fas

The Imperial Foods noodle factory will soon open its doors in Douala, Cameroon, thanks to the truly international collaboration between public and private partners. Cameroonian entrepreneur Ahmadou Danpoulo Baba teamed up with U.S. Wheat Associates’ offices on three continents, the North American Millers’ Association, the American Soybean Association, the private voluntary organization International Relief and Development, and USDA to conceive, design, and build Imperial Foods, which will soon employ 130 workers, mostly women.

The Waters family farm in Orrick, Mo. had a few unusual guests last week when dozens of African ministers came to learn about their corn, soybean and wheat farm. To embrace the 9^th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum’s theme, “New Strategies for a Changing World,” the organizers made some innovative changes, splitting the forum between Washington DC and Kansas City, Mo. Why Kansas City?

This week, I traveled to Ottawa to meet with Canadian trade group leaders as well as Gerry Ritz, the minister of agriculture in Canada. As part of these meetings, we discussed agricultural trade issues that both of our countries face and opportunities for collaboration. In between meetings, I had the opportunity to participate in the tasteUS! Culinary Showcase. This event took place at Ambassador Jacobson’s residence and guests included Canadian media, buyers from Canadian grocery chains and food establishments, and U.S. cooperator representatives in Canada.

By John Brewer, Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator

As our group sat near the strawberry fields, in Jutiapa, Honduras, it was hard not to be impressed with the positive outcomes stemming from a USDA grant in 2006. On Tuesday, June 29, I inaugurated the “Biotechnology and Food Security” Conference and later that day I found myself in the strawberry fields—I’ll get to those in a minute.

By Dan Berman, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service

By Janet Nuzum, Associate Administrator for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service

By Janet Nuzum, Associate Administrator for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service

Photos and blog courtesy of Kathy Beisner, Public Information Coordinator, Delaware

One of USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) most noteworthy programs, the Cochran Fellowship Program (CFP), is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The CFP provides U.S.-based agricultural training opportunities for senior and mid-level specialists and administrators from public and private sectors concerned with agricultural trade, agribusiness development, management, policy, and marketing.

John Brewer, associate administrator and general sales manager for the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of USDA recently paid a visit to the students of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (CHAS) to see firsthand the value of agriculture education. The school was excited to have Mr. Brewer visit the school as one of the many special events for students, who were embarking on a month full of agricultural education events including the World Food Prize in Des Moines and the 82^nd Annual National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.