By Greg Lamp FLOWER POWER Argentina is home to the newest state-of-the art sunfl ower plant for CHS. Top sunfl ower-producing countries (thousand metric tons) Ukraine Russia Argentina Romania Bulgaria (U.S. ranks 10th) Source: Oil World; data include confectionary and oil sunfl owers I 9,800 9,300 2,900 1,950 1,800 magine driving through the rolling hills of eastern Nebraska on a hot, humid summer day. Now transplant that image a whopping 6,000 miles south of Omaha and you’re in the heart of the Argentina Pampas region, with some of the world’s richest soils. Hugging the western edge of the Pampas — an area about the size of Texas and 200 miles from Buenos Aires — soils become sandier and rainstorms are fewer and farther between, much like the western edge of the Corn Belt. Here, you’ll begin seeing a sea of sunfl ower fi elds. You’ll also see CHS AGRO, a new state-of-the-art sunfl ower processing plant operated as a joint venture between CHS and Adecoagro, a leading agribusiness with nearly 700,000 acres of farmland across Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. “Our customers in the Middle East, Mediterranean and Pacifi c Rim look to us for year-round supplies, and CHS AGRO will help us ensure that,” says Wes Dick, sales manager, CHS Sunfl ower, Grandin, N.D. “A southern hemisphere footprint is as important in sunfl owers as it is in soybeans.” The new 20,000-square-foot CHS AGRO plant will handle confectionary sunfl owers and be able to process seeds grown for oil into bakery kernels. Heading up the operation in Pehuajó, Argentina, is Mariano Espinosa. Here’s how he sums up the where and why of expanding the CHS sunfl ower business in South America. 14 MARCH/APRIL 2014 CHSINC.COM
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