The third edition of the USAPEEC Americas Expo was in Bogotá, Colombia, on Nov. 9-10 with the sponsorship of the Nebraska Soybean Board, National Turkey Federation and with the support of the Office of Agricultural Affairs of the Embassy of the United States in Colombia. This event was designed to strengthen relations between importers from South America, Central America and the Caribbean with exporters of poultry products and U.S. egg products.
The two-day, in-person event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel featured technical presentations, a trade show, and a trade reception with importers, exporters, commodity group members from Kansas and Indiana, USDA officials, and an official welcome from U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg.
Several directors and staff from the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC) attended the Expo. Among those were ISA farmer directors Nancy Cline, Kirklin, Ind.; Jim Douglas, Flat Rock, Ind.; and Carey McKibben, LaGrange, Ind.; and ICMC farmer-director David Ring, Huntingburg, Ind. ISA and ICMC CEO Courtney Kingery and ISA and ICMC Senior Director of Grain Production and Utilization Ed Ebert also attended.
“We visited supermarkets where we saw various methods for promoting poultry products, including samples, brochures and more,” Cline said. “One unique concept was a promotion in a fitness center by an individual who interacts with people oneon-one. Information is projected via video, as well. I realized the importance of building in-person relationships.”
Indiana corn and soybeans are a primary feed ingredient for egg and poultry producers.
“There’s a huge push in Colombia for turkey consumption,” said Ring, who also raises turkeys on his Dubois County farm. “We went to a really large store, probably three times the size of a Sam’s Club, and they had a lot of advertisements up encouraging turkey consumption.”
He said aquaculture is another major user of U.S. soybeans. “I was amazed at the fish production that they had down there,” Ring said. “I sat with a guy who was known as Mr. Tilapia for South America. They raise five different species of tilapia, and they buy a tremendous amount of soybeans.”
The event started each day with educational seminars. The first day featured Dr. Gerardo Casco, who talked about “Poultry meat processing for value-added products.” Casco is an agronomic engineer from the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana in Honduras with a master’s and doctorate degrees in poultry science from Texas A&M University. On the second day, poultry market analyst Mark Jordan led a discussion on the “Prospects of the world market for poultry and other proteins.”
The trade fair offered more than 150 importers from the region to meet with 17 companies of exporters of poultry meat and eggs from the United States that strengthened commercial relations. Twenty USAPEEC members and special guests also participated. USAPEEC hosted a reception, which was attended by the United States Ambassador to Colombia, Philip S. Goldberg, and USAPEEC President Jim Sumner. The entire event took place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bogotá. The next edition of La Americas Expo will be in May 2022 in Lima, Peru.
