Wow, what a visit we had today. We saw a facility that used sugar cane as the source for its ethanol. In Iowa we see corn being used in the same capacity. On our way to the plant we saw acres and acres of sugar cane fields growing right beside corn, soybeans and coffee plants.

The one major difference in the ethanol facility that I saw was the fact that they can get four by-products out of the sugar cane where we can only get two by-products out of corn. We saw them take a stalk of sugar cane and break it down into ethanol, yeast, raw sugar and energy. There is no waste.

The ethanol facility also has a unique partnership with a company that uses yeast from the ethanol plant and natural enzyme technology to create new
herb supplements. This is the type of value added project that will help rural communities in Brazil and Iowa alike.

We also visited the Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo, or FIESP, today. FIESP represents 132 national and state industrial business associations. We once again talked about the Doha Round negotiations of the World Trade Organization. I emphasized the importance of Brazil lowering its high tariffs on U.S. Manufactured goods and further liberalizing its service sector, in paricular financial services. This would directly benefit Iowa. I also emphasized the importance of Brazil playing a constructive role in WTO negotiations. As you could probably tell by the name of the group, they have a great deal of interest in the success of the negotiations. It was a frank discussion of the hurdles the we need to overcome before the Doha Round is successful.