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BY DAVID SWANSON
JOURNAL-DEMOCRAT
 | Keith Olsen was the featured speaker at the Otoe County Farm Bureau banquet. |
Keith Olsen, Grant, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation, shared experiences of travels Thursday, April 10, at the Otoe County Farm Bureau annual spring banquet at Syracuse.
“We’re a small world. You don’t realize it until you go on trips,” Olsen said to about 50 persons.
In October 2006, Olsen traveled to Vietnam, where he saw a three-acre orange farm and a hog operation.
“Farmers are proud to show off what they have wherever you go. They want to buy American corn and soybeans to feed their hogs. You’ll be friends with another farmer regardless of where you go,” Olsen said.
In 2007, Olsen was part of Gov. Dave Heineman’s trade missions to the Far East. He went to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.
“There’s a lot of demand for U.S. pork and beef (in Hong Kong) if they’re allowed to get it,” Olsen said.
U.S. and Australian beef sold for $30-35 a pound, he said.
While the delegation was in Hong Kong, Olsen said Hong Kong officials signed an agreement to purchase steak from the Swift plant at Grand Island.
Olsen said that the delegation visited a cooking school, which had an Eastern kitchen and a Western kitchen. Nebraska steaks were used to train students. The officials work hard to train young people ages 16-18, many of whom were dropouts or had problems with the law, he said.
“If you’re going to sell products overseas, you have to have the right contacts. There’s a competitive market out there,” Olsen said.
In Taipei, Taiwan, officials signed an agreement to sell more than $400,000 of Nebraska grain to Taiwan. Olsen said that tofu is a big item in the Far East. There is a plant at Taipei which uses polylactate acid from an ethanol plant at Blair.
Olsen said at the end of the trade delegation was a celebration of Nebraska and U.S. beef in Taiwan. Restaurant owners who purchased Nebraska beef were recognized and thanked for their purchases, he said.
Olsen went on a trade advisory committee farmer-to-farmer trip to Turkey in October 2007.
Highlights, Olsen said, included a modern dairy farm where the farmers seemed to be doing a good job, making improvements and modernizing their facilities. Olsen said that fruits and vegetables are prominent in Turkey. A lot of wheat is raised in Turkey, and drought in parts of the world have made a tremendous demand for wheat, he said.
The committee visited a sunflower plant where women played an important role in business even though Islam is the religion in Turkey. The plant was modern and up-to-date, Olsen said.
Fuel tanks in Turkey are all indoors, mainly to keep them cooler and protect them from thieves. Last fall, fuel in Turkey was $8-9 per gallon.
Olsen also said that Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation members want a U.S. farm bill approved before the November presidential election.
“Regardless of who’s in the White House next year, it will be a challenge for agriculture,” he said.
Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation members are working to get candidates elected who will be good for agriculture. He praised the work of state Sen. Lavon Heidemann of Elk Creek, who is unopposed for re-election. Brent Steinhoff, Otoe County Farm Bureau president, reported on the Young Farmer-Rancher conference Friday-Saturday, Jan. 25-26, at North Platte. He and Randy Brehm of Unadilla attended. Steinhoff thanked Otoe County Farm Bureau members for sponsoring both to attend.
The conference included tours to the University of Nebraska West Central Research Center, a Wal-Mart distribution center and Midwest Renewable Energy ethanol plant.
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