Farmfest and Beyond Trade Mission

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MAU’s Mission is Expanding Two-Way Trade and Investment Between Minnesota and Africa to Create

New Opportunities in the Food, Farming, and Energy Sectors on Both Sides of the Atlantic

 

Farmfest 2024: Where business happens:

Every year, during the first week of August, one of the world’s largest farming and food expos comes alive in Minnesota, USA. Farmfest brings together farmers and other business owners from every agriculture and horticulture-related industry – including market leaders in food processing, biofuels, livestock producers' production and processing equipment, information technology, and financial services to explore new business opportunities.

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American Golden Group, owned by Jacob Lawson, is a food import / export company that is a member and client of MAU who has participated in the MAU Business Development training program held in concert with SCORE Twin Cities. Originally from Togo, the group has thrived here in the Twin Cities. In 2022 Jacob attended Farm Fest in hopes of finding suppliers to fulfill a need for pepper in Africa. He found the partners he needed and now has a thriving business shipping hot sauce to Africa and bringing the containers back with cassava and other food items for African people living in the United States. His two-way trade model serves the needs of so many people on both sides of the South Atlantic and provides financially for his family. We’re thrilled to be working with Jacob and his team.

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Join Us for our Farmfest and Beyond Trade and Investment Week

Minnesota is one of the top agricultural states in the US - home to some of the world’s largest food and agribusiness companies – including Cargill, Land O’Lakes, CHS, C.H. Robinson, General Mills, 3M, and more.  During this past decade, Minnesota Africans United has helped Minnesota-based African diaspora businesses find partners in the food and farming sector to boost two-way trade and investment.  In partnership with the Minnesota Trade Office, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Prosper Africa, the US Department of Commerce Export Council, and many local community leaders we have connected hundreds of businesses via trade missions, webinars, and trade promotion conferences.

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We are taking this to a new level in 2024, hosting an international trade mission that will focus on food, agriculture, energy, and the environment. Our goal is to open new markets for Africans to buy our agricultural products, sell their products, explore partnerships, and attract the African diaspora into the farm business. The first segment of this trade mission will focus on Farmfest 2024 with multiple opportunities for trade mission participants to connect directly with local, regional, and national leaders, and to join in the conversations taking place that shape commercial and investment partnerships worldwide.

 

MAU is also at Farmfest to introduce Minnesota farmers to growing opportunities in Africa for mutual benefit to one another.

 

All African delegates on this trade mission will have the option to exhibit products in events with potential investors, buyers, and sellers, and to learn about the best paths for shipping food products to US markets. This is a unique trade mission designed to build relations with Minnesota farmers, agribusinesses, energy companies, media, and thought leaders in the food, agriculture, and horticulture sectors. It will include opportunities to buy or see US agriculture machinery such as tractors, lorries, and bulldozers.

 

To participate in this mission, Minnesota Africans United is inviting African nations that have participated in MAU trade missions or on MAU international trade and investment webinars. These nations include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia.

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This event will run from August 4 to the 10th of August 2024. Below is our provisional agenda:

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August 4th – Participants arrive in Minnesota.

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August 5th – Background and Orientation in the AM, travel by coach to Farmfest site hotel

August 6th - Day One at Farmfest

• Networking Breakfast with private and public sector leaders

• Travel by coach to Farmfest site (nearby)

• Group and individual sessions at Farmfest

•  Business networking reception and dinner at the hotel

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August 7th Day Two at Farmfest

• Networking Breakfast in partnership with Minnesota Farm Bureau for private and public sector leaders.

• Group and individual sessions at Farmfest, field trips & farm tours

• Business networking reception and dinner at the hotel

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August 8th Day Three at Farmfest

• Networking Breakfast with private and public sector leaders.

• Group & individual sessions at Farmfest & field trips in partnership with Minnesota Farm Bureau. 

• Business networking reception and dinner at the hotel

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August 9th Return to Twin Cities by Coach

• Business Forums and one-on-one meetings

• Networking Reception

• Evening dinner with Diaspora leaders  

August 10th – Departure Day

• Follow-up meetings with contacts

                               

A detailed program will be available soon and will include a series of “Special Guest” breakfast receptions, business forums and briefings, a “behind the curtain” tour of the Minnesota State Capitol, boat rides on the Mississippi and other Minnesota rivers, networking dinners, business-to-business, business to government, and government to government meetings, as well as exhibition space at Farmfest and custom-designed country specific site visits.

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Platinum Sponsor

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We are excited to announce that Seeding The Future is a Platinum Sponsor of our 2024 Agriculture Trade Mission and scheduled to coincide with the largest farm and food trade show in the region – Farmfest from August 6th to the 8th in the State of Minnesota, USA. Their sponsorship and support will help us engage more African diasporas commercial farmers and business owners across various agriculture and horticulture related industries in the United States and farmers across Africa that can benefit from the contacts and information available via Farm Fest, creating new opportunities in the food and farming on Both Sides of the Atlantic. We are truly grateful for their dedicated commitment and generosity to African farmers in Africa and here in Minnesota. 

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