Adrienne's Eisenhower Fellowship Blog

July 23 - Tchau

2010-06-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

Today I begin my travels home. I fly from Belo to Sao Paulo to NY to Boston. I will arrive in Boston tomorrow morning.

As excited a I was for my travels and my meetings, I am more so excited to return home to my family and to absorb all I have learned and experienced!

Thank you to everyone who has supported and helped me have this opportunity!

June 22 - Embrapa

2010-06-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

My final meeting was with Fellow Antonio Purcino of Embrapa. Having already had an overview of the extensive reach of the work Embrapa is doing in Brazil and globally, we spent time talking about:

the global agenda of sustainability
importance of agribusiness research for Brazil as a society
the change of the role of a agribusiness research center to focus on many areas
the continued struggle of the small family farm to keep up technologically and economically
global demands for research and innovation

It was a wonderful way to wrap up my travels!

www.embrapa.com.br

2010-06-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Not the best shows for a farm tour (especially the milking parlor) but no time to change today!

These eucalyptus are only 2.5 year old!

June 22 - EPAMIG - Experimental Station

2010-06-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

In the afternoon, I visited with Maria and Octavia at the Experimental Station. They are working on many projects with breeding and genetics. However, the project I have continued to hear about during my travels is their work around restoring degraded lands. They have created a multi planting system to restore degraded pasture land. The process is to take the poor land, plant eucalyptus in set spacing, then in year one plant either corn or millet. The corn can be used in its state or for silage to feed the cattle. Eucalyptus grows very quickly and provides a shading for the plantings. In year 6, the trees can also be forested and they will grow back! When the corn is harvested or silaged, the area can be replanted will millet for small animal grazing. There is no tillage which allows for nutrient maintenance and reduced soil erosion. Tomorrow is their field day - when researchers from other countries will visit about implementing a similar system. The project is only a few years old but has had great success especially for small farmers who were loosing pasture lands for their animals.

SECTE

2010-06-23T06:26:00.001-07:00

Gislaine, me, Josiano by the Inovatec posting (www.simi.org.br)

June 22 - Secretary of State, Science, Technology and Higher Education

2010-06-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

I met with a group of researchers and leaders from the Secretary of State of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Minas Gerais. They presented information on the active role the institute and government is taking on innovation, technology and partnerships in Minas. They have a strong number of highly educated and skilled people and have been trying to connect their capacities with the business market.

SECTE has established international partnerships and agreements with Italy with energy and automotive, Germany with nanotechnology, France with environmental management, sustainable materials, dairy production, Portugal with recovery of degraded land, Australia with mining, water management, sustainability management and Chile with mining. This year they will host their annual innovation research event - Inovatec - which brings together innovation companies, R&D professionals, Universities, government, investors, venture capitalists and business to form business relationships. The theme of the 2010 Conference is Clean Energy and the World Cup 2014 (there are many business opportunities for companies in work to prepare and host the World Cup). The 2010 partnering country is the US. Visit http://www.simi.org.br/ ...they are excited for the opportunities and, if you know anyone interested, please let me know. I can get you in touch with Cynthia.

In speaking with the group, they shared with me information about four of the "poles" (centers) of excellence around coffee, dairy, cattle genetics and biotechnology. The other "poles" of excellence are: biofuels, biotechonology, environment/forestry, milk/dairy, mineral/metallurgy, electronics, telecom, hydric resources, software. They are doing extensive research to implement new technologies, research, opportunities, trainings for improve production and market opportunities.

Also attending our meetings was Fellow Josiano Gomes Chaves who through his work with the Government in the health care area works with SECTE. After our meeting, Josiano and I went to lunch to discuss our Fellowships and opportunities.

2010-06-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

Marcos and two of his PhD students who are working on prosthetic hands through increased finger mobility and the use of prosthetic gloves. Of the 101 patents at Federal University of Minas Gerais, Marcos has 30!

July 21

2010-06-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

I met with Fellow Marcos Pinotti. Marcos is a neuro-vision engineer who I met during his trip to the US in Philadelphia this spring. However, to say he is an engineer is incorrect. He is working on numerous projects which I had an opportunity to learn about today. I brought him some cranberry products that he would like to use for bioloigical research. He is working on PDT - photodynamic therapy which uses dyes and light (red or infrared) in many applications - dental care, cancer, bacteria, fungus... Using PDT allows the researchers and application to use less harmful/more natural treatments at low doses in a localized area.

Cranberries

2010-06-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

I did find cranberry juice and dried cranberries in the store. The dried were terrible!!! I brought Craisins to the BBQ...everyone loved them :)

2010-06-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

Myrthes and Leo

Brazil 3 - Ivory Coast 1

2010-06-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

I joined Myrthes, Leo and their friends for the futbol/soccer game and a BBQ. It was at their friends' flat that had an open court yard with the outdoor kitchen. The gathering is similar to home but the cooking very different. The men all gathered in the outdoor kitchen/bar and cooked every kind of meat - pork, chicken, lamb, sausage and ever kind of beef going. They served sliced meat the whole game, before and after. For a sweet, Myrthes brought small ice cream cones that you filled with dulce de leche - (thick sweet milk). It was a wonderful time and fun to be included. Brazil will play again on Friday but I will be back in the US.

2010-06-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

Ready for the game

View of the city

Myrthes and I in Pope Park
Don't worry...I went back to my hotel to put on my Brazil shirt for the game!!

View looking up from Pope Park at a private homes against the mountains. The other size of this mountain is ...nothing...they have mined it so it is not a mountain on the other side just straight down!!!

Myrthes ordering some meats at the Central Market for the BBQ this afternoon.

This is cigar wrap...tobacco leaves. You can purchase it like to to roll your own cigars.

Festa Junina

Peppers...

Myrthes and Marco in the Central Market

Honey, dulce de leche (we call in carmel but this is much less chewy and tough)

Sunday, June 20 - Belo Horizonte

2010-06-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

This morning Myrthes and Marco (my translator from Rio and friend of Myrthes) picked me up to go the Central Market. Imagine a huge flea market that sells miscellaneous items, all types of foods - cheeses, meats, spices, candies, liquor stores, animals (yes, live animals - chickens, birds, fish, dogs, cats) and has small counter top bars! It opens on the weekend at 4am and many people go here on there way home after a night of partying for another beer or something to eat.

At the market, we bought many things to bring home for my family to try, drank cold coconut milk and fresh pineapple. Today is GAME day...they cit is getting ready for the Brazilian futbol game at 3:30 so the streets are already coming to life with horns, everyone in green and yellow. Soon all the shops (including the mall) will close until after the game or tomorrow .... depending if they win or loose!

While were in the market, they also had a celebration for Festa Junina. Festa Junina (Junine Party), typically termed São João (Saint John's) as it is centered on that saint's day, is the name of annual Brazilian celebrations (historically related to the Midsummer and Saint John festivities in Europe) which take place in the beginning of the Brazilian winter. These festivities, which were introduced in the country by the Portuguese during the colonial period (1500-1822), are celebrated in the whole country, but are particularly associated with Northeastern Brazil. The feast is mainly celebrated on the eves of the Catholic solemnities of Saint Anthony, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Peter.

As Northeastern Brazil is largely arid or semi-arid these popular festivals not only coincide with the end of the rainy seasons of most states in the northeast but they also provide the people with an opportunity to give thanks to Saint John for the rain. They also celebrate rural life and feature typical clothing, food, dance (particularly quadrilha, which is similar to square dancing). The "quadrilha" features couple formations around a mock wedding whose bride and groom are the central attraction of the dancing.

Men dress up as farm boys with large straw hats and women wear pigtails, freckles, painted gap teeth and red-checkered dresses, all in a loving tribute to the origins of Brazilian country music, and of themselves, some of whom are recent immigrants from the countryside to cities such as Olinda, Recife, Maceió and Salvador, and some of whom return to the rural areas during that season to visit family. However, nowadays, São João festivities are extremely popular in all urban areas and among all social classes.

If you are American, you have flash backs of square dancing in school!

After the market, we took a ride around town to Pope Park (overlooking the city) and through many neighborhoods. Of course, we did stop for cheese bread.
"Pão de queijo” is typical Brazilian (originated in Minas Gerais) and it’s a delicious snack, which can be found at every “lanchonete” in Brazil. They are gluten free and are eaten at EVERY meal and as a snack.

2010-06-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

Governor's Home

Alta Vila (looks like the Seattle Space Needle...it has a restaurant, club)

Myrthes and I

View from the deck

Christi (Myrthes' brother) and Myrthes

Outdoor kitchen

June 19 - Belo Horizonte

2010-06-19T19:15:00.001-07:00

Today I left Brasilia for Belo Horizonte (Beautiful Horizon) in Minas Gerais (general mines). This is the third largest state behind Sao Paulo and Rio. It is known for its mines - gold, ore, iron, and stones. You can see them from the airplane as you fly in. People here refer to themselves as Mineras (from Minas). Women out number men 10 to 1 and they are confident they have the most beautiful women in all of Brazil.

I was invited to spend the afternoon with Myrthes, one of the program coordinators in Brazil, her husband, brother, his wife and friends. We had a wonderful day at their home in the mountains. It was breath taking. Her brother cooked a tradition stew of corn and ribs (on the outdoor stove), cod sausage and lamb. I felt like I was with my family .... who I am missing terribly!

Tomorrow is another World Cup game so we will do a bit of touring in the morning and then get ready for the game!

July 17- Ministry of Agrilcutre - Dept of Agribusiness International Program

2010-06-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

I returned to the Ministry of Agriculture later in the afternoon to meet with the Director of the Department of Agribusiness International Promotion. He provided me with a complete overview of Brazilian agriculture - where they are growing what crops, how much, expansion, and more. Again, we discussed the challenges of a poor infrastructure system.

Some sustainable agricultural programs and initiatives we discussed included:

flexible fuels
clean energy alternatives - half of Brazil's energy comes from sugar cane (burning the mass for energy purpose), biomass and hydraulic/electric
integrated crop-livestock-forestry production system
no tillage system to save fuel, prevent soil erosion, improve water retention, reduce carbon gases, long term productivity improvement
two and three crop productions
alternative chemical techniques
adoption of micro basins as the basic planning units for rural areas
new crop varieties
buyers receiving tax exemptions if they purchase the crops of small farmers from poorer regions
introduction of mechanized farming practices
legal restrictions on land utilization - in the Amazon a farmer must keep 80% of his/her land in legal reserve and only farm 20%. If it has been previously cleared, he/she must replant. Other areas vary with reserves between 20-35%. Additionally, it is mandatory to preserve river banks, areas around lagoons, lakes, or water reservoirs and peaks.

