Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991                   TAG: 9103210059
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: GALAX                                LENGTH: Medium

. . . AND EVEN WORMS CAN TURN PROFITS OVERSEAS

For example, when exporting corn to Sweden. Carroll County Extension Agent Gary Larrowe said Swedes want to see the worms because that shows certain kinds of pesticides were not used on the corn, he told members of the Blue Ridge World Trade Association.

Some New Jersey farmers were able to get $3.40 per ear in that overseas sale, he said. That's about 60 cents more than Shenandoah Valley corn gets per bushel.

But before farmers and others can effectively tap international markets, they need information about such cultural idiosyncrasies. Larrowe explained how such data on overseas markets can be obtained on a U.S. Department of Agriculture computer system available in Southwest Virginia through the Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension Service.

Information on the system comes from sources as diverse as the Agriculture Department, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, foreign embassies and even the Central Intelligence Agency.

"We do have that available already," he said. "People are just not taking advantage of it."

"A lot of people look at international marketing, especially in the recessionary period that we're in now, as a way of solving all your problems. Well, that's wrong," he said, adding that it still takes a willingness to research the targeted culture and perhaps a month to a year gearing up for the market.

But the markets are there, Larrowe said. There are as many as 70 countries interested in buying fresh cabbage, for example, and Carroll County has about 2,000 acres of it.