$1 Billion Success in Brazil For U.S. Wheat

Nov 24, 2014

U.S. Wheat Associates' education and engagement with millers in Brazil helped generate $1 billion in sales during the 2013/14 marketing year on a $100,000 investment. Read the full story here.

Year after year, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) tells the story of reliable, high-quality, American-grown wheat to Brazilian millers. This paid off last year when they could not import enough wheat from Argentina and their government suspended a 10-percent tariff on wheat from the United States.

When the tariff was lifted in April 2013, USW brought representatives from Brazil's largest milling company to Manhattan, Kan., to visit the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center, the International Grains Program, the USDA Center for Grain and Animal Health Research and a local wheat farm.

Over the next few months, USW sponsored seminars in Brazil for flour mills and purchasing managers, providing technical and market information.

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Video: Finding a Balance of Innovation and Regulation - Dr. Peter Facchini

Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.