#05 Time for GFP!

It begins the Global Focus Program (GFP), the world tour of a month and a half on four continents, seven countries. At the CSC, inaugural conference of the 2015 Nuffield program, we had the opportunity to meet the participating scholars, to discuss the most current guidelines and relevant topics to global agribusiness, to reflect on our responsibility and inclusion in the interim and to design a future with solutions facing the current barriers and bottlenecks, implemented by all of us - plus, of course, to get to know the beautiful region of Reims, France. We were also in direct contact with the people who make it happen at Nuffield, through its philosophy and processing power, representatives of all member countries, fully committed to the institution.

I believe that all this engagement and immersion very well prepared us for what follows. We must witness the events we spoke about, and meet those who engage directly with the agricultural dynamics. Who are the authorities responsible for the Australian agricultural administration? How does it work the interaction of large companies and the small rural population in Singapore? What is the output driver in Qatar? How to deal with its major limitation area? What were the paths traced for Turkey to approach self-sufficiency of food? Does India have the potential to become the world leader in cotton exports? These are some of the personal questions I want to address during the trip.

I hope we can answer them, all within a context of visits which will encompass: three days in Canberra, Australia, three days in Singapore, nine days in Madurai, Thekkady, Coimbatore, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Delhi, India, four days in Qatar, seven days in Turkey, seven days in France and 13 days in the United States.

I am sure it will be an unique and new experience in our lives. I might have had some glimpse of what to expect from this trip. In May this year I got the privilege of meeting the Brazil GFP group in Minas Gerais state, which was already running the world for weeks on the same program I am about to start, but by different countries.

The group, formed by John Buckley, Joe Burke, Michael Craig, Reece Curwen, Jonathan Dyer, Andrew Freeth, Ben Haslett, Tom Quigley, Colin Hudon and Ben Allomes, toured several countries, riding the same panel on global agri under different perspectives. Because of commitments as an analyst, I could not be there all the time they were in Brazilian soil, but I was present on visits to TecnoSeeds, and its plant nearing completion in Uberlândia, producing hybrid vegetable cultivars, Vereda Alimentos, which operates in the swine and poultry fields, Aroeira Bioenergetics, plant capable of grinding up to 1.3 million tons of sugarcane, which can produce more than 400 thousand liters of hydrated ethanol per day and potentially energy that would fuel two cities Tupaciguara size, where it is located, Montesa Agriculture, specialist in providing potatoes for the processing and fresh consumption industries, as well as coffee, and Boa Fé Group (Ma Shou Tao), an agro-industrial complex, which operates from intensive livestock to manufactured snacks made of soy with nutritional compromise.

The group at Aroreira Bioenergetics

The short time I was with them was very enriching, even in a familiar environment - I live in Uberlândia. Therefore, I encourage everyone to get to program and make a visit to Brazil. This is a country, as said before, of significant agricultural production, technology insertion and so rich in its diversity of businesses, cultures and management.

My expectations for the GFP are of full enthusiasm. I know I’ll meet great minds, great places and different realities. I hope to contribute to this exchange of experiences, learning in every encounter so carefully planned by the Nuffield team, dealing with different practices that certainly will come out during the course, and making new friends. Nothing is more valuable than learning opportunities, and both people and circumstances arise in our lives as schools. I, then, shall be present in all classes.

So it begins!