Export Training Seminar Draws Michigan Companies to Lansing

Welcome Brandon! New International Marketing Student Hired

Michigan Exporter Database

The Agriculture Development Division is in the midst of updating company contact information for the Michigan exporter database. The database includes companies that export agricultural based products and value-added food items. Company information is displayed on the MDA International website found at (http://www.mdainternational.com). Michigan companies in the database will also be informed of upcoming export promotions and opportunities. If you would like to be added to the database, please send contact information to Brandon Davis by email at davisbr@michigan.gov or by fax at (517) 335-0628.

International Trade Leads Available Online

The MDA International website (http://www.mdainternational.com) features trade leads qualified by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and MIATCO for a wide variety of markets across the globe. This is a great resource to find international buyers for various agricultural products, including both commodities and value-added food items. The trade leads are updated weekly and can be searched by date, geographic region, or product category. For more information, please contact Jamie Zmitko-Somers at (517) 241-3628 or zmitkoj@michigan.gov.

Online Export Training for U.S. Food Companies: Learning the export business just got easier!

Export Essentials Online is now available to help U.S. food companies understand the complex steps of exporting and how to integrate all the elements of the export transaction. Created by the Mid-America International Agri-Trade Council (MIATCO) and Food Export USA-Northeast, the online education center consists of ten modules. Companies can determine their export readiness, research and target their top markets and create an export marketing strategy, all at their own pace and time.

"Export Essentials Online is a series of integrated training modules designed specifically for value-added food companies in the United States. It combines the marketing activity of export with the operational procedures needed to compete successfully in today's global food market," explains Dennis Lynch, counselor of the MIATCO and Food Export USA-Northeast's Food Export Helpline and author of Export Essentials Online.

1. Exploring Export Options
2. Market Research
3. The Export Marketing Mix
4. Strategic Planning
5. International Marketing Activities
6. Pricing, Quoting & Terms of Sale
7. Logistics & Physical Distribution
8. Documentation & Procedures
9. Payment Methods & Strategies
10. Exporting- A Business of Details

The chronological pattern of the modules can assist companies who are just beginning to export to companies who are already exporting. Users can identify the module they need or take the entire course.

Export Essentials online will be available to U.S. food companies for $20 per module, $50 for four modules, $75 for seven modules or all 10 modules for $90. Companies can register with a credit card at www.exportessentials.org or can contact MIATCO (312/334-9200) or Food Export USA - Northeast (215/829-9111) to pay by check. Companies can click here to access the participation agreement online.

For more information on Export Essentials Online, please contact Liz Urban, MIATCO, communications coordinator at 312/334-9217 or lurban@miatco.org.

2005 Michigan Wine County Magazine

Michigan Wine Industry Annual Meeting

Skip Pruss, Deputy Director, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, spoke to the group about issues related to water use and discharge

Members of the Michigan wine industry gathered at Crystal Mountain Resort on March 3-4, 2005 for their annual meeting, organized by the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council. Over 180 attendees participated in sessions covering marketing, viticulture, and business practices. A pre-conference workshop on hard cider, reports from the Council and a meeting of the winery owners were other highlights of the meeting. The Michigan Licensed Beverage Association provided training on responsible service of alcohol for 31 tasting rooms' staff in a post-conference session. This training is required for staff of wineries opened after July 2002. Tabletop displays featured recent research on the Michigan Wine Experience. Brick Packaging, Saxco Canada, Booth Newspapers/ Michigan Live, Criveller Company, and Stanpac generously sponsored the meeting. More information on the Michigan wine industry is available at www.michiganwines.com.

Defining the Michigan Wine Experience

The Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council recently conducted research to identify and describe consumer perceptions of Michigan wines and the Michigan wine experience. The research determined which elements are the most powerful motivators for consumer support of Michigan wines and wine touring. The purpose of the study was to create a shared vision of the Michigan wine experience that describes valued tangible and intangible experiences for consumers. By documenting a shared vision, the industry (individual wineries, groups of wineries, WineMichigan and the Grape and Wine Council) may effectively develop products and services and plan promotional activities to attract customers.

Results:

The Michigan Wine Experience offers experiences that are distinctively Michigan in character. These experiences are defined by elements of:

• Place
• People
• Product

These elements are reflected in the many benefits consumers receive when they are exposed to the Michigan Wine Experience. Perceived benefits can be felt by consumers through a distinctive sense of Place (eg. diverse tourism experiences, unique terroir), People (eg. interesting and dedicated people, a history of wine production) or Product (eg. regional wine style, good accompaniment to food).