These steps will continue to strengthen Brazil's agricultural potential. Again, many of their agricultural industries such as ethanol are young and have not come close to meeting their capacity. Brazil land resources, technology and investment capacity are rare and have tremendous potential with cautious advancement. The Ministry of Agriculture sites its top goal as protecting the environment.

Below is a bit of information on Brazil to help keep things in scale:

area: 8,514,000 km2 (5th largest)
population: 191.3 million (5th largest population)
GDP: US $1.6 trillion (10th biggest economy)
Per Capita income: US $8,ooo
2009 Exports: US $159 billion
2009 Imports: US $136 billion
Agriculture and livestock areas make up approx. 30% of Brazil's territory mainly in the southern and central regions

Brazilian Exports:

Product /Export in US$ billions

Sugar /8.378

Coffee/ 3.762 (major threat is Vietnam who is exporting Robusto coffee which is used for instant; Brazil exports this as well but Arabica is what we mainly import)

Orange Juice / 1.619

Soybean/ 11.413

Beef /4.118

other top exports include tobacco, ethanol, chicken, corn

July 17 - US Embassy, Brasilia

2010-06-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I met at the US Embassy with members of the Foreign Agricultural Service - the Agricultural Attaches and Assistant Secretary of Economics.

Our meeting started with a discussion I have heard many times since arriving in Brazil, the challenge of infrastructure and the limits and economic hardships it places on producers. Brazilian agricultural is growing rapidly with a 9% increase in Q1 of 2010 alone. Though this pace is not expected to continue, the transport problem will. It is estimate that approximately $1 billion USD is lost annually because of lack of transport or increased cost. The cost of transportation is estimated at 50% of value of the crop.

The Secretary felt the GDP investment should be around 4% to meet with the current needs. The other transportation challenge lies in the "Green Belt" an area comprised of the Southern Amazon, State, Federal and Indian Preservation lands that transportation cannot cross through and must travel around. Work is under way for a East to West rail (5-10 years); the current North to South rail is owned by a mining company and has limited use and expansion capabilities. Many farmers are excited about the completion of the BR163- a route that should greatly reduce costs. The current model for transportation is a multi transport approach - truck to barge to train; truck to train to truck...... The additional stress of this type of transport is the lack of cold storage. Therefore, many crops risk being destroyed. Transportation will be the main hindrance in the rate of agricultural growth.

Soy has experienced rapid growth with investment by large buyers - ABCD - Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, Dreyfus. With pressure from Greenpeace, Brazilian soy has implemented the Soja Plus program. The programme will add to a separate initiative in Brazil (Soy Morotorium) that prohibits the sale of soy produced on newly deforested land in the Amazon rainforest in the far north. Nearly all Brazil's soy is grown in the southern half of the country.
Soja Plus/Soy Plus
Soy farming has been indirectly blamed for deforestation by spreading over pasture land and pushing ranchers north into the Amazon region, but government figures show the planted area has been stable since around 2003.

As an additional incentive to growers considering switching to the costlier farming methods Soja Plus requires, banks keen to promote environmentally and socially sustainable business may consider offering cut-cost loans.

The entities that developed the label include Abiove, the soy and corn producers' association in the state of Mato Grosso and the industry-funded Ares Institute for Responsible Agribusiness.
The plan will also contribute to entities' strategic aim of avoiding loss of foreign custom were buyers to impose sustainability criteria of their own for Brazilian soy imports.

Antoher challenge facing agriculture is around certification. The biggest issue with the certification is that there are many that exist and there is not one clear standard making it especially hard for small farmers to comply and survive. The FAS would like to see one standard that can be agreed to.

In a country where 80% of the population lives in the coastal area and 5% of the population have 80% of the weather, reaching the rural areas is critical for social change. The Brazilian government has a program called Bolsa Familia.
Bolsa Família, roughly translated as "Family Stipend" or "Family Grant" is a part of the Brazilian governmental welfare program Fome Zero (Zero Hunger). Bolsa Família provides financial aid to poor and indigent Brazilian families on condition that their children attend school and are vaccinated. The program attempts to both reduce short-term poverty by direct cash transfers and fight long-term poverty by increasing human capital among the poor through conditional cash transfers. It appears to benefit the younger generation the most though supporting family members also improve their life quality.

The program is a centerpiece of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's social policy. Bolsa Familia is currently the largest conditional cash transfer program in the world, though the Mexican program Oportunidades was the first nation-wide program of this kind.[4]

The Bolsa Familia program has been mentioned as one factor contributing to the reduction of poverty in Brazil, which fell 27.7% during Lula's first term in government.About 12 million Brazilian families receive funds from Bolsa Família.

Given all the activity and opportunity in Brazil, there is alot of foreign investment occurring especially given that foreign investors can be land owners without Brazilian partners. Many industries are still young - like ethanol. The presence of Brazilian agriculture is tremendous and will continue to grow but at what rate will depend on continued investment.

July 17- Brasilia - site seeing

2010-06-17T16:54:00.001-07:00

Presidential Home

National Congress of Brasil - this side has the Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber of Deputies comprises 513 federal deputies, who are elected by a proportional representation of votes to serve a four-year term. Elections are based on a complex system of proportional representation by states. The seats are allotted proportionally according to each state's population, but each state is eligible for a minimum of eight seats (least populated) and a maximum of 70 seats (most populated).

To the left is the Federal Senate - The Senate represents the 26 states and the Federal District, and its members are elected by a majority of the votes.

Cathedral

July 17th

2010-06-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

Between meetings, I had about an hour and a half to explore a bit of Brasilia. I thankfully had a wonderful driver who was very knowledgeable on Brasilia and spoke perfect English after living in the UK for 12 years. After struggling for days with my Portuguese, this was a welcome sound :)

I got see the Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia. On 12th September 1958, the Cathedral’s cornerstone was laid. The Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia is an expression of the architect Oscar Niemeyer. In 1960, the Cathedral’s structure was finished, and only the 70 m diameter of the circular area and the 16 concrete columns were visible. These columns, having parabolic section and weighing 90 t, represent two hands moving upwards to heaven. The Cathedral was dedicated on the 31st May, 1970.
Evangelists sculptures Four bronze sculptures 3 m high, representing the Evangelists, can be seen at the external square in the entrance of the Temple. These sculptures were made with the help of the sculptor Dante Croce, in 1968.
Inside the nave, three sculptures of angels are suspended by steel cables. The smallest angel has 2,22 m of length and weighs 100 kg. The medium one has 3,40 m of length and weighs 200 kg. The big one has 4,25 m of length and 300 kg weighs. The sculptures were made by Alfredo Ceschiatti, with the help of Dante Croce, in 1970.
Having an oval form, the Baptistery has its walls covered by a panel of ceramic tiles painted in 1977 by Athos Bulcão. If you stand at the end of one wall, you can talk into the wall and hear it on the other! The local architecture is completed by a bell tower. Its four big bells were donated by Spain. (see pictures)

I also saw the Congress/Senate building, Presidential residence, and the JK Bridge.

The Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge, also known as the President JK Bridge or just the JK Bridge, is a steel and concrete bridge that crosses Lake Paranoá in Brasília. It links the southern part of the lake, and St. Sebastian Paranoá the Pilot Plan (or the central and original part of the city), through the Monumental Axis. Inaugurated in December 15 of 2002, the structure of the bridge has a total length of crossing of 1,200 metres, a width of 24 meters with two carriagewayswith three lanes in each direction, two walkways on the sides to use cyclists and pedestrian 1.5 meters width and length total span of 720 meters.

It is named for Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, former president of Brazil, who in the late 1950s decided to build Brasília as the new capital of the country. It was designed by architect Alexandre Chan and structural engineer Mário Vila Verde.[2]

The main span structure has four supporting pillars submerged under Lake Paranoá, and the deck weight is supported by three 200-foot-tall (61 m) asymmetrical steel arches that crisscross diagonally. The decks are suspended by steel cables alternating at each side of the deck, interlacing in some kind of twisted plane (parabolic like). The entire structure has a total length of 1,200m.

2010-06-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Ministry of Agriculture, Secretary of Agricultural Development and Cooperatives

July 17 - Ministry of Agriculture- Development and Cooperatives

2010-06-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

My first meeting today was with the Ministry of Agriculture's Secretary of Agriculture Development and Cooperatives. We started with many questions on what is a cranberry, how is it grown, .... The challenge is that cranberry and vine do not translate to Portuguese. After a bag of Craisins and, of course, coffee, we had a wonderful discussion of some very exciting work they are doing here.

We discussed the history of the cooperative structure in Brazil. Cooperatives started 100 years ago in Brazil. In the 1930's, the government role with cooperatives was to inspect the principles of the structure. 1950-1960s, the government formed a bank to lend money to producers and help cooperatives. The mid-1960s-1988 the government increased its influence with cooperatives to move farmers forward. However in 1988, the new Constitution stopped the Government from intervening with cooperatives. The government no longer provided funding to cooperatives but provided (and still does) training and technical assistance (production methods, exporting information, research) to the cooperative members. In 1998, SESCOOP was formed. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.ocb.org.br/&ei=FqoaTMiIEMOAlAfB-cnLCg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsescoop%2Bbrazil%26hl%3Den
SESCOOP is a private organization funded with some public monies (retirement fund monies) to help form cooperatives of small producers. Most of these cooperatives are found in the South of Brazil while the North, Northeast and the Amazon have the fewest number of cooperatives.

Today some new changes approved by Congress (Cooperativism Plan for Brazil) have allowed the Government a more active role with cooperatives. This plan looks at agricultural cooperatives and non - agricultural such as banking, housing, health care, and transportation.

In Agriculture, the Government would like to strengthen the cooperatives so that they can improve the trade and economic sustainability for their producers. A new National Program has experienced tremendous success with its two parts:

Gender Cooperatives - initiating women to form cooperatives - currently women mainly work in the production work (cleaning, packing)
Youth Cooperatives - bringing in a new farming generation

The approach of this program is customized to each region and its cultural and traditional differences. Between 2004-2009, the Gender Cooperative program has educated 26,000 women directly and 64,000 indirectly. This program has received international awareness for its great results and being the only cooperative program in the world to be dedicated to women cooperatives. The Ministry feels that bringing women into the cooperative model through education and decision making skills will help resolve some of the challenges of cooperatives. The main problem being the lack of control with ethics, financial participation and long term decision making.

