Holcomb: ‘Endless’ potential for Indiana’s relationship with Brazil, Mexico
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Gov. Eric Holcomb says the potential for growing Indiana’s relationships with Brazil and Mexico, especially in the agriculture and agbioscience sectors, is endless.
Speaking with Inside INdiana Business Host Gerry Dick last week while on an economic development trip to the two countries, the governor said the opportunities are exciting.
“We came here to grow our ag and our agbioscience sector, but we have had the ability to have some one-on-one meetings and get in some other boardrooms and explain, ‘Why Indiana?’ If you want to grow, we want to grow together.”
Indiana’s agriculture and agbioscience sectors contribute more than $58 billion to Indiana’s economy, according to the governor’s office. Indiana trade between Brazil and Mexico topped $1.7 billion and $13.4 billion in 2023, respectively.
One of the delegation’s stops in Brazil was a visit to Solinftec in São Paulo, which also has its U.S. headquarters in West Lafayette. The company recently began production on its Solix autonomous robots, which are designed to more efficiently detect and spray weeds on crops.
The robots are being manufactured at the Still Waters Manufacturing in New Richmond.
Holcomb said the goal of the trip was to build on existing relationships with companies like Solinftech while introducing Indiana to new potential partners.
“We feed and fuel so much of what every single human being needs, good nutrition, food,” said Holcomb. “When you think about all the technology that’s coming out of these pursuits, these are partnerships that are either happening right now that can enlarge and expand, or we’re making new relationships that are exciting about the future of ag and agbioscience.”
The governor said pioneering research in precision agriculture is still being done in places like Indiana and Brazil.
“To think about the sophistication in precision ag, in being able to grow in different climates, all that’s been researched and developed in places like San Paulo and Indianapolis, and so just like when people were out exploring the world in the 1500s, we’re still exploring those new frontiers, but we’re leaders in it right now,” Holcomb said. “And this also gives us an opportunity to get into boardrooms, chambers of commerce and talk about other sectors as well.”
Indiana is currently home to 14 Brazil-based and 13 Mexico-based business establishments, and Holcomb says details on more projects could be coming soon.