The Michigan wine industry can appeal most effectively to their audiences by using consumer benefits statements based on these elements to define marketing messages to prospective customers. The following are examples of consumer benefit statements that should be considered by members of the industry in planning their marketing messages:

When you taste a Michigan wine, you…

...will enjoy wines with unique regional style

When you visit a Michigan winery, you…

…have the opportunity to taste a number of different wines at one visit

When you support the Michigan wine industry, you…

...celebrate the bounty of Michigan's fruit industry

More information on this consumer research project of the Council is available by contacting Linda Jones at 517 373-9789.

Michigan Farm Market, U-Pick & Ag Tourism Directory

The U-Pick Directory is the most popular publication distributed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture. In previous years, MDA staff mailed the directory to thousands of individuals at their request. We also shipped cartons to businesses that requested multiple copies of the directory for distribution at their location.

If you have questions about the U-Pick Directory, call MDA's Agriculture Development Division at (517) 241-1207.

MDA Receives USDA Grant for Feasibility Study on a Soybean-Biodiesel Production Plant

MDA submitted an application in early February to USDA Rural Development for a Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) and will receive $65,000. It is for technical assistance to conduct a feasibility study and preliminary business plan development as well as to rapidly assess the development opportunities for a soybean crushing and biodiesel production plant in Wheeler Township, Gratiot County, Michigan. MDA is conducting the project along with the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee, Michigan Corn Marketing Committee, Capital Area Producers Cooperative (CAP Co-op), Michigan Farm Bureau and Gratiot County Farm Bureau, Greater Gratiot Development and MSU Extension/Gratiot County along with several individual farmers and agri-businesses. The CAP Co-op has its headquarters in Mason, as well as their subordinate elements, being the Capital Area Innovative Farmers Organization and Mid-Michigan Buyers Group. The CAP Co-op is a 501©7 organization consisting of 23 agricultural producers of corn, soybeans and other commodities, from various mid-Michigan counties, including Gratiot County.

MDA and its partners are exploring the possibility of a private business establishing a soybean crushing (SC) and/or a crude soybean oil processing, refining and esterification plant (SOPREP) or only a refined soybean oil esterification plant (REP) in Gratiot County, Michigan. It is their objective to produce a finished biodiesel fuel product (B100) that meets standards specified under ASTM D-6751, prior to use as a commercial fuel or being blended with petroleum diesel fuel. It is expected that the annual capacity of the contemplated biodiesel production facility would be 5-10 million gallons. MDA doesn't know the feasibility of its three options on an industry group building a manufacturing facility that produces neat biodiesel and other associated products and needs a professional study of the SC and/or SOPREP or only REP options. If any of these are proven feasible, it is estimated that between 10 and 60 full time jobs will be created by this new small and emerging, rural private business. These job numbers are the range from three nationally recognized consultants who provided competing bids on this feasibility study proposal.

The recommended firms to conduct the feasibility study are REMCO LLC and DeSmet Ballestra. These two firms will also prepare a preliminary business plan, if the initial study demonstrates feasibility. They were successful bidders in a competitive bidding process of national firms vying to do the study last winter. MDA and others will rapidly assess the development opportunities and challenges for Biodiesel Plant Production in Wheeler Township, Gratiot County, Michigan. As the study progresses, further alternative sites may be identified by MDA and others for REMCO and DeSmet Ballestra to study as a result of such factors as proximity to lower cost feedstock or end-product markets, if the Gratiot County fully integrated project is not feasible.

The primary project area of interest is in the Gratiot County Renaissance Zone area in Wheeler Township and near McClelland Road. Gratiot County is a prominent agricultural county in mid-Michigan that is an economically depressed rural area. Wheeler Township has a population of 2,785 people.

The partnership's ultimate goal is to foster and sustain small rural farm business establishments and other rural businesses to examine the development opportunities of new emerging, soybean-biodiesel processing business operation in Wheeler Township of Gratiot County. Michigan small farmers and processors in the target area desire to participate in value-added processing business ventures and market their soybean commodities through a profitable value-added processing business. If they can sell their soybeans to a nearby soybean-biodiesel fuel processor, higher bids for their commodities and lower feed costs to livestock and poultry feeders who purchase protein concentrates may result. Value-added processing business ownership opportunities to small farmers may emerge. While the feedstock for the proposed biodiesel plant is expected to be primarily refined, virgin soybean oil, it is the intention of MDA to be flexible and obtain corn oil, recycled cooking oil from restaurants, yellow grease, animal fats from rendered livestock and other vegetable oils as secondary feed stocks for the biodiesel manufacturing facility. Without profitable, value-added markets, the future of Gratiot County's agricultural industry is dismal. Putting the Gratiot Renaissance Zone property into a productive use that provides basic value-added agriculture manufacturing investment and employment is a crucial step toward assuring mid Michigan's long-term economic viability and community growth. The State of Michigan recognized the social and economic challenges facing Gratiot County and Wheeler Township back in January 1, 1997 when following extensive community planning and economic development meetings, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Strategic Fund Board of Directors approved their Rural Renaissance Zone application and designated a "Gratiot-Montcalm County Renaissance Zone."