The youth program has had such a large impact that they have privatized the program and have brought it into schools and offer a prize for students to form successful models sponsored by Banco Brazil.

The Ministry focuses on two important goals: social sustainability - creating jobs; and economic sustainability -helping create markets and profits. They shared the example of a Dutch cooperative operating in Brazil called Holambra, in flower production, that incentives the development of new cooperatives from generation to generation in a family. They help the next generation form their own cooperative and move into more rural areas where land is more readily available at a reasonable price. This type of development has led to improved infrastructure and an education system in these rural areas. As the government continues to struggle with education, the help these cooperatives provide is critical.

I will be interested to look at the long term success of the cooperatives in Brazil and what the government role will be.

Holambra Cooperative - (as mentioned above) Holambra is a farming and stock-rearing co-operative whose land, with a total area of 15,000 hectares/37,500 acres, extends over the communes of Jaguariúna, Cosmópolis, Artur Nogueira and Santo Antìnio da Posse. It was founded by Dutch immigrants who settled in Brazil in 1948. Combining hundreds of production units under a single roof, the co-operative was able to grow into the largest exporter of plants in Brazil. It also rears sheep, cattle and pigs and grows citrus fruits and grain.

2010-06-16T14:41:00.001-07:00

July 16- Brasilia

2010-06-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

I left Rio, 1 1/2 hour flight to Brasilia. Flying over the coastal area of Brazil was a beautiful mix of mountains and water. If you every fly, do it during the light hours so you can see this. It is amazing.

Brasilia is a planned city. Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, was inaugurated on April 22nd 1960, in the central area of the country. Just five years before, the area resembled a desert, with no people, scarce water, few animals and plants. The city was founded and executed in 3 years and 11 months!

President Juscelino Kubitschek, who became President in 1956, invited the best Brazilian architects to present projects for the new capital. Oscar Niemeyer, today one of the most famous world's architects, combined straight and rounded shapes to create innovative architectural masterpieces. Lucio Costa, reknowned Brazilian urbanist, devised a lay-out combining beauty, simplicity and functionality.

I have not seen much of the city as a I arrived later in the day but maybe between my meetings tomorrow I will see a bit more!

Leblon, Rio de Janeiro

2010-06-16T07:07:00.001-07:00

June 16 - leaving Rio

2010-06-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today I will leave Rio for Brasilia. I realized I have not provided much information about this area where I am - Leblon. Leblon (named after a French plantation owner, Le Blond, who owned this area) is an affluent neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, just west of Ipanema, another neighborhood in the city. In the north it is bordered by Gávea, and in the west by a towering hill called "Dois Irmãos", which translates as "two brothers", because of its split peak.

It is a beautiful area with many restaurants/street cafes, shops, markets and parks. It is a area safe to walk around. It has a wonderful beach front that is full every day of people walk, running, biking, people playing volley ball and soccer on the beach. Sometimes...they are even playing soccer over the volley ball net. Friends greet with two kisses, one on each cheek (as different than Uruguay with only the right cheek kiss).

People in Rio are referred to and call themselves Cariocas. Cariocas are known especially for their lighthearted attitude (Cariocas claim São Paulo is for work, while Rio is for play). They joke about everything, which can catch you off guard when some of the topics can seem a bit politically incorrect. Time is something they take lightly and don't worry about things...no worries.

I have truly enjoyed my time in Rio and feel very comfortable here. It is an amazing place and lifestyle by the water. I would say it is a not miss for travelers!

2010-06-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

At Conny's home for the game...she is on the left

Street vendors sell all things Brazil!

Brazil 2 - Korea 1

2010-06-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

I wish I could explain the extent of passion of futbol here! All meetings had to be done by 2pm so people could get ready for the game - stores, banks, etc. closed at 2 or 3 for the 3:30pm game. There is a massive movie theater screen set up on Copacabana Beach to watch the games. The streets were flooded with vendors of all things Brazil futbol! It would be like watching the Superbowl on the 4th of July!!!

I attended a home party with the step-mother a friend from the US. She graciously welcomed me into her home with her friends and family. When Brazil scored, the streets came alive - firecrackers, horns, cheers, etc. After the game, people remained to party but in a orderly fashion. They play again on Sunday where I will watch it with another friend in Belo Horizonte.

2010-06-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

Margardi buying Fava beans

This woman makes many cheese from free range goats on a 500 hectacre farm overlooking the water!

The Organic Market

July 15 - Slow Food

2010-06-15T18:22:00.001-07:00

Late morning, I had an impromptu meeting with Margarida Nogueira. A friend of Flavia's (Fellow 2004). Margarida is an amazing woman. She was a chef, owned two restaurants, has traveled the world studying food, and is now involved in bringing the Slow Food movement to Brazil. http://www.slowfood.com/
Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. To do that, Slow Food brings together pleasure and responsibility, and makes them inseparable. They have over 100,000 members in 132 countries.
Speaking with Margarida, I had a chance to share information about Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP). Please take a look at our site and if you are available, I recommend the Farm to Table Dinner on June 21st! :
http://www.umassd.edu/semap/
We discovered we share similar challenges:

distribution for small farmers
ensuring the economic viability for the small farm through market development
need to educate the general public on the importance of buying local as it pertains to social, economic and environmental factors
how to get restaurants to partner with small producers or adopt a farm to buy their products

Margarida and I walked through their first organic outdoor market in the park in Ipanema. The government has not financially offered support for these organizations so they struggle to fund programs without private monies. She is holding children's cooking programs where children 7-11 visit a producer, take the food back and cook. They then have a cooking contest of "heritage" dishes. Margarida people are loosing their "voice/culture" when they loose traditional food and cooking techniques for ramen noodles! We tried wonderful artisan cheeses, spreads, fruits, breads....fantastic! Unfortunately, US customs will not allow me to return with them or any of the amazing fruits.

After, Margarida brought me to a hidden restaurant that serves only organic items. It was a delight to spend time with her and I could have spent all afternoon if we did not need to be going by 2 to make sure we could watch the game!

2010-06-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

David Cleary, Nature Conservancy

the view from office of The Nature Conservancy

June 15 - Nature Conservancy

2010-06-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

This morning I met with David Cleary, Director, Conservation Strategies, Latin America. David is from England but has been living in Brazil for over 15 years. Ironically enough, David is moving to Arlington, MA (his wife is from Milton, MA) in July. David has taken a very enterprise focused approach to his work in Brazil. He works with companies' supply chains in agribusiness to ensure preservation the bio activity and development in Brazil.

Agribusiness in Brazil is very dynamic especially in Southern Brazil where there has been much mechanization and large investments made by enterprises. NC focus and concern has been land use and has been using GeoReference Producer Databases to satellite track changes that may be occurring to land development.

NC feels confident with the food safety and quality and the work to reduce carbon levels as regulated by the government to the producers who face the pressures of their buyers. However, Brazil has many markets who want their exports. Therefore, if a large or small retailer places barriers on a farmer (red lining) in regards to their practices, they will simply find another market. For example, exporting has increased to Russia, India, Saudi and Venezuela, as well as China.

NC is to working with the traders to implement change in land use. NC has had much success working with Cargill in implementing a the land use monitoring system. Other traders have not been so agreeable to work with and have faces pressures from other organizations such as Greenpeace. Brazil's government has worked with the producers to implement changes and technology systems.

Farmers in Brazil, like elsewhere, are conservative and take change cautiously. They must now change quickly to compete with large farm enterprises or be bought by one to be competitive as Brazil becomes the global agricultural power. Their ability and cost to produce - sugar/ethanol, soy, corn, soja, cotton, etc. are better than anywhere in the world. Though US and European subsidize and trade barriers keep their products out of competition.

David's opinion and work are not focused on the small producer or family farm, though there are still many in Southern Brazil. There is no public concern with the small farmers who are producing or being replaced by urban sprawl or large enterprise or with the Buy Local movement (will discuss more later).

Some areas of concern for David are around:

unfounded accusations of Brazilian agriculture - the lands of main concern are the Cerrado (Mid-North Country) which has much to offer for agricultural development not as much with the Amazon
the ability of the Conservancy to respond to the needs of globalization
need to establish a global sharing of best practices and program
organizations to work with Agribusiness to provide long term plans for production and environment
funding from the Conservancy - currently over 50% of their funding is from the US though they operate globally. David would like to see more in country funding.

I look forward to hosting David and his family at our farm when they arrive in the US. They love Craisins!!!!

2010-06-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

Central Theater - the city center is a beautiful mix of old world and new

Pedro Cabrao, Superintendent, Ministry of Agriculture, myself and Marco, translator

view of the Bay from the Ministry

Downtown Rio

Marcelo Ferraz, Superintendent Conab Rio de Janeiro (yes, that is President Lula in the picture behind us)

July 14 - Conab and Ministery of Agriculture

2010-06-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

This morning, my translator, Marco and I met with Marcelo Ferraz the Superintendent of the Rio de Janeiro office of Conab. http://www.conab.gov.br/

Conab's mission is to contribute to the regularity of supply and guarentee income to farmers, participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and agricultural supply. Their office works with the Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger. Conab works with farmers to protect a product price to secure their futures. They work to secure the existance of the smaller farmers. Once Conab purchases the output - grain, corn, soy, sugar cane, etc - it will sell them, contribute to the processing or distribute the food to the poor.

Conab would like to continue to expand its trade for its farmers. Changes in the US Farm Bill in 2011 may lead to a more open trade with Brazil and the US. Currently, they feel the fees to enter the US are too high to make their products economically feasiable. Other obstacles include the exchange rate to export; subsidizse that exist in the US and Europe making their imported products to costly.

Given, we had a good amount of time before our next meeting, Marcelo invited us to walk around the city and to lunch. We had lunch at the Naval Club. We had a local dish of a root vegetable with spices and shrimp and artisan cheese with guava for dessert. We had a wonderful time sharing stories and only to find out that Marcelo himself is a farmer!

After lunch we met with Pedro Cabral, Superintendent of the Ministry of Agriculture. Along with a spectacular view of the water from his office, he shared with us two of Brazil's programs. One on carbon offsets and the other on new planthing methods to increase yields. Brazil's agricultural out puts continue to grow at a high rate ranging from 20-40% by 2020.

The government is investing in having farmers replant 6 million hectacres (1 acre=2.47 hectacres) which will assist Brazil in reducing its carbon outputs by 10 million tons of carbon. New production methods are helping keep important nutrients in the soil and stopping farmers from burning off their crops (as how it was done) for replanting.

