ISDA touts Indiana’s poultry, ethanol production on India trip
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Representatives from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture are taking part in an agribusiness trade mission to India this week led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Ag Service.
In total, the delegation includes officials 11 state departments of agriculture, as well as representatives from nearly 50 businesses and organizations across the country seeking to develop and expand business opportunities with Indian importers.
The USDA said the goal of the trip is to capitalize on India’s recent reduction of tariffs on U.S. poultry products, vegetables, fruits and tree nuts by “strengthening the agribusiness trade relationship between the United States and India.”
In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, ISDA Deputy Director Katie Nelson said Indiana sought to promote the state’s poultry production, as well as the production of ethanol, which is becoming a larger market in India.
“We are great at producing ethanol and corn in Indiana,” Nelson said. “So, we’re really excited about India’s goal to be an E20 [user], and so we hope that we can contribute to that as well.”
USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor is leading the delegation and said discussions were held regarding how trade could help support a growing domestic biofuels industry in India.
“We saw this in the United States when we created the Renewable Fuel Standard, having the ability to have regulatory predictability and then the predictability on supply, which in the beginning was dependent on imports, allowed investors to really expand biofuels production,” Taylor said. “We discussed this with government officials, whether it’s on expanding exports of ethanol to be able to go to fuel directly or even the feedstock to be able to support their own ethanol production.”
India decreased its tariffs on U.S. poultry products from 35% to 5%, Nelson said. Indiana is the No. 1 producer of duck and No. 3 producer of turkey products in the U.S., and she said the tariff reduction makes Indiana poised to become more competitive in the Indian market.
Among the business representatives on the trip were officials from Culver Duck, based in the Elkhart County town of Middlebury. Nelson noted that the delegation got a bit of a surprise on the trip that was encouraging.
“We went to a site visit at the Institute of Hotel Management, where we enjoyed a lunch with the next generation of female chefs and entrepreneurs,” she said. “And I was so excited that one of our entrees was Indiana duck, and I have to say it was delicious and really awesome to celebrate that with our Indian counterparts.”
Taylor said India and the U.S. are working to find “win-win” scenarios in agriculture.
“We’re looking at things that we are able to invest in through our bilateral trade relationship in a way that can also support their expanded growth,” she said.
The delegation is set to return home on Thursday.