On 7 and 8 February, a delegation from the St. Louis (Missouri, USA) region will visit the province of Brabant in order to learn more about Brabant’s’ agrifood and agritechnology sector. During these two days, a mix of relevant agrifood companies and knowledge institutes in Brabant will be presented, knowledge about these sectors will be exchanged and opportunities for collaboration will be explored.

Focus area USA
The Midwest of the United States is one of the focus areas of BOM Foreign Investments & International Trade, and offers not only great potential for recruiting American companies for Brabant, but also for companies in Brabant that are operating in the agrifood and manufacturing industries. In order to seize these opportunities and support companies in Brabant, the BOM has been in contact with partner organizations from the state of Missouri in the US since 2018.

Strategic choice
After a thorough market research by BOM, the first contacts with Missouri were made in early 2018 during a visit to SelectUSA, the national American organization in the field of foreign investments. From the beginning there was mutual interest to explore further cooperation with each other, resulting in a follow-up visit by the province of Brabant and BOM in October 2018. As a return visit, a delegation from the St. Louis region will visit Brabant on 7 and 8 February. This delegation consists of multiple AgTech organizations, including Missouri Partnership, World Trade Center St. Louis, Missouri Department of Agriculture and the State of Missouri European Trade & Investment Office. The Missouri region is known as the home of leading AgTech organizations.

Visiting program
During these two days, the delegation will visit an interesting mix of relevant agrifood companies and knowledge institutes in Brabant, including Van den Borne Potatoes, PlantLab, Protix, Eindhoven University of Technology and HAS University. In addition, the delegation will visit the municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, also known as the Agrifood capital of Brabant, and the Province. An interesting and versatile program, where both regions not only see opportunities for Brabant companies in the United States, but also for American companies that are considering expanding their activities to Brabant.

Objectives
It is the intention of Brabant and Missouri to develop a partnership in which a collaboration can be established in all areas of internationalization – public, trade, foreign investment and innovation. The Province and BOM see opportunities in addressing social issues related to agriculture, food production and food safety. The Agrofood sector is strongly represented in both Missouri and Brabant, and through the application of technology, for example, production can be more efficient and with a higher yield and less damage to the environment. Companies are the most important link to introduce this technology in the Agrofood production chain. This offers great opportunities for Brabant and American companies and knowledge institutes in trade, investments and innovation cooperation. The BOM and the province of Brabant assume that with the visit of the delegation, the realization of these opportunities will be much closer.