We spoke about concerns as Brazil becomes a larger global player. He feels there are several misconceptions of Brazil's agriculture:

July 13 - Rio de Janerio

2010-06-13T13:25:00.001-07:00

July 13 - Rio

2010-06-13T13:12:00.001-07:00

I had a "down" day today and a chance to catch up with alot of things. Being Sunday, the road along the beach from Leblon to Ipanema to Copacabana Beach is closed to cars. It is FULL of activity - bikers, roller bladers, walkers, joggers, bikers, kids, street vendors. On Sunday, all of the small shops are closed. Grocery, drugstores, restaurants and the mall are open but later in the day.

The activity at the street restaurants are hussling as friends gather for late lunches , at corner markets for coffee and at beach site "tents" for drinks. I did get to the beach for a coconut water. They sell for about $1.50/coconut. They cut an opening in the top of the coconut, stick in a straw and off you go!

Coconut water is the clear liquid inside young green coconuts. As the fruit matures, the coconut water gradually is replaced by the coconut meat and air. A very young coconut has very little meat, and the meat is very tender, almost a gel. Coconut water has long been a popular drink in the tropics, especially in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, such as Hawaii, and the Caribbean, where it is available fresh, canned or bottled. It is naturally fat-free and low in food energy (16.7 calories or 70 kilojoules per 100 grams).

Coconuts for drinking are carefully packaged and sold in many places. In Brazil, coconut water is called "água de coco," and is the second best-selling juice after orange juice. Coconut water can also be found in ordinary cans or tetra paks (and often has coconut pulp or coconut jelly added) and is also marketed as a sports drink because of its high potassium and mineral content. In fact, one cup-full of coconut water contains more electrolytes than most sports drinks and more potassium than a banana.

The taste is very mild and I found it delicous. People here consider it the best for hydration. I did find info that says "Coconut water is also used as an intravenous hydration fluid in some developing countries where medical saline is unavailable." I believe you can find this in the US but we just are not familiar with it.

July 12 - Dia do Namorados

2010-06-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

Last evening, I went to a dinner gathering with Flavia at her friend Valiria's flat by the Lagou (lagoon). There were about 10 of us who met to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Valentine’s Day in Brazil is known as "Dia dos Namorados" when lovers exchange gifts, flowers and chocolates. Valentine’s Day festival in Brazil features the colorful samba dance, folk music and lives performances by popular rock bands and singers. One of the major Valentine’s Day attractions in Brazil is that people decorate their houses and shops in an exotic way to make it look more beautiful. All over the cities, bright illumination displays are seen accompanied by marvelous night long parties and events.

Flavia is a writer of children's books (she has 6 or more published) and writes a children's television show. Her friends are mainly journalists, editors and publishers. Before coming to Brazil I read a section done by the Wall Street Journal on Brazil, I discovered one of the party goers, was the journalist who wrote two of the articles.

We arrived at the party at 10:30-10:45 (they have a very different schedule than the US). Dinner was served in a casual style in the parlor - mix greens with star fruit, risotto made with yucca juice and mushrooms, dessert was figs with cream and assorted chocolates including a chocolate made with cupuacu fruit (please see below on what cupuacu fruit is). We ate dinner around 11:45 and then relaxed in the parlor. Being all journalists and editors, a heated debate started on the political impact of the government giving monies to the poorest people of Brazil. They are doing so to stimulate spending and life quality....or they are doing it because there is an upcoming election. Though most of the evening was in Portuguese, it was a familiar scene to home and was very enjoyable.

Cupuacu Fruit From the Rainforest
The Cupuacu fruit tree is a small to medium sized three which can grow up to 20 meters and is found in the Brazilian Rainforest. The cupuacu fruit belongs to the cocoa family and is known for its creamy pulp, which is used in Peru and Brazil to make some desserts such as ice cream and tarts, and condiments such as jam.

Traditionally, cupuacu fruit has been used by the Rainforest natives as one of their primary food sources for many generations and the seeds of the cupuacu fruit have been traded in the past by the tribes living along the Rio Negro and Upper Orinoco rivers.

The cupuacu fruit has similar health benefits to the well-known acai berry superfood, although it is sweeter and less well-known outside of the Rainforest. It resembles an almond-shaped melon with a hard, fuzzy brown exterior similar to that of a coconut.

The cupuacu fruit tree requires a very hot, very humid environment for growth, and despite the hot and humid atmosphere in the Amazon Rainforest it ripens only in the months of January and February. Therefore, cupuacu fruit is considered in short supply in many areas of South America, which accounts for the increasing price of cupuacu in other parts of the world.

Please take a look at this site to see a picture and a bit more information on the health benefits. I am sure it will be only a matter of time before we begin importing it!
http://www.supercupuacu.com/

2010-06-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

I made it to Rio - Saturday, July 12

2010-06-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

I traveled this morning to Rio de Janerio. After being in the busy city of Sao Paulo, the beaches of Rio were welcoming. Rio is Northeast of Sao Paulo and about a 45 minute flight.

I am staying in an area called Leblon which is after Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches. It is beautiful with a long beach front. Copocabana and Ipanema Beaches are separated by the breakwater of the lagoon feeding into the beach.

I was delight that another fellow, Flavia picked me up at the hotel upon my arrive. We took a tour of the area, had a lovely lunch at an outdoor cafe (there are many) and then toured the Botannical Garden. I walked around this afternoon. The area has a neighborhood feel with a mix of stores, shops, restaurants and newstands. I mention the newstands because they all have tv's with large groups of people gathered (those who are not at restaurants) to watch the games. Argentina (rival) played Nigeria this afternoon and then US vs England. Copacabana Beach has huge jumbotron tv's set up on the beach to watch the games!

I am heading out to meet Flavia who graciously invited me to a dinner party with friends!

June 11- meeting with Josef Barat

2010-06-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

After visiting Pao de Acucar, I returned to the hotel to meet with Josef Barat. He is the former Secretary of Transports, Sao Paulo. He was a wonderful man and I much enjoyed talking with him. He is very knowledgeable on many areas and is still being called upon to assist with the future of transports in Brazil especially with the World Cup coming here in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. Being from Boston, I can appreciate the challenge of transportation with our "Big Dig."As technology is implemented, it is becoming outdated. Brazil recognizes it has much to invest in infrastructure should it want to be fully capable of moving people for these major events. The Federal Government spends less than 1% of its GDP on infrastructure which he feels should be at least 2.5%.

Brazil is a changing country with a very dynamic population. Currently, there is a trend for people to move out of the major city centers. 85% of the population live in urban areas with 40% of that in major metropolitan centers. This has caused increased traffic demands of 15-20%/year. (fortunately, the population growth here has leveled off to 1% annually) Brazil does boost the 2nd largest helicopter fleet for transportation behind New York. The two bottlenecks: lack of capacity and lack of financial resources at the State and Federal level. The government will provide private enterprise with concession for development if they invest in infrastructure.

When we discussed how this logistical challenge plays into agriculture, it is clear there is a major issue for producers to ship and export products. All shipments are sent by truck, including those leaving the country to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. It is a challenge for any small farms to send their products to larger markets.

We talked about a major shift in the "social fabric" of these rural areas as people look to establish community roots/connections. The Evangelist Church has been setting up in these small communities and acting as a center of connection. The Catholic Church (Brazil has historically had the largest Catholic population in the world) remains in the metro centers. I will be curious to see what role this will play in the development of social change.

Josef and I enjoyed a bit of time taking about family heritage and how Brazil, much like the US, is a melting pot of people and great diversity. He and I agree that it would be beneficial to establish education partnerships and exchanges with the two countries in all areas of economic, environmental and social growth.

This was my only free afternoon in Sao Paulo. I walked around a bit. The area where I am staying is much like New York's 5th Avenue...a shopping mecca made more alert because it is fashion week. I did have an opportunity to try the Acai drink they make here. It taste very different than in the States but is delicious. Tomorrow morning I will leave for Rio. This should be an interesting day to travel as it is Valentine's Day here tomorrow!

Pao de Acucar's first Green Store

2010-06-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

June 11 - Pao de Acucar

2010-06-11T15:09:00.001-07:00

This morning I visited with Helio of Pao de Acucar grocery stores (www.paodeacucar.com.br). He is the agronomist consultant I met at Hiromi farm in Mogi Das Cruzes. He had invited me to tour their first green store! He was very excited and proud to show me what they are doing to educate their consumer on being environmentally sustainable.

From pulling into the "green store" parking lot it is evident they are serious. In addition to handicap and senor parking by the door, they have premier parking for people with fuel efficient or ethanol car. In the parking lot, there is also a recycling program for their customers to recycle - glass, plastic, aluminium, paper, and cooking oil. Since there is not state program, Pao de Acucar has started there own. This has accelerated the development of the supporting industries.

The carts and baskets are made from recycled plastic and reuse able bags are encouraged. They also have immediate recycling at check out which means if you buy something that comes with alot of paper packaging, you can remove and leave the paper at the store.

In the store, there are constant educational signs about being environmentally conscience. There is information on the produce that is available. Again, from my post of June 9th, they have a produce tracking system that allows consumers to see exactly where each fresh produce item comes from. All produce is carefully displace, recipes offered for unusual items. Items are identified if they are local or organic. After its freshness date, produce is composted and sold back to their farmers. Again, this is a new business developed.

In the fish market, items are displayed fresh. After one day, fish is removed from the case and sold frozen. (you will be shocked by the pictures) Frozen foods are not popular here and only fill one case in the store.

The store also offers a section of items produced by small artisans that do not have access to large markets as part of their commitment to social development.

The market also offers a full cheese shop, a wine shop with a consultant, a prepared food market and....of course....a coffee and snack bar! They have just added a new line of items around health with a line of sports clothing, health drinks and powders and beauty items.

In sitting down with Helio, he admits the market is in the business to make money but they want to go about it in a socially and environmentally sustainable way. They are committed to educating their consumer. They look often at American and Global trends. I look forward to staying in touch with Helio to see the new programs they develop and how they can impact the economic success of their producers and communities.

June 10 - CAIT

2010-06-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

CAIT is an extension service of the Agriculture Secretary of State. They work under specialty programs with water management, preservation, land use and pollution reduction. They are financed by the World Bank and secured by the State Government.

They work directly with small farmers to help teach land use, best practices, productivity, introduce and sell new plant species (at a low cost) created by the Engineering School and advise them on improving the economic conditions/market viability of their farms.

