US farm expo offers opportunities

Three Western Australian agribusinesses are to be showcased internationally this week as part of an Australian contingent attending the World Ag Expo 2007 in Tulare, California.

KLEN International, Pioneer Water Tanks, and Aquabiotics Industrial are part of a group of 30 companies that have travelled to the US to identify potential partners and distributors within the US and international agricultural industries.

Wangara-based specialty chemical formulator KLEN International is one of two Australian companies selected to exhibit in a special innovation pavilion for new products, having placed in the top 30 of more than 140 nominations for the category.

The company was chosen for its innovative chemical cleaning system, developed to eliminate seed dressing contamination from grain augers, which was designed by KLEN International business development manager, Cyndi McGeachin.

Ms McGeachin said the seed dressing process, whereby farmers apply herbicide or fungicide to grain before seeding, resulted in the contamination of augers.

The machinery is then used to move the harvested product, transferring contamination to the clean grain.

“The auger cleaning system removes scale from inside the auger, using a chemical cleaning process,” Ms McGeachin said.

The product won the Dowerin Field Days innovation award in 2005 and will be the company’s feature exhibit at the US expo.

Ms McGeachin said the grain contamination issue was an international problem in farming and the cleaning system was likely to attract interest in America and Europe, although demand in Australia was initially slow.

“With the drought, it’s been hard this year,” she said.

“We haven’t really had as much success as we would like, but certainly CBH and ABB Grain are keen to get [the system] out there.”

Bellevue-based Pioneer Water Tanks and bore cleaning technologies manufacturer, Aquabiotics Industrial, which is currently pursuing a distributorship for its importer and wholesaler in California, will be exhibiting in the Australian pavilion, will be exhibiting in the Australian pavilion.

Other WA agribusinesses to have participated in the expo include South Perth-based Rinex Technology, which formed part of last year’s Australian exhibition.

The company showcased its computer system Farmtrax, which uses global positioning satellite guidance software to allow farmers to navigate contoured fields in any formation.

Rinex obtained a number of contacts through the expo and is exhibiting at a national farm machinery show in Kentucky this week.

According to Austrade’s US agribusiness team leader and trade commissioner in Chicago, Ian Smith, the expo acts as a springboard for smaller companies to find a foothold in the US market, as part of a more co-ordinated approach by Austrade to business development in the area.

“Of the 27 companies that participated last year, over 40 per cent achieved export sales as a result,” Mr Smith told WA Business News.

“We’re a small domestic market. Coming across [to the US] allows you to grow your business without relying on the domestic market.

“We lead the world in agribusiness innovation in certain areas and that’s being recognised over here.”

Mr Smith said the drought had put additional pressure on Australian agribusinesses’ domestic sales.

The expo, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, will involve 1,600 exhibitors from 60 countries.

The event is the world’s largest agribusiness expo.