Gov. Heineman, Taiwanese Delegation Sign Agreement
on Potential Agriculture Sales

(Lincoln, NE) Gov. Dave Heineman and Nebraska meat industry representatives today signed an agreement with members of a Taiwan agricultural trade delegation that will help frame negotiations in advance of the Governor’s upcoming trade mission in September.

The agreement is between the Taiwan Agricultural Trade Goodwill Mission - Meat Delegation and the Nebraska Beef Council, Nebraska Pork Producers Association, and the Nebraska Turkey Growers Association. It states the meat delegation’s intention to purchase approximately $220 million of beef, $87 million of pork and $75 million of poultry from U.S. sources and notes that a significant portion of the sales will come from Nebraska processors.

“Our state department of agriculture and members of Nebraska’s meat production industry will work hard over the next few months to help secure contracts on behalf of our farmers and ranchers,” Gov. Heineman said. “This agreement is an indication of the positive trade relationship we have with the Taiwanese, which we hope to build upon this fall.”

In the coming months, Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) officials will work to match Nebraska companies with private Taiwanese companies in an effort to fulfill the intent to purchase agreement signed today. Since 1995, Taiwan has been the sixth largest overseas market for U.S. agricultural products.

NDA Director Greg Ibach said, “The Taiwanese delegation is giving Nebraska companies a great opportunity. They are visiting only a few states during their goodwill mission, so the fact that they came to Nebraska to talk about beef, pork and poultry sales says a great deal about the quality of our products.”

The Taiwan delegation concludes its visit to Nebraska on Friday. The Governor will be visiting Taiwan, along with Japan, Hong Kong and China during a trade mission being held Sept. 2 through Sept. 13.