Helping small farms (they define as with income of $5000-$120000 annually) remain econimically sustainabile is very important. For farmers making less than $5000/year, the Land Management Institute works with them to assist in land distribution to help them grow. Some challenges and opportunites we discussed:

helping farmers diversify their production
helping dairy farmers increase production and create value added products
assisting farmers to start cooperatives to negotiate for better pricing, improve transportation and market strength. Farmers are hesitant to adapt and accept the cooperative model but they are showing a tremendous success.
initiated a program that local schools much purchase 30% of their school food through small farmers

CAIT is able to provide farmers with lower interest loans to buy equipment (possibly offering 0% for three years or 3-5%). The one program technician (a train agronomist), visits the 1300 farmers in their area!

Farmers in this area face the pressures of urban development (pleaes see blog on my visit to the Knobels home). Land developers are offer a high price to farmers for their lands. Some farmers are selling and then trying enter the work world with limited skills. Others are moving out of the area to find other farming land at cheaper prices. The younger generation is leaving the farms looking for more appealing economic opportunities. This goes back to the goal of CAIT to create more economic sustainability.

The future success and work of CAIT depends on the Senate passing a "phase II" bill to continue there work.

Visit with the Knobels

2010-06-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

June 10 - meeting with Fellow Marcelo Knobel and his family

2010-06-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet with Fellow Marcelo Knobel and his beautiful family at their new home in Campinas. In this area, farmers are selling off their land for a high value for urban housing developments.

Marcelo and his family were warm and gracious hosts. They prepared a traditional Brazilian meal 0f soup (made with hearts of palms and a local vegetable), rice and beans (this is what most Brazilians eat every day), chicken, pork, beans, a toasted flour and fried yucca. It was delicous and I especially enjoyed the fried yucca. You can purchase it peeled. Then you boil it and fry it. It taste like a large yukon gold potato. We had a carmel flan, star fruit, mango and passion fruit for dessert. Seeing I am interested in agricultural, Marcelo had purchased as many fruits as possible for me to try! Thank goodness for espresso or I would have had a nap.

IAC, Campinas

2010-06-11T14:16:00.001-07:00

June 6 - Institute of Agriculture, Campinas

2010-06-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

This morning I visited the Institute of Agriculture in Campinas (about 60 km from Sao Paulo). It was established in 1887 by then Emperor Dom Pedro II. It is the oldest of its kind in Latin America. They act as the research center for the Ministry of Agriculture. The school is very competitive and has many areas of focus - plant research, climate change, engineering and automation, soil and residue research, breeding and more. In 1929, when the US had the Great Depression and the import of Brazilian coffee almost halted, the IAC promoted and educated Brazil on the production of cotton to offset the economic loss of coffee. The IAC saved Brazil from economic disaster.

I met with a group of their professors. The school teaches hands on classes and runs several farms with the one in Campinas at 700 hectacres, 150 employees. The school does take on privately funded research projects, will run testing for farmers for a nominal fee ($12/sample), has created and distributed disease/pest resistant plantings to help farmers improve efficiencies and yields, researches new equipment. Some projects I thought everyone may find interesting:

underway with a vertical strawberry production
improved rubber tree plantings which Brazil uses in massive latex production
working to provide disease resistant plants for growers who grow ALL year round - in the need to implement Best Management Practices
working to deal with heavy precipitation concerns
have discovered a naturally grown coffee bean with NO caffeine (they take coffee VERY seriously here!)
studying climate change in which they have found the temperature change is mainly in the evening hours and how that effects plants

The IAC is committed to assisting farmers with better growing practices through research. Brazil is the largest consumers of commercial pesticides. Regulations for commercial chemicals here are lax. To purchase pesticides, growers are suppose to have "prescription" from an agronomists but this is not always the case. Research and options that the IAC is providing, will assist producers escape their chemical dependence.

I returned to the IAC farm in the afternoon to tour their cotton production, coffee beans (they are growing 90 varieties with some varieties that were brought to Brazil from Africa after the wars), an international tree garden (testing the growth of trees from all over the world), the "bamboo" street, and a cucumber testing. Other crops are cultivated but they are entering winter and outside production is limited. It is an amazing "plantation" in the middle of a very urban area. They have had to learn to co-exist with neighborhoods and people who often wonder the farm and pick and eat plants :) Those of us who have farms are familiar with this challenge. All items grown at the IAC farm are sold.

Hiromi Makiyama - Mogi Das Cruzes

2010-06-09T18:54:00.001-07:00

Hiromi Makiyama - Mogi Das Cruzes

2010-06-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I visited Hiromi Makiyama farm which is about 50-60km out of the center of Sao Paulo. The infastructure in this area is good -roads, electric, buses....

Please take a moment to look at this farm. It is as impressive in real life as it looks! I know my posting will not do their operation the kudos it deserves.
http://www.sitiohiromi.com.br/
This is a family business started 40 years ago but that has grown and is growing. They grow a variety of produce - dicon, greens, brocolli, cauliflower, radish, carrots. They have started some hydroponic growing. The coverings have helped them deal with heavy rains. In addition to being growers, they wash and package the vegetables and then ship to the supermarkets they supply. The are committed to traceability and sustainable practice. They work with the their market - Grupo Pao de Acucar - in implementing a traceability program, training, and best management practices. They are investing in new cold storage, trucks for shipping, processing and technology and new land acquisition. They purchase some of their vegetables from other producers but will not buy from producers who do not meet their quality standards.

They employee 150 people in the local community in their facility which runs 24/7. They provide their employees with training and skills, provide transportation and health assitance. They sell appoximately $500,000US/ month.

We also spoke with Helio Nishimura who is a consultant from Grupo Pao de Acucar (grocery chain with approx. 14% market share and $21 billion real) www.paodeacucar.com.br
Helio shared with us about the importance of quality and tracking to Pao de Acucar. They have implemented a manadatory tracking system to all their producers. Before they implemented the program, they had 1400 suppliers. However, not all met their standards and they now buy from only 650 producers. Those producers with the highest quality numbers can sell a larger percent of their produce to them.

With their system, a consumer can look at their package of lettuce, carrots or whatever, take a number off the package and go on the internet to see where their food came from, a picture of the grower, a understanding of the growing practice and recipes for the product. Helio showed me some of their advertisements...which looked vageuly familiar to the Ocean Spray Heritage campaign. http://www.oceanspray.com/ Their gold is in providing food safety which is becoming more of an awareness, improve customer satisfaction, brand recognition and provides health benefits. We enjoyed sharing stories of what our cranberry cooperative is doing around food safety, sustainability and the importance of the investment and support of the growers. Helio invited me to visit their Green Store in Sao Paulo. I look forward to seeing their Green vision in action!

After visiting with the Hiromi family, I feel a bit homesick for my own family but it was a joy to see a family working together and growing their investment in agriculture. Looking at the Ocean Spray site tonight my family's picture came up which made me feel a bit closer to home!

CEAGESP, Sao Paulo

2010-06-09T18:02:00.001-07:00

This first fruit is a Jacque fruit. I have never seen it! It is huge. The inside pulls apart easily in pieces and has a pit. The taste has the sweetness of a banana, a bit of citrus....

(above) Pineapple - they use a hay weave to truck them.

Above - This a cashew (look carefully at the stem). They call it caju. You can use the pepper looking part for pressing into a juice.

Above - Carts that market workers use to gather the items they are purchasing.

Above - I am still trying to find the name of this fruit...They compared it to a cucumber but sweet?

CEAGESP, Sao Paulo

2010-06-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

Today we visited CEAGESP (Sao Paulo Warehousing and Centers Company). www.ceagesp.gov.br
The company operates a major public system of warehouses in the State of Sao Paulo and 13 terminal center markets, that offer supply to most of the State and other States. It is considered one of the largest markets of the world in sold volumes. It is truly a city within a city. It opens at 3am to receive, 12,000 trucks enter the market daily, 50,000 people enter the market daily, 25,000 growers sell their products their annually. There are large and small farmers (1000 square meters) selling at the market. The market provides the logistical structure and infrastructure, as well as training (in 2009 they trained 7000 people in the schools about using fruit and vegetables in the school lunch program) while the farmers, wholesalers, distributors, supermarkets (the buy 25% of their produce at the market), groceries, restaurants, food service providers are involved in the transactional business. Carts move the produce from the designated areas to trucks. These man pushed carts are heavy and you do not want to get in the way of a push cart loaded with no breaks!

Anita Gutierrez, who is the Quality Control Manager, acted as our gracious tour guide. We were joined in our group by a few business men from Italy looking to buy fruits and representatives from a Swedish beverage company.

There is no way I can explain in words the activity that occurs at this market. There is a section for fruit, vegetables, fish and fresh flowers. We walked for well over an hour and covered less than 1/3 of the market! Many of the fruits are unfamiliar to us in the US and we found that no one had every tried a cranberry.

The market provides some basic level of packing but struggles in several areas:

Structure - Anita feels with investment structure they could operate more efficiently
lack of cold storage
Quality control and tracking - because there is no fruit tracking, no one is monitoring FOOD SAFETY or CERTIFICATION - pesticide use, damage control, traceability, photo sanitary;
two major problems arise out of the lack traceability - potential for sickness and also if it is determined that there are infected fruits/vegetables by the Health Ministry, ALL of the vegetable must be destroyed as there is no way to know where it came from - no one gets paid
logistical challenge of small farmers getting their products to the market timely

When asking them about sustainability, their focus is on social sustainability in distributing food to the CEAGESP Food Bank or if unsuitable for consumption, the food is converted to manure through composting. CEAGASP promotes recycling of hay, wood, paper and iron.

This public market is a far comparison to the farm we visited in the afternoon which I will discuss in the next post.

Please enjoy the pictures of the fruits. We tried several and they were delicious. I am curious to discover more about the consumer's concern and interest in food safety.

June 8, 2010 - Sao Paulo, Brazil

2010-06-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Chuck and I arrived in Sao Paulo on Tuesday. Though our flight arrived early (4:15pm), the ride from the airport took a long time. Sao Paulo is famous for traffic...sorry LA...I think they have you beat.

We met with our program coordinator, Luciano. He brought us to a restaurant in the city called Figueira. It is the most unusual restaurant I have seen. It has a massive tree growing in the middle! The tree is 130 years old, 50 meters high and 8 meters wide. We tried some local breads, meats and wines. We had a wonderul evening.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.rubaiyat.com.br/&ei=azEQTNHhLYqQuAfpkbSoDQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CC8Q7gEwBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfigueira%2Bsao%2Bpaulo%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Dm

Golf Club with Pablo

2010-06-07T14:11:00.001-07:00

To the right you can see the water....it is beautiful.

