A hookup for agribusiness.

In the field of international trade, modern communications systems and transmission technology are indispensable tools, paving the way for economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Now, a new joint venture, Agro Americas, seeks to utilize the new information highway to meet the needs of agribusinesses in the Western Hemisphere.

Agro Americas was established in response to the recent hemispheric movement toward integration and trade expansion. The venture was launched last December with support from Sprint International, Caribbean/Latin American Action (C/LAA), the leading private nonprofit business organization promoting trade and investment in the Western Hemisphere, and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), a specialized agency of the Organization of American States (OAS).

According to Carlos Aquino Gonzalez, director general of IICA, C/LAA and IICA "have the potential to provide the agribusiness community of the Americas with a powerful informational edge."

Through Agro Americas, its founders hope to achieve four basic objectives: mobilize and unify small, medium, and large agricultural companies through an electronic network; reduce the costs of agribusiness trade and investment by promoting the use of computers; achieve changes in the public sector through constructive dialogue and cooperative action with the private sector; and provide the single best source of information and assistance to anyone pursuing agribusiness trade and investment in the Americas.

Roger Sattler, spokesperson for Agro Americas, says that the organization seeks to "accelerate trade and investment in the Americas by harnessing the power of telecommunications and information technology." In simple terms, that means linking the region's farmers, exporters, importers, and government officials via computer in order to boost sales and productivity while cutting the actual cost of doing business.

According to Sattler, a presentation about Agro Americas at the Miami Conference on the Caribbean and Latin America this past December attracted 400 agribusiness executives. About 175 - from Barbados, Costa Rica, Brazil, and half a dozen other countries - immediately signed up as charter members. "The agriculture industry tends to lag behind when it comes to information technology, especially compared to professional services like insurance, banking, and medicine," says Sattler, who also heads international business development for NTGargiulo L.P., a Florida tomato grower with extensive operations in Santa Isabel, on Puerto Rico's south coast.

The OAS was also represented at the Miami conference by SICE, the organization's Foreign Trade Information System. SICE staff members participated in a Telecommunications Session on Global Information Infrastructure and Telecommunications Technology. As part of the technology exhibition high-lighting agricultural information, other conference participants took part in real time demonstrations by SICE and explored practical uses for its numerous data bases that are designed to help promote trade in the Western Hemisphere.

Annual membership in Agro Americas starts at US$250, depending on company size and type of affiliation: Academic and government agencies are entitled to discounts. Benefits include discounted E-mail communication, electronic bulletin boards, agribusiness trade and investment news, and data bases such as the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service and those of SICE. These data bases provide information such as lists of importers and exporters, offers to buy and sell, and market prices. Agro Americas plans to utilize data bases that will eventually include all of the major elements of agribusiness trade and investment - for example, weather, finance, and transportation.

Electronic bulletin boards will be tailored to specific user groups. "Suppose you are a mango producer in Mexico, and you have a problem with the hot water treatment system used to prevent fruit fly contamination," Sattler says. "At the end of a busy day, you go to your Agro Americas Information Center, find the mango producers' bulletin board, and type in a description of your problem. Agro Americas members in Puerto Rico and Florida see the message and type in a response. You can retrieve their suggestions from your computer at any time of the night or day."

"We have had a tremendous reaction from people in the agribusiness sector," confirms Rodolfo Garcia, director of Integrated Network Solutions at Sprint International, which will operate the Agro Americas network from Puerto Rico. According to Garcia, Sprint International will provide a global data network and an E-mail platform, offering access to all required applications for the project.

In addition to Sprint International, C/LAA, and IICA, others involved in the Agro Americas project include American Rice, Chemonics, FINTRAC, Jamaica Flour Mills, Food Pack of the Americas, Market and Technology Partners, Zamorano Agricultural University in Honduras, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Sattler predicts that Agro Americas will help "smash barriers to trade with a wide and aggressive frontal assault." That's a lofty goal for an organization just starting, and Sattler concedes it will be challenging. "Many agribusiness people don't have a computer, or if they have one, don't know how to use it effectively," he says. "Many aren't ready. They simply don't want to know about technology." To encourage growers and exporters to learn, Agro Americas will offer its members training and education, and provide the business and computer skills needed for modern commerce.

Aquino hopes eventually to establish Agro Americas offices in most of IICA's thirty-three member states. "By utilizing the information technology of Agro Americas, we will be able to provide our member countries with the latest trade policies, harvesting techniques, pestilence warning, or phytosanitary measures within minutes," Aquino says. "I am hopeful that by establishing Agro Americas, IICA will be able to provide even more information and assistance to our member countries."