Mr Talbot to visit Brazilian factories

Press, 5 December 1979, Page 10

Mr Talbot to visit Brazilian factories

PA Wellington The Under-Secretary of Agriculture (Mr Talbot) will next month investigate some of the latest work being done overseas in the development of fuel alcohol. During an 11-day visit to Brazil, Mr Talbot will be the first New Zealander to call on the trend-setting Ford factory in Sao Paulo. There Ford has developed engines which are run entirely on ethanol. “Ford and Brazil are leading the world in the development of new forms of fuel,” Mr Talbot said. “As the New Zealand Government is keen to move as quickly as possible in this field, we nave much to learn from the Brazilian experience.

“The automative industry is particularly interested in the w’orth of ethanol, and a visit to the Ford plant will be extremely valuable," said Mr Taloot. On his way to Sao Pqfclo, Mr Talbot will also visit a plant which produces methanol from wfcd. The development of energy farming will take Mr Talbot to Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. At Rio he will meet the head of the altemativ fuels section of Petrobras, the Brazilian equivalent of Petrocorp.

He will also visit Cenpes, a private organisation which conducts priority research independent of government. There Mr Talbot will learn how they handle the storage and transport facilities for alcohol fuel. At Brasilia two days later, Mr Talbot will talk with Dr Antionia Licio, the energy adviser to the

Brazilian Minister of Agriculture. Afterwards he will go to the Brazilian Government’s rimbrapa Agricultural and Livestock Research Company where he will discuss the planning, harvesting and processing of agricultural products used as raw materials for the production of alchool.

A meeting with Dr Jose Israel Vargas, the Secretary for Industrial Technology of the Industry and Commerce Ministry, will complete Mr Talbot’s visit to the Brazilian capital. On the agricultural side, Mr Talbot will follow up New Zealand interests in establishing co-operation with Brazil. He wants to learn the prospects of New Zealand’s sending agricultural exports to Brazil, and if a New Zealand agricultural team should visit the country. Mr Talbot will also seek firs t-hand information about the work being done in plant breeding. The Brazilians believed they could tap their many plant varieties for commercial uses. New Zealand could also develop new

strains of plants to aid its horticultural industry, he said. Before Mr Talbot arrives in Brazil, he will spend four days in Norway on agricultural and fishing matters. At Indre Arna he will visit one of the world’s big food dehydrating companies, and then at Bergen, 20 miles away, he will study salmon ranching. The ranch at Norsk Hydro is the leader of its field in Norway as well as being one of the largest and most up-to-date systems in the world.