Our last day of meetings in Uruguay

2010-06-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

This morning we met with three gentlemen from UPROA - Union of Blueberry Producers. (www.urpoauruguay.com) This does not truly translate the way it does in the US. The Union is a growers group. Growers getting together to position themselves to lobby and negotiate with the government, exporters and suppliers. Blueberry growers here are at a critical junction in deciding how to grow their business and profits. Currently, they market their fruit either through a broker or through an orginzation called Empretec (www.empretecuruguay.com). Empretec represents small producers all over the world to make market distribution and allows the growers more control over their products. Many of the blueberry farmers are secondary farmers, meaning they have full time jobs but have invested in blueberries for economic reasons. They are being encourage by the government to find new technologies and to partner with other fruit producers. However, all infastructure - buildings, processing, must be privately funded. They are a "young" industry with only 6 years of production behind them but are anxious for US partners to share best practices with.

In the afternoon, we met with the Ministery of Agricultural's Office of Program and Policy. We spent time with the Director Carlos Paolino. Carlos outlined the current government's agenda to create a program to address the needs of the rural population. The Ministery of Agriculture is working very closely with the Social Ministery. Through education and the importance of agricultural in the economy, the government hopes to reduce the poverty level. In 2002, those below the poverty level represented 35% of the population. Today it is 13-14% below the poverty level. They would like that number to be in the single digits. The first steps in this goal is through education - the Ceibal Plan - one computer for every child. They want to bring better education to all and provide them with training and skills. They are hoping these skills will translate to jobs in private enterprise or their own production. It is foreseeable that their will be a new position created to an Agricultrual Commercial Ambassador to translate agricultural to economic improvement.

Another initiative under way is to gather statistical data on current production, methodolies, GPS imaging and form a plan. They feel this information will help them form a better commercialization strategy.

Lastly, this afternoon we had an opportunity to have coffee with Fellow Pablo Fernandez. He is a very interesting man who 3 years ago started his own marketing firm. Chuck was thrilled that Pablo brought us to the Golf Club that is, honestly, in the middle of Montevideo overlooking the Rio de la Plata. Unfortunately, no time for golf today!

Photos of Juanico Winery

2010-06-06T15:21:00.001-07:00

Juanico Bodega (winery)

2010-06-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

We took a remise (this is the Uruguayan version of a car service yet different than the US as a remise is most likely to drive a small 4 door car - a Honda or Camry sized car. They are preferred by many because the cabs here are very small) to Juanico Winery. The location is about 40 km from Montevideo. They are on the 34 parallel on line with wineries in South Africa, Australia, Argentia and Chile. It is the largest vineyard here with 500 Hectacres of land (1 hectacre=2.47 acres) and 268 hectacres in production making 4.5 liters of wine. It has been a winery since 1830 and many of the buildings are original to the farm. They started more modern wine making and blending practices in the 1980s when the Deicas family took over the vineyard and begin research of new techniques and studies. They are planting 10 hectacres of new vine stock each year. They grow a variety of grape - chardonnay, cab franc, merlot, syrah, tannat and new modified vine which produces a Cab/Genache blend. The Juanico winery is committed to quality. For this reason they set out to be the first South American winery to obtain the demanding ISO 9001 certificate of quality, and achieved it.

I must give everyone a bit of info on the Tannat as everyone here talks about it and, definitely, drinks it! First produced in the Madiran region in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains in France, in 1870, Basque immigrants brought the grape to Uruguay, where it adapted perfectly to the local soil and climate. Tannat continues to be grown in France (though a large producing region was destroyed by blight), though its South American form has oenophiles the world over abuzz. While French Tannat is typically blended with Cabernet to lessen the high levels of tannins (in fact, the tannins lead the grape to be named "Tannat"), Uruguayan Tannat is less tannic and contains less alcohol.

The experience at a Uruguayan winery is much different than you would have in the US. We arrived for a scheduled visit at 2pm. We were joined by 4 other visitors who were Brazilians living in Uruguay, working for Wells Fargo and preparing to move to Miami for Wells. We were the only people in the vineyard. We started with a tour of the vines and grounds then to the production area. We returned to the main building where were toured the private cellars. Most of the wines in the private cellar were for family use only. We gathered in a very comfortable living room like setting and enjoyed their sparkling wine, a chardonnay (which is not like a US chardonnay it was very young, light and did not have the oak/butter taste we are familiar to chardonnay), a tannat, a port and a blend all with a selection of smoked meats and fresh breads. The wines were delicious.

Colonia del Sacramento photos

2010-06-05T15:52:00.001-07:00

Colonia del Sacramento

2010-06-05T15:45:00.001-07:00

Today we were truly tourists today. We loaded on a bus like cattle to head out to Colonia del Sacremento. (we are not good tourists) It was about a 2-3 hour ride North West from the center of Montevideo. The ride there was a mass horizon of farm land and manily free range cows.

Colonia del Sacramento, in Uruguay's province/department of Colonia, is rich in hisotry. It was the only Portuguese settlement along the Rio de la Plata. Founded as Nova Colonia do Sacramento in 1680 by Manuel de Lobo,and as such was the focus of struggle between the Spanish, who founded the settlement at Montevideo in response, and the Portuguese over control of the area. For years it operated as a contraband port, evading the strictures imposed on trade by the Spanish crown. Today it is a resort city, a port, and the trade center for a rich agricultural region. From Colonia del Sacramento you can take a ferry to Buenos Aires in 1 hour. Many Argentines are now living in Colonia del Sacramento for the beauty and tax purposes.

Built in Portuguese style of houses and cobblestoned streets, the historic portion of Colonia is reminiscent of old Lisbon. Winding streets and colorful houses are laid out in a pattern different from Spanish colonial cities. Wear practical shoes :)

Colonia del Sacramento is across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires, and is the main water thoroughfare for visitors from Argentina to access any part of Uruguay. There are many shops and restaurants in the center. It is a beautiful spot to sit out by the river and relax.

What were were not able to get a picture of was the CLOSED Plaza del Toros (Bull fighting ring). It was built by the Argentines but only allowed for 8 fights before it was closed.

Zonamerica

2010-06-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

US Embassy and Ambassador David Nelson

2010-06-04T18:44:00.001-07:00

Fellow Daniel Pagliano, Fellow Carina Noravese, Ambassador David Nelson, myself and, my husband, Chuck Mollor

Another full day...

2010-06-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Today we started this morning visiting another Fellow, Pablo Fernandez. Pablo was running a Marketing Conference at the Radisson. It was a several day conference introducing new marketing ideas, speakers and a trade show. They were introducing some new brands here that were familiar to us - Halls and Activia. It was wonderful to meet Pablo though his time was limited.

In the afternoon, we visited the US Embassy and Ambassador, David Nelson. http://uruguay.usembassy.gov/usaweb/paginas/index.shtml
It was a wonderful opportunity to hear his thoughts and hopes of US relations with Uruguay. Though we know the biggest goal in the mind of most Uruguayans is winning the World Cup, David hopes to see
• US and third party partnerships with Uruguay in taking advantage of the higher level of education/skilled labor and investment in Uruguay. Uruguay has the program of one lap top per student.
• There is an agricultural importance and opportunity with high quality especially in the areas of food safety and tracking with meat, best practices, natural products, open land, natural resources and a good climate. Given all the resources and location of Uruguay, it has the potential to assist in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (you should read these goals.….http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/) to meet the need of food production. It is a country of approximately 3 million with the capacity to feed 50 million!!!
• Recognition of Uruguay as a country offering a stable government, economic and business climate. Uruguay is a democratic society and elects new officials every 5 years. During the last 25 years, the main party has changed 3 times.
The current government regime was once a militia party. However, they have proved to be very open in working with other political parties and nations. This is critical for the importance of Uruguay's long term development. The country needs some infrastructure investments and these will need to happen over many years. Therefore, any infrastructure commitments must be recognized by all parties as they will change during the implementation. (Those of us in Boston now how long the Big Dig has taken)
The overall impression of the US has greatly improved in Uruguay. Two major activities contributed to this, first with the investment by Bush during their economic crisis of 2002 and now with the most recent visit of Hillary Clinton at the new President's inauguration. This visit sent a message that the US is seeking strong relations.
Chuck and I both enjoyed our time with David and his staff including the Embassy representative of the USDA. He was very interested in talking with us about a relationship that beef producers in Uruguay are trying to form with Massachusetts (small world).

In the afternoon, Daniel and I visited Zonamerica Business and Technology Park (http://www.zonamerica.com/ ). The development of this planned development started 20 years ago. An undeveloped piece of land, about 15km from Montevideo by the airport, was purchased by a family and the idea of planned development emerged. The long term plan for this project is a mix of Business (financial, scientific, technology, logistics), residential homes, a university and services (medical, shopping). The project has approximately 8000 employees working in it from companies such as Sabre, Merrill Lynch, RBS, PWC, ….The Park is the most interconnected/interconnectivity location in all of South America with fiber optic and tower services. There are restaurants, training facilities, transportation, and hotel and conference center, even a winery that had been on the property prior. There have been some delays with zoning and permitting approvals but they feel they will have approvals within the next year. The largest challenge lies in attracting businesses to their “FREE Trade” Zone and changing the mind set of the people that it is ok to live outside the city (again…only 15km).
We also met with one of the companies in the Park, Costa Oriental. They are a well established logistics and distribution company. www.costaoriental.com It is a very impressive organization that has been around for 25+ years and distributes many brands that we are familiar with all over the world.

2010-06-04T16:03:00.001-07:00

INIA Las Brujas

2010-06-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

INIA Las Brujas

2010-06-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

INIA Las Brujas is a fruit research station set up to promote scientific and technological innovation within agriculture. There are several stations across Uruguay specializing in different areas such as animal health and breeding. We met with Ing Agr (MSc) Soria Barabar. www.inia.org.uy The station operates very similarly to the UMass Cranberry Experimental Station in Wareham, Massachusetts. They provide plant research, tissue and soil sampling, certify commercial chemicals for use, advise growers, study weather and climate changes. Soria was a fascinating man who has also spent time in the US studying at North Carolina State University. He expressed a few challenges:

being competitive - there is no longer a tax to import items to Uruguay so the Uruguayan farmer must do it cheaper to be competitive
the value of the Peso (it is currently $1USD to 18/19 Pesos); ideally he feels (and so did FUCREA) it should be $1USD to 25 Pesos
the producers access to technology is limited based on their ability to financially invest. From 1997-2005, the apple farmers were given government monies to improve production with new varieties, irrigation, etc. Since that program ended, they have not had another program.
need for additional infrastructure with cold storage, packaging houses and trading
to be economically sustainable the producer now needs to be larger. It is hard if not impossible for the small farm to survive financially.

