SLC Comercial travels through the North American Midwest

A group of 40 SLC Comercial clients, including producers and agronomists, traveled 1.500 km in the states of Illinois and Iowa (USA) visiting rural properties, research areas, seed producers and producer associations. “When companies start thinking about this type of travel for their customers, they are encouraging people to think differently, to form a new world view”, declared Eloir Kluge, divisional manager at SLC.

During the visit to the John Deere Headquarters, the group was treated to a warm welcome by the senior staff of the company's global board of directors, a group led by the company's global president, Cory Reed, and four other vice-presidents: John Lagemann, global VP of sales and marketing, Cris Wigger, VP of global crop care platform for Agriculture division, Bernhard Hass, VP of tractors, and Randy Sergesketter, VP of combines.

In Adel, IA, the Brazilians were welcomed by Harry Stine, considered the father of modern agriculture. As the only individual and non-multinational genetic breeder, he collects almost 60% of soybean royalties in the United States, more than half of North American soybeans have Stine genetics. Harry Stine is also one of the 250 richest men, according to Forbes, and the richest man in the state of Iowa and, despite all this, he still lives in the small town where he was born. Stine has even been called the “Bill Gates of agribusiness” by Warren Buffet, the greatest investor of all time. Stine is also on the Givin Pledge list organized by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet, to donate part of his fortune to philanthropy.

REGISTRATION AT JOHN DEERE HEADQUARTERS IN MOLINE, IL
For some members, the experience represented their first international trip. “This trip came to add to my life and, with all this learning, we can bring more innovation to our company, so it was very important”, described Vagner de Mattos, from the Rio Grande do Sul company Cultivare Agronegócios de Tapejara (RS).

American with an eye on Brazil

To make the itinerary even more interesting, the CEO of Summit Agricultural Group, Bruce Rastetter, welcomed the Brazilians for dinner at his own home. The businessman saw Brazil as a land of opportunities, which made him the owner of the first corn ethanol plants in the country, based in Lucas do Rio Verde and Sorriso (MT). “We have an advantage in Iowa in terms of agricultural production, but we continue to be amazed at the rate at which Brazilians innovate and adopt technology,” commented Rastetter. “We enjoy hearing stories of the true pioneers who came from the South to develop Mato Grosso, who arrived in the state in the early 1980s with a dream and built the region into an agricultural powerhouse in a short period of time,” he added.

Where everything happens

The itinerary closed with a visit to the famous Chicago stock exchange, CME Group, one of the largest commodity exchanges in the world that serves as a global reference for commodity contracts such as soybeans. “In addition to participating and enjoying the trip, we took the opportunity to observe our customers from a different perspective. The trip, which was highly anticipated by everyone, was a milestone for the company”, described Giovane Greinert, CEN at the SLC dealership in Santo Ângelo/RS.

AgroBravo travel coordinators

The group was led by Henrique Marasca and Gabriela Nichel, technical coordinators at AgroBravo and also SLC clients
Miguel Nedel, who has been a partner with AgroBravo on trips since its foundation, participated in the itinerary to add more knowledge to his routine as a businessman and rural producer in Rio Grande do Sul. “I consider this trip to be extremely important for us to analyze how we are doing. the situation of the two main American crops, which are soybeans and corn, and we can certainly make some decisions here in our daily lives thinking about the commercialization of our grains here in Brazil”, he summarized.