By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — For those who have grown up in the Midwest, it seems hard to imagine what farming would be like in Peru, Chile or Columbia.

The equipment, technology, infrastructure and government regulations all completely vary from the United States. Farm newspapers, however, aren’t much different and serve similar customers.

Last week a group of international journalists visited the state of Indiana to create a global angle on Hoosier innovations in agriculture and bioenergy.

As part of the U.S. Grains Council International Media Tour, focusing on biotechnology, eight journalists from Columbia, Chile, Peru, Taiwan, Japan and Korea made a two-day visit to Indiana.

In coordination with the Indiana Soybean Alliance, the group toured Fair Oaks Dairy in Fair Oaks, Ind., Iroquois Bioenergy in Rensselaer, Ind., Beck’s Hybrids in Atlanta, Ind. and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Melanie Batalis, director of external public relations for the Indiana Soybean Alliance said that the international group wanted to visit Indiana to learn about the state’s growing bioenergy and agriculture industries.

To initiate the visit to Indiana, “the U.S. Grains Council called Alan Kemper who is very involved on a national level with the U.S. Grains Council and is part of their biotechnology team,” said Batalis. “Then Alan called us and we organized the trip in Indiana.”

Prior to stopping in Indiana, the group attended the Bio International Convention, biotechnology conference in Boston, Mass. from May 5-8.

The Bio Convention entertained nearly 22,366 attendees, 30 percent of whom were international.

Indiana’s largest dairy

The group arrived the evening of May 8 in Indianapolis and prepared for a full day of activities on May 9.

During the first stop to Fair Oaks Dairy, the international attendees learned about the cheese-making process, anaerobic digestion, cow care and housing facilities, as well as nutrition and feed requirements for dairy cows. Fair Oaks Dairy is the largest dairy operation in Indiana and quite possibly one of the largest in the country, according to farm manager Carl Ramsey. The farm is owned and operated by Den Daulk and Mike McCloskey and is home to 30,000 dairy cows located on 10 separate sites around Fair Oaks, Ind.

Edmer Tovar is an agricultural economics reporter from Columbia.

“Farms in Columbia are much smaller and most do not process their own milk,” said Tovar. “This is a very significant farm.”
The group also visited the farm’s feed mill and grain storage facility located north of the main farm and tour center.

Ramsey explained his duties and many of the operating procedures required to manage the grain facility.

“Fair Oaks farms 13,500 acres in this area, 6,500 in corn, 3,000 in
alfalfa and the balance in beans, ditches and CRP land,” said Ramsey.

“And that is not even enough to feed our 30,000 dairy cows, we still have to buy from outside.”

For their second stop, the group toured Iroquois Bioenergy, an ethanol plant in Rensselaer, Ind. with an annual capacity of 40 million gallons. The plant began producing ethanol, using Indiana corn, in January.

During their tour, they learned about the plant’s daily operations, the process of making ethanol from corn and generally about the ethanol industry in the state of Indiana.

On May 10, the energetic group of international journalists geared up for a second day of activities.

Beck’s shares mission

To begin the day, the group toured Beck’s Hybrids in Atlanta, Ind., the sixth largest seed company in the United States.

During the visit, participants toured Beck’s processing, packaging, storage, research and greenhouse facilities at the site. While touring the greenhouse facilities, Kevin Colbert, greenhouse manager for Beck’s mentioned the company’s plans to triple the 9,000 square-feet of greenhouse space to a total of 27,000 square feet.

Also, Kevin Cavanaugh, research director for Beck’s explained the company’s process of creating a Beck’s Hybrid seed using licensed genetics from companies such as Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Dow, BASF and Bayer.

Beck’s president and CEO Sonny Beck also briefly joined the group and shared the company’s vision “to be big enough to get the job done, yet small enough to do it right,” further emphasizing Beck’s focus on their market area in Indiana and surrounding states.

Beck answered questions relating to international sales and future plans to expand beyond Indiana.

“We have no problem with our corn going to other countries,” said Beck.

“Right now, we really want to focus on expanding our business in Indiana and providing service better than any other company in our market area.”

World’s largest auto race

The group wrapped up the day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Participants enjoyed the luxuries of the equivalent to a backstage pass at the Speedway, touring the garages, pit and also, relaxing in the GM suite located just above turn one of the track.

The pit and garage pass led the group right beside drivers Sam Hornish Jr., Dan Wheldon, Marco Andretti and Jeff Simmons.

“We don’t have anything like this in my country,” said Pablo Correa, a journalist in charge of science, technology and environment for El Expectador in Bogota, Columbia.
“This is really exciting.”

The group also entertained a presentation from Indycar Series Ethanol and Promotion Council representative Mark Walker, who discussed the transition of every Indy racecar on the track this year to fuel up with 100 percent ethanol.

“This is the largest sporting event in the world, attracting up to 400,000 people on race day alone,” said Walker. “We have proven that 100 percent ethanol can be used in high performance vehicles, therefore it can be used in consumer vehicles.

“We will be highly promoting ethanol here at the track this year and have the opportunity to reach a lot of people with our message.”

Once the tour concluded, the international group of visitors plans to return to their home countries and compile stories about their visit and tour stops in Indiana.

“We have enjoyed visited Indiana so much and learned a great deal about your state and agriculture lands,” said Eduardo Moraga, a journalist for the Revista del Campo, the agribusiness section of El Mercurio, the largest newspaper in Chile.