He is excited about new research around disease resistant plantings and would like to continue partnering with other research organizations around varietals. He feels there are many opportunities for shared learnings. He is interested in the possibility of growing cranberries in Uruguay. He asked many questions about how they grow and comparing them to rice which is grown in two regions. However, they are always concerned with any new plant introduction. Several years ago they started blackberries and they took over as they are very invasive. They struggle with similar challenged to us in the NE of the US with weed control, pest issues for fruit trees such as apples, and a concern with fungus because of humidity.

They are practicing Integrated Pest Management to reduce their use of pesticides and protect their natural resource. Some of the IPM practices include phermone traps, new disease resistant varieties, planting methods.

FUCREA

2010-06-03T19:41:00.001-07:00

FUCREA

2010-06-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

In the afternoon (a bit late rushing from the farm), we met with the CEO, Diego Sotelo, of FUCREA, Uruguayan Federation of Regional Centers of Agricultural Experimentations. www.fucrea.org The system set up by the French after WWII to support agricultural development. FUCREA was established in Uruguay in 1966. It is small groups of agricultural producers within the same field (beef, dairy, fruit) with 10-15 in membership who work together to share ideas, best practices, ecnomonic sustainability. They meet monthly and are led by a technician/scientist to help them address challenges on their individual farms. Each farmer tours the other farmer's farms to offer ideas and advice about projects, management, growth, expedite a farmer's learning curve, improve yields and viability, etc. The group acts as busines advisors to each other. Each CREA group pays a membership - a flat fee plus a fee per hectacre of production. The main CREA groups here have been within beef and dairy. The wool/lamb industry in Uruguay has seen steady declines. As there is a global demand for less dense wool and the prime breed of sheep here is Corredale with a thick wool. There has been some Austrailian Merino wool but not a large production. The challenge with changing production is in cost and farmers inability to adapt. FUCREA is concerned about new members with a farmin population that has been aging. Fruit growers are new to FUCREA but have seen the benefits of sharing best practices.

Farm Visits

2010-06-03T18:43:00.001-07:00

Today: part one

2010-06-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

We had a day full of meetings. I thought it would be easiest to break it into three parts. We started the morning with a tour of several farms about 60km NorthWest of the part of Montevideo where we are. We met with a some farmers and their family and workers. These particular growers grow under Fresh Berries of Uruguay www.freshberries.com.uy . They are a very entrepreneurial and spirited group. They belong to the same CREA with FUCREA (an orgnaization I will explain in today: part two). They are innovators in starting blueberry production with knowing very little about it. The first plantings we visited were about 6 years old. They were a combination of Blue Crisp, Misty and ONeil. They are looking at other varietals which they are getting from a nursery in Argentina. The first farm belonged to Luis. He calls his farm Blueberry Fields Forever (in honor of the John Lennon song as he excitedly explained. They have had two very different growing seasons that last two years...first with heavy rains and then a drought. But the are hopeful to produce 10,000-12,000 kilo per hectacre (1 hectacre=2.47 acres). Currently, they are producing 7,000 kilo/hectacre with about 5,000 kilos that is useable for export.

Blueberries are a new fruit to Uruguay and the general population does not comsume them. Also, Uruguayans do not purchase much in the way of frozen fruits. The blueberries grown here are exported to Europe. They are not exporting to the US as the US requires the blueberries be "gased" for flies and they do not have a shipping partner who is certified to do this. The biggest challenge other than their learning curve appears to be fungus with the need for additional drainage in a very thick clay based soil. They do not have pest on the blueberries. Luis's family was very welcoming and his sister kindly brought us call coffee and cookies while we toured the field.

We then went on to visit Mariano's farm. Mariano works for Sony but is a passionate grower....of, well, everything....blueberries, apples, peaches, pears, oranges, mandarines (their form of mandarines), lemons, bosenberries ....He tries to grow everything and sees what works. He is trying many experiments with the blueberries on his farm. If it does not work, he will pull them out! He and Luis along with Julio (who is an egronomist) have built a small cold storage facility and screening room for blueberries on Mariano's farm. They are anxious to learn best growing practices and ideas.

Mariano generously shared mandarines right off his trees which were the best we had every tasted and two large bags of apples - Pink Ladies and Crisps! Delicious! He has a country home on the farm that over looks 500 hectacres of preservation land that he compared to the Everglades but with salt water (see photos). I think we would have spent the day with them if we had not had to make our next meeting :)

La Rambla de Montevideo y mate

2010-06-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

I think I would have missed sharing something very important if I did not explain la Rambla. The Rambla is a street that surrounds the City of Montevideo. It is 22km (13.6m) around the city. With the city on the inside, and the Rio de la Plata on the out. The government controls the water side so that building is restricted to preserve the view. The Rambla is two lanes in each direction and a main way without having to navigate the narrow one ways of the city. It is know as "la Rambla" but each section is named differently. For example, Rambla Mahatma Ghandi, Rambla Replublica Argentina, Rambla FD Roosevelt, Rambla Pres. Wilson, Rambla del Peru, etc. It is a hub of activity for residents and tourist. Many people walk, ride and run along la Rambla. It is also a common in the summer to sunbath, fish and meet friends along the wall and pathways. It is a place where people meet to drink mate. Mate (or chimarro in Portugese) is a traditional South American infused drink. It is made from steeping dried leaves (yerba which is carefully placed first) with hot water.(I think I would like to make and sell cranberry mate as the consumption is so high!) Mate is served through a metal straw (bombilla) in a hollow calabash gourd (I will attach a picture as it is hard to imagine). The straw also acts as the sieve to steep the leaves. You see many people carrying "mate" bags - part holds a thermast of hot water and the other the gourd. Many kiosks refill your hot water for a fee. It is common t0 drink this all day. It has a lower caffeine level than tea (about 1 liter of mate would be the equavilent of 1 cup of coffee).

Old City

2010-06-02T13:38:00.001-07:00

Ciudad Vieja

2010-06-02T12:58:00.001-07:00

Today we took a taxi to the Old City. It is a combination of old architecture and new apartment flats. The architecture is very much Italian and Spanish inspired. I have included some photos to see the mix of old and new. The City center is very similar to that in any country with street artisans, vendors, shops, kiosks, .... The city parks - Plaza Martiz and Plaza Libertad are both under going renovations and updates. It is safe to walk these areas during the day but not recommended for visitors during the evening hours. We had lunch at La Corte which is a very popular place for business lunches and visitors (including Bush during his visit to Montevideo). www.lacorte.com.uy The lunch hour in Uruguay goes from 12:30-3:30 pm and is at a very relaxed pace. This is not a country where they bring a bill unless you ask. This was the first menu we had seen that suggested calorie counting items - remember this is a culture of meat and cheese. The food here is "au natural" non - processed. Au Nutural is an unspoken motto of Uruguay. They do not manufacture or process items. Don't worry...McDonald's has invaded and we have seen several. Other popular US/familiar brands include - Adidas/Reebok, Lays, Pepsi, MC and Visa (there are promotions for the credit card companies everywhere).

In walking through the City Center, we did see a small street farm market with homemade oils, mustards, and clothing. The street market is not for selling produce as we may see in Boston.

A quiet night....

2010-06-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

This evening we had a relaxing night. We had a chance to walk around the local mall. The price of clothing here is much more expensive than the US as it is all imported.

We had dinner at a local restaurant Francis (known as an international restaurant) http://www.francis.com.uy/. This restaurant offered a variety of sushi, fish dishes, local meats and spanish influenced items. For a small restaurant, they had a sommelier who is hoping to go to the US to learn their wine making. We have found a new dish here that we cannot get enough of....grilled baby squid -chipirones! We don't know where this comes from (import) but will find out. It is served grilled with sauted onions and herbs (a pesto like salsa (sauce). Additionally, we did find discover that the salmon here is all from Chile as it is not common in their waters.

We walked home from dinner as this area is very safe for walking. There are many people out and even soccer (futbol) games going on at 10:30-11pm!

Our meeting for tomorrow needs to be rescheduled so we will have a free day. We hoped to travel to a winery but most of them are closed on Wednesdays (Miercoles). So we shall see what the day brings. Buenos noches!

Mercado de la Puerta (Port Market)

2010-06-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Our meeting at the US Embassy was changed until Friday, so we were able to spend a few hours with our host Daniel. He took us to the Mercado de la Puerta. It was a wonderful afternoon. They have converted an old train station to our version of Fanieul Hall (if you are in Boston). The passenger train station was once run by the British and the Uruguayan Government bought them out of their contract and closed it. They still have a train system but it is for cargo only. Much cargo is also moved through trucking. The idea of re-establishing decentralized rail for passengers is something they are talking about now. The port is owned by the Government but the logistics is outsourced (the contract is bidded/auctioned) to a Belguim firm - Katoen Nate. As the flow of Latin American goods travel through the port, it is at front in center to Uruguay. The port in much larger Argentina must be continually dredged because of the silt fed by tributaries. This port can service what is referred to as the Prosperity Belt of South America (the large cities of South America -Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenas Aires, Montevideo).

We enjoyed lunch with Daniel at the Mercado. We sat at the counter and they cook the meat over an open fire behind the counter. (see picture) We had a a local drink which is a combination of a dry white wine and Champagne and much meat - Churizo, pork and beef rib. The flavor of the meat comes from the grasses and flowers the animals eat (as all the beef here is grass fed) and the local wood (eucalyptus and one other) they cook the meat over. There are also local artisans who set up craft tables by the market to sell their goods.

Rio de la Plata

2010-06-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Ok...today's geography lesson to go with the prior photos. The Rio de la Plata grows from 48km (30miles) wide to where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean to 220km (137 miles) wide. We see this river every morning from our hotel. It is tidal and seems like the ocean to us. It has a brown silt (facts state that there is approx. 2 billion cubic feet of silt every year). This organic material is being washed down river from where it starts and feeds in Brazil, Paruguay and Argentina. Everyday we see 40+ ships leaving the port here for exporting. Uruguay is a country that many other nations wanted to acquire for years because if its natural port and stratgeic position to bring items (from and to all of South America) to Europe and Asia.

