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N. Additional Farm Machinery Destined for Amerigui Plantation

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This section contains photos of additional farm machinery to be exported to Amerigui Plantation. Some items have already been acquired, with others depicted by representative photos.

This first photo is of a very large Challenger MT 975C, which was specifially engineered as a scraper tractor. A tractor of this size is necessary to operate tandem 18-yard scrapers (pictured below) for landgrading and construction of reserviors and roads. At nearly 600 hp and 27 tons in weight, this tractor model has the strength to carry out earthworks in challenging situations.

Next is a photo of a John Deere 1990 CCS no-till air seeding drill. Drills of this nature have become virtually mandatory for accurate placement of seeds in no-till planting schemes. They have also proven very accurate in metering lower seeding rates often associated with hybrid varieties of rice. Widths are available up to 40.5 feet, allowing a couple hundred acres to be planted each day.

Spraying of herbicides on rice and other crops must be done with a ground sprayer until use of a turbine cropduster becomes economical. Below is a photo of a Bowman Mudmaster field and levee sprayer that is built in Newport, Arkansas. The Mudmaster accomodates broadcast spray booms, levee spraying booms, and several other optional attachments. A trailer is available for towing the sprayer, which also comes equipped with a nurse tank to refill the onboard spraying tank.

Harvesting of rice on Amerigui Plantation will require a combine similar to the one pictured below, which is a John Deere 9760 equipped with a Shelbourne Reynolds stripper header. Amerigui Plantation already owns a stripper header similar to the one pictured below. Stripper headers are extremely efficient in harvesting rice since only the grain and flag leaves are ingested into the combine for threshing and cleaning.

A second header will be needed to harvest grain sorghum, such as the MacDon draper header shown below that is owned by Amerigui Plantation. Draper headers are also able to harvest rice, which provides a measure of redundancy, limiting mechanical harvest risks. Corn (maize) requires its own header style.

When the combine's grain tank is filled it is necessary to discharge the harvested grain into a field cart for transport to semi-trucks towing hopper-bottom trailers. A grain cart of the size shown below will hold two combine hoppers. Field carts allow the combine to remain productive rather than constantly delivering grain to waiting grain trailers.

Hopper-bottom grain trailers, such as the Manac/CPS 42' model shown below, will be sent to Amerigui Plantation to transport grain from the fields to grain storage tanks, and later to the on-site rice and poultry feed mills.

The photo below is a Dennis 20' x 56' float-style landplane. These landplanes keep fields in level condition, create a better seedbed, and maintain moisture for planting. A landplane of this style will be built in Waldenburg, Arkansas, but will be shipped in several pieces for reassembly at Amerigui Plantation.

The P30 Purdy landleveler shown below is a mainstay of Arkansas rice production. Its bridge-style construction and larger grader blades permits incremental leveling of fields by shaving off high spots and depositing the soil in field depressions. Each of these two landplane styles serve distinct purposes and can be found on most Arkansas rice farms. The P30 has proved very useful in the no-till/minimum till planting schemes that have become very popular in recent years.

The spreading of large amounts of phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen fertilizers will be required on all Amerigui Plantation fields. An 8-ton Willmar fertilizer spreader has already been delivered to Amerigui Plantation, which will be used to spread fertlizers in the off-season or prior to planting. However, single axle high-profile stainless steel spreader carts such as the one shown below are required to apply nitrogen onto emerged crops with minimal damage. A 5-ton model manufactured by Adams in DeWitt, Arkansas will be exported to Amerigui Plantation.

M. Grain Sorghum Production

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The photos in this section were taken in late July and early August west of Jonesboro, Arkansas just east of the Cache River. Grain sorghum will likely be produced on Amerigui Plantation, especially in the initial years of operation. Grain sorghum will be used as a primary ingredient in poultry feed for local poultry producers.

The production of grain sorghum at Amerigui Plantation has several advantages over corn, its nearest grain substitute. Harvest equipment used for grain sorghum and rice are similar and may be harvested with the same header. In contrast, the harvest of corn requires use of a header specially designed for corn harvest only. Therefore, production of grain sorghum reduces the initial investment required for farm machinery and maintenance.