Background on Michigan's Ethanol and Biodiesel Situation
Biobased products are non-food, non-feed agricultural chemical products provided as raw materials for various industries. The U.S. government has set the goal of tripling American use of bioenergy and biobased products by the year 2010. U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that meeting this goal could create $15-20 billion a year in new income for farmers and rural America and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions. The growth in consumption of ethanol and biodiesel fuels, both nationally and within Michigan, has grown significantly over the past five years. As new production facilities are constructed to meet this expanding biofuels use, particularly here in Michigan with Caro's new Michigan Ethanol LLC facility now in operation, it behooves us to be keenly aware of the Michigan energy markets for the supply and demand of products coming from such facilities. New 50 million gallon a year ethanol plants are also being studied to be built in Michigan with some likely to break ground later this year.

While no biodiesel esterification/production facilities currently exist in Michigan, several organizations have made the switch to using soy-based biodiesel fuel in their fleet. These include the U.S. Postal Service, USDA, Michigan Department of Management and Budget, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, St. Johns Public Schools, Ithaca Public Schools, Zeeland Public Schools, the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Consumers Energy and others. An assessment of market demand for biodiesel fuel in Michigan will also be undertaken in cooperation with the Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee, Michigan State University Extension and others.

Both state soybean processors, Zeeland Farm Soya and Thumb Oilseed Producers Cooperative, have soybean oil refineries and Zeeland Farm Services now has storage and distribution for biodiesel fuel. As Gratiot County is situated midway between Michigan's two soybean oil processors, a development opportunity may exist there and should be analyzed if feasible biodiesel fuel demand exists or is forecast to soon exist in Michigan. Finally the Wheeler site appears to possess many of the developmental infrastructure pre-requisites that a commercial biodiesel manufacturing plant needs, including a nearby soybean and corn production base, railroad service, all-season road network, nearby access to natural gas pipeline, a willing labor force and other items. It does not have refined soybean oil or other feedstocks, but these could be available from various soybean oil processors and others. Perhaps a closer relationship with an existing soybean processor in Michigan would be better than building another soybean crushing facility in mid-Michigan. Presently no biodiesel fuel is produced in Michigan, although the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee states that 2003 biodiesel fuel consumption is 1 million gallons, more than double the 2001 consumption, and expected to grow rapidly.

While the feedstock for the proposed biodiesel plant is expected to be primarily refined virgin soybean oil, it is the intention of the MDA and its partners to be flexible and obtain corn oil, recycled cooking oil from restaurants, yellow grease or animal fats from rendered livestock as well as canola oil and other vegetable oils as feed stocks for the biodiesel manufacturing facility. Future demand and production of biodiesel fuel blends for the Michigan and U.S. automotive and truck industry also need to be examined with both the federal and state administrations interested in alternative fuels.

View the Executive Summary from the report:
"Feasibility of a Stand-alone Biodiesel Plant"

To obtain the complete electronic file of the MDA Biodiesel Feasibility Study, please send a check for $10, payable to "State of Michigan," along with your name and mailing address to:
    Robert Craig
    Michigan Dept. of Agriculture
    Biodiesel Feasibility Study
    PO Box 30017
    Lansing, MI 48909.
A CD will be sent to you with Phase I and II of the Final Biodiesel Feasibility Study.

2005 USDA--Federal State Market Improvement Grant Applications

MDA submitted five proposals for federal funding to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service's "Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program" for the current fiscal year. Usually MDA learns in late summer whether or not it is successful in receiving federal funding from USDA-FSMIP. Following are the proposal titles, along with the primary proponent, which also provided at least equal matching funds for each project:

1. Determining Optimum Niches for Fresh Eastern Apple Varieties for Mexican Consumers and Produce Wholesalers; by Michigan Apple Committee
2. Development of Corn Oil-Containing Auto Engine Lubricants; by Michigan Corn Marketing Program Committee and MMI.
3. Developing a Knowledge Map for the Chestnut Industries Product Development; by the Midwest Nut Producers Council and Michigan State University Horticulture Department.
4. Developing Blueberry Production and Storage Strategies for Marketing in the Fall; by Michigan State University Horticulture Department and Michigan Blueberry Growers Association
5. Growing Food System, Economic Development: Strong Farms, Healthy Cities, High Quality Jobs in Southeast Michigan; by Michigan State University Extension, University of Michigan Business School, Wayne, Washtenaw, Jackson, Lenawee, and Monroe counties.

International Promotion Calendar

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