Rio de la Parta (River of Silver)

2010-06-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

University of Agrarian Sciences

2010-05-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

This evening we visited the private university - Universidad de la Empresa (University of Enterprise) - at the school of agrarian sciences. It is fascinating. Public universities in Uruguay are free to residents. Because of this, many students take 5-10 years to complete their university studies. At private schools, 5 years is the norm. This school teaches students a wide variety of enterprise focusing on agriculture. They have strategically formed a partnership with the University of North Carolina and exchange students, professors and researchers. There is alot of very strong plant and animal research occuring in Uruguay and they take a very entrepreneurial approach to agriculture. We had an opportunity to present on cranberries - production and marketing. They were very interesting in how to grow cranberries and what the demand for them is. They all enjoyed eating the Craisins we brought and drinking the Cran/Blueberry juice. Chuck is also happy as the weight of my bag has dramatically decreased by sharing all these samples!

Pictures of Parliment

2010-05-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

Visit to the Legislative Palace

2010-05-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we visited Parliment/Legislative Palace with Daniel and Claire. It is a building rich with history and pride for Uruguay. It was dedicated in August 1825 to celebrate their Independence. It was designed by an Italian, Cayetano Moretti and built out of Uruguayan granite and marble. It is considered the most important building in Uruguay. When you are inside, you would think that you were in Italy. All of the work is hand done and all of the stone moved by horse. They seat a House Representatives of 99 which represent the 19 deparments (states) and 30 Senators. We had the honor to meet with Senator Saravia. He is a prominent Senator from a family with a long political history. He is head of the Commission of Defense and Agriculture. Agriculture represents 70% of labor involvement. The celebrate a Labor Day on May 1.

Supermercado in Montevideo

2010-05-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

The supermarkets are large here. It seems to be the place where most working/business people go for lunch and for good reason. They have wonderful fresh items - pastas, meats,....that you could get to go. The have special fresh kiosks set up in the market midday for these items. The pasteries are what is commonly served around 5-7pm with tea. All of their juices are refridgerated and they have limited shelf stable drink items other than sodas and carbonated fruit drinks. There is a section of powdered mixes next to the juices. The deli serves a variety of hung meats - mainly salamis, hams, etc. Of course, there is a very large butchery.

some more photos in Punta del Este

2010-05-30T15:45:00.001-07:00

Punta del Este

2010-05-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

There was a fashion show at our hotel. The clothes were beautiful...don't worry....we found the store today before we left Punta del Este :)

BBQ Uruguayan Style

2010-05-30T14:58:00.001-07:00

This is at Las Brisas restaurant. Anything you like...they can grill - beef, pork, rabbit, blood sausage, squid, ....

Back from Punta del Este

2010-05-30T14:40:00.001-07:00

Chuck and I traveled to Punta del Este Friday night. It is about 2 hours by bus. In the season, it is consider the St. Tropez of South America. We could see why. It is a peninsula with beautiful beaches. It rained most of the day Saturday so we enjoyed a local BBQ restaurant. This is not the BBQ of home. This is serious. I missed my initial photo oppt. of the grilled covered in every meat imaginable....beef, pork, rabbit, chicken, etc....It was wonderful. We strolled the local shopping center to see that everyone is very interested in Columbia Sportswear, Reebok and everything boot related - low boots, high boots, cowboy boots, ... We stayed Saturday evening at the Conrad hotel which is a conference center and casino overlooking the water. This is a hot spot for visitors. We enjoyed the evening and had breakfast at the hotel. When the rain stopped this morning, we had a chance to walk around Punta del Este. It is a very beautiful with many great restaurants, shops and beaches. I will add pictures later. The taxi driver said that during the summer you cannot even drive since there are so many people. We are back in Montevideo now and have a meeting at Parliment tomorrow.

IICA

2010-05-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.iica.org.uy/

This afternoon we visited with the IICA - Pan American Institute of Cooperation for Agriculture. The IICA is truly an amazing organzation that foster collaboration with multiple nations (34 including the US) to promote agriculture in the Americas. They are working on a tremendous number of exciting and important programs with defining sustainability, innovation, technology, plant safety and security and trade policy. They are looking to better the future, perception and awarenss for agriculture. The office in Uruguay offers training and collaboration for farmers. They see tremendous development potential in Uruguay. Their concerns focus around bringing new farmers into agriculture as their farming population is aging and the next generation does not stay in the rural areas because of a shortage of infastructure and social aspects. We received very important prospectives from the 4 leaders we met with at IICA (all of whom have moved to Uruguay from Brazil or Argentina (one via Washington DC as the Agricultural Attache for 15 years). This is an organization that we should all learn more about!

Campos Azules

2010-05-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

After visiting the market, we went to Campos Azules...the blueberry farm. Blueberries have only been growing in Uruguay for less than 10 years. They brought them here from the States. The soil on this farm has much thick clay (thicker than our bog at home). They have a pH of approx. 5.5.

Busy day...

2010-05-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the market, the green fruit are a local squash (typically cooked stuffed with meat), citrus, Chuck with Daniel and Ernesto and the market overall. Amazing

We started off this morning with a visit to Mercado Modelo (Grower's Market). This is the market where growers broker their produce. We met with the market manager, Ernest Babuglia. It is a tremendous hub of activity. The growers begin arriving at 3am and stay until noon. This is where the produce used in Uruguay is handled.

2010-05-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Chivito Classico....

2010-05-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

Not typically in our diet and Chuck's doctor is sending more cholesterol medication as we speak but delicious!!!!

1st day of meetings....

2010-05-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

We had our first meetings today which were excellent. We met with Gonzalo from UPEFRUY. Gonzalo spoke with us about the opportunities Uruguay has with exporting. As a country with a very small population (3.2 million), exporting is very important for economic success. They anticipate increased production over the next several years as young plantings mature. During this time, they will look for new markets, explore other options for fruit utilization, try to find a solution for a shortage of workers and continue to search for investment. Our next meeting was with the Rural Association of Uruguay and Gonzalo Arroyo as well as our wonderful translator Marie Claire. The ARU is the oldest agricultural association founded in 1871 to progress the rights of the farmers and their interests through its society members (for example blueberry growers, breeders, etc). Their largest interests are in beef production. As we have discovered, it is all about meat here! ARU helps farmers through government representation. Gonzalo helped us also understand that farmers here are very independent and do NOT borrow monies from banks. They look to external investors or use their land for rental. He has seen the price of land multiply 10x's in the last decade as external investors have come to rent lands for soy bean production. Many Argentianian farmers rent land in Uruguay as they have a very stable and liquid economy.

We spent a wonderful afternoon with our translator Marie Claire. She is a bright young woman studying veterinary medicine and preparing for her own fellowship next Wednesday to University of North Carolina. Her family raises horses and sheep further North where they go on the weekends. During the week, her uncle and grandmother watch their farm. I was very excited to talk with her about the sheep since my days long ago raising sheep.

Marie Claire, Chuck and I set out to the city center, toured a museum recommended by her father and learned a bit more about local Uruguayan culture. The city was once surrounded by a stone wall to protect it. The stone doorway still remains. (photographs later) We toured the principal theater and main square with a large statue in honor of Jose Artigas who was a champion for freedom and independence of Uruguay. We settled into a cafe for afternoon tea and a locally made sweet which Marie Claire offered to share her grandmother's recipe for! You all know I love to bake ....but don't know if I can pull this off.

Tonight we will head out in search of Chivitos. A chivito is a sandwich style national dish in Uruguay consisting of sliced filet, mayo, olives, tomatos, maybe bacon, fried eggs, peppers, beets. Once Marie Claire explained what these were to Chuck....I knew this would be dinner.

2010-05-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

This evening we had cafe with our local program coordinator and Eisenhower Fellow, Daniel. He is an amazing and talented man who helped pioneer the blueberry industry here. Blueberry commercialization is only a decade old to Uruguay but has experienced great success but with challenges. They have a temperate climate, good soils, water resources and are Global GAP certified. They are continuing to look for better exportation methods, scheduling, fruit utilization, capital investments/investors and new markets. Additionally, Daniel and others are looking to expand the agricultural footprint with beef production and other potential crop diversification. I look forward to continuing to gain a better understanding.

We walked to a local and very poplular restaurant for dinner this evening. We did our small part to support local agriculture by drinking a beautifully crafted Uruguayan Cabernet.......there has to be some humor :) And, since I hear there will be no frost for the cranberries in MA tonight. It is off to bed!
Buenas tardes....

2010-05-26T11:25:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Montevideo this afternoon. it is the fall here and about 62 degree F and a bit overcast today. The flights were great. Our biggest question was at the aiport in Uruguay with the Food and Agriculture people who wanted to inspect my large bag full of dried cranberries, juices, etc....What are they??? All I could think was, I made my husband load this huge oversized bag around and they are going to make me leave it all. After a few moments of poor communication on my part (we really are disadvantaged in only knowing one language well), we all laughed and made it safely to our driver. Tonight Chuck and I will meet with our program coordinator. Tomorrow we will be meeting with UPEFRUY (Union of Producers and Exporters of Fruits of Uruguay) and the Rural Association of Uruguay.
http://upefruy.org
http://aru.org.uy./

2010-05-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

At the airport

2010-05-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

We are at the airport waiting for our boarding! We will have three flights to get to Uruguay - Miama - Buenos Aires - Montevideo. I can't believe how fast the time went to this date and we are anxious to get there. Best wishes

2010-05-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

We will be arriving in Montevideo on Wednesday, May 26th.

Please read a bit more about Uruguay. I know many of us are not familiar with Uruguay but it has much to offer.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uy.html

Getting Ready

2010-05-24T18:07:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I will be leaving tomorrow to start my adventure! I am excited and nervous. I have been working with the amazing people at the Eisenhower Fellowship and my local program coordinators in Uruguay and Brazil to arrange a program that is fascinating. During my travels, I will have the opportunity to meet with Government Agencies, NGOs, private and public organizations, research companies, universities and producers. I will be sharing information about the cranberry industry which will be especially interesting as these areas are not familiar with the North American cranberry.

I could not have it made it this far without all the support and help of my husband Chuck, parents, the girls, grandparents, friends, the wonderful team at Ocean Spray, (Bailey, Ziggy and Connor), everyone that is help running our businesses while we are away and so many others. I will miss you all! Please be patient with me with this blog as it is my first try at it. I will work to keep the site updated with our travels and some interesting information! Off to packing!!!

2010-05-24T08:59:00.000-07:00