Grain sorghum is also more resilient to production on soils low in fertility. The soils at Monchon are much the same as other sites in West Africa, in that they exhibit good soil physics, but are severely lacking in soil fertility. Nutrients have leached out over thousands of years and have not been replaced.

A major investment in phosphorus and potassium will be required on all fields in order to bring the soil nutrition to acceptable levels. While corn has greater yield potential, this potential will not be realized until soil fertility, nutrition, and balance has been attained.

Grain sorghum is also more tolerant to drought than corn. While irrigation will be readily available on the developed fields at Amerigui Plantation, the production of grain sorghum on undeveloped areas could be an option worth considering. If workable, this would provide more planted acres earlier in the program and assist in generating much-needed cash flow.

The growing season for grain sorghum and corn is very similar. Here in northeast Arkansas both crops are planted in late March--early April and harvested in late August or early September. The fields pictured here should be harvested in about a week, or around August 20th.

L. Land and Water Resource Development

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The natural grade and topography of the Monchon rice plains is rather flat, but flat is a relative term from a soil and water engineering perspective. What is necessary for mechanized farms using the latest seed, chemical, and fertilizers technologies is a consistent slope to a rectangular-shaped field that can be irrigated and drained upon demand by management.

For the commerical production of rice, in most cases this requires the fields to be precision-graded. Precision-graded fields promote effective drainage and cost-efficient irrigation. Each is extremely important in the maximization of resources invested in growing crops. Properly designed fields and irrigation/drainage systems pay dividends year after year, whereas fields having poor irrigation and layout designs represent added expenses to production costs.

The large 4WD tractor and tandem set of dirt scrapers pictured above is used to precision-grade fields. Each of the scrapers has a capacity of about 17 cubic yards and is controlled by a thin laser beam light that guides the cutting and operating depth of the blades on each scraper. The tractor above has about 450 hp and probably weighs over 25 tons with added ballast.

The equipment used on Amerigui Plantation will resemble what is pictured here. The primary difference is that the control system to be used on Amerigui Plantation will be a GPS interface. This technology has just been offered to the marketplace in the past two years and is made possible by the installation of a land-based RTK base station transmitter that works in concert with the GPS signals emitted by several satellites orbiting overhead at any given moment.

The RTK base station must be installed within a couple of miles of the landgrading, surveying, or mapping operations. Amerigui Plantation will start with one RTK base station, but a second station may be required in the future if trees or distance pose complications with receiving a suitable signal to all areas of Amerigui Plantation.

The landgrading machinery above is building an irrigation reservoir on Gunter Farms in September 2005. The laser signal is being used to create a flat, slightly sloped floor to the reservoir, in addition to making the top of the perimeter levee consistently level.

Irrigation water at Amerigui Plantation will be pumped from the existing canal network illustrated in Section F. Irrigation pumps and diesel-powered engines will draw water into steel pipe intakes installed in the center of the canal, lifted a few feet in the pump chamber, then pushed into horizontal steel pipes buried under the roads and fields. Once clear of road and traffic lanes, the buried steel pipelines will be connected to 400mm PVC pipelines that will have risers at chosen high points for delivery to each field.

While the two pumps servicing the irrigation reservoir on Gunter Farms are powered by electric motors, the pumps at Amerigui Plantation will be powered by 4-cylinder diesel engines.

Much of the irrigation system is buried and out of sight, but you can see that each pump consists of an electric motor, vertical pump, intake pipe, and discharge pipe. The discharge pipe feeds a vertical surge chamber, which in turn feeds the water into underground irrigation pipelines servicing risers in each field.

A simple float apparatus connects to a switch, which automatically shuts off the electrically-powered pumps when the water falls to a pre-set level.

The steel pipe spanning the supply ditch is connected to a 15" PVC irrigation pipe. Buried in-line valves are controlled by the wheels positioned adjacent to the black-painted surge chamber.

These pumps are installed on the edge of the water source ditch, but some pumps to be installed on Amerigui Plantation may be installed on a steel span across the canals. This will assure that the diesel engines, fuel tanks, and all other equipment pictured above are less accessible to passing children, do not interfere with movement of farm machinery along canal roads, and generally create a cleaner look with straight roads and field borders.

Water being pumped from the ditch into the reservoir for the first time. Valves can be adjusted to pump water from:

Supply ditch into the reservoir
Supply ditch into the underground