Going Global: Alfalfa for Everyone

The Scenario:

One of your friends plans to return to the family alfalfa farm in central California after college.  You don’t know much about alfalfa (other than the sprouts on your salad) but he tells you that alfalfa is used around the world, primarily as feed for high-producing dairy cows, because of its high protein content and highly digestible fiber, and secondarily for beef cattle, horses, sheep, and goats.  Your friend has come up with the idea to grow his family business by exporting a compressed form of alfalfa (alfalfa pellets) to be used as high-quality animal feed.  The compressed tablets are lighter, take up less storage space and have a longer “shelf life” than alfalfa hay. He has researched a little and knows that the greatest demand for his product are in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and UAE.  That is about as far as he has gotten because although he knows a great deal about alfalfa, he knows next to nothing about doing business outside of the United States. He finds out that you are studying international business and has asked you for guidance.  You explain to him that each market has its own “quirks” but that you can give him an idea of a few of the issues he will have to deal with when taking his business global.  Going Global: Alfalfa for Everyone Case Study Paper

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The Assignment: 

1. Select ONE of the 5 countries your friend has already identified as potential markets: China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and UAE.
2. Select TWO to THREE issues that are specific to that country that your friend may encounter when trying to export his pellets to that particular country. For assistance, you can consult the “A Basic Guide to Exporting” series of webinars found on the globalEDGE website (http://globaledge.msu.edu). A link to this and other useful resources is located in your course.
3. Prepare a summary of your findings. The summary should give your friend a clear understanding of things to “be on the look out for” as he begins to select the market he will enter.  Going Global: Alfalfa for Everyone Case Study Paper

Instructions: 

1. You will submit a written assignment, that is a minimum of 2 pages, maximum of 3 pages in length.  Your assignment must follow the “Guidelines for Written Assignments.” For additional criteria, please refer to the guidelines provided by your instructor.
2. Information on how your assignment will be graded is contained in the “Written Assignment Grading Rubric.”
3. Please include the URL and/or link to all resources you use for this assignment. You do not need “in line” citations, but at the end of the paper please provide a list of what you used. This DOES NOT count toward your overall required length. Going Global: Alfalfa for Everyone Case Study Paper

 

 

MORE INFO 

Going Global: Alfalfa for Everyone

Introduction

Alfalfa is a common crop in North America, but it’s not grown there on the same scale as other crops like soybeans or corn. That’s changing, however, thanks to an increase in demand for animal feed from Latin America and Asia. This article will explain how alfalfa can be grown around the world—and why it’s such a great option for everyone who wants to go global.

Space to grow

The key to growing alfalfa in a sustainable way is land use. If you grow alfalfa on too much acreage, it becomes difficult to keep up with demand and your profit margins will suffer. The best way to grow alfalfa profitably is by using low-grade land with low productivity or underutilized areas that can be used for grazing cattle or other livestock, such as sheep or goats.

The next step is knowing how much seed will do the job for you, which brings us back around again—this time directly into our discussions about pricing structures (see below).

Global demand for animal feed

You might be wondering why there’s such a demand for alfalfa. Why is it so important to the world?

Alfalfa is a great source of protein, especially for dairy cows. It also provides plenty of vitamins and minerals that are essential to human health. Alfalfa can help farmers feed their animals more effectively while reducing their environmental impact by reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere by up to 30 percent.

Alfalfa, the gold standard

Alfalfa is a perennial crop, meaning it will grow for many years. It’s the most common forage crop in the world and can be found on more than three billion acres of land worldwide. Alfalfa contains protein, calcium and iron—all nutrients that are essential for body function. In addition to being used as animal feed or human food (as a salad), alfalfa grown in this country provides up to 8% of our nation’s total hydrocarbon energy needs!

Controlling the entire chain of production

It’s important to control the entire chain of production.

Why is this? Well, it means that you’re able to make sure that every step of your product goes through smoothly and without any issues. If one part of your process isn’t working as expected (for example, if there’s a problem with a machine), then all other parts of your operation can be affected by this error in some way or another. For example: if you were using an electrician who couldn’t fix something on their own but instead had to go back into the office for more help, this could cause delays throughout their day—and even worse: if they happen again later in the week/month/year (or whatever timeframe), then those same delays will continue until someone else fixes whatever issue was causing them trouble before!

Alfalfa worldwide

Alfalfa is a vital plant for the world. It’s grown in many countries around the planet, including the United States and Canada, Mexico, Japan and China. The United States is by far the largest producer of alfalfa with more than 2 million acres under cultivation worldwide—that’s about one-third of all production worldwide!

Because of its high nutritional value (high protein content) as well as its high yield potential (up to 20 tons per acre), alfalfa has become one of mainstays for livestock feedlots across North America.

The United States exports significant amounts of alfalfa annually; however this amount only accounts for about 1% total US exports because most other countries import only small quantities at best from us each year:

You can go global when you’ve grown something that people around the world need.

You can go global when you’ve grown something that people around the world need.

• The demand for your product must be large enough to support a consistent supply, or else it’s not worth your time or money.

• You’ll need a system in place that allows for timely production and distribution of products, so they can reach consumers as quickly as possible.

• Your farm needs to be able to meet all stages of production—from seedling to saleable product—and then deliver it directly into the hands of buyers who want what you produce (or at least have an idea).

Conclusion

Alfalfa is an amazing plant. It’s a great source of protein, it’s easy to grow and you can use it in so many different ways. We hope this article has shown you how much there is to learn about alfalfa and why it should be part of your business plan.