soybeans and rapeseed skyrocket. However, NFU reiterated the common theme we have heard elsewhere: consumer acceptance still remains very mixed. Discussions on trade centered mostly on the impact to both U.S. and U.K. agriculture. Unlike the United States, where there is a clear market opportunity with expanded free and fair trade, the U.K. ag sector will see little impact. This is because almost all of the products produced in the U.K. are consumed domestically. Therefore, the NFU indicated that this sometimes makes it difficult to convince U.K. farmers that concessions on domestic support for new trade opportunities are a good thing.
Our next stop was a lunch with Duncan King, Program Director for Europe’s division of the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC). Mr. King shared an overview of the current market conditions for American hardwoods, which is strongly driven by a growing demand for high-end wood products. This is due in part to an aggressive effort by AHEC to educate architects throughout Europe on creative ways of using hardwood in their designs. Mr. King applauded Indiana’s efforts to build international trade relationships and meet the specific demands of the international market, particularly with the issuance of the State’s Sustainability of Forest Practices study.
Our last meeting was with Callton Young, Director for Sustainability and Competitiveness, and Lynn Insall, Manager of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, both of whom are with the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) which is very similar to the U.S. Grocery Manufacturers Association. Here again much of our time was spent discussing biotechnology and other new technologies. FDF relayed that much of the pressure in the United Kingdom comes from retailers who have in some cases made outright commitments to sell no products containing GMOs. FDF indicated that this is increasingly difficult given higher prices for non-GMO raw materials like corn and the growing demand for competing uses like energy. We also spent much time talking about the definition of sustainability. FDF shared an interesting study that they just completed which showed the energy required to bring a product to market. This was done given that many U.K. consumers assumed that more energy was required for imported products. The exact opposite was found to be true.
We ended our day by attending a reception held by the U.S. Embassy for Governor Daniels, where we had the opportunity to meet many investors and other business leaders.
- Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller
Features
- Disaster Relief Information
- Governor Daniels' Property Tax Plan and Agriculture
- 2008 Indiana Farmers’ Market, U-Pick and Agritourism Directory
- Indiana's Vision for Conservation
- Indiana Land Resources Council Model Ordinances
- We All Live Downstream Event Schedule
- Conservation Photo Contest
- 2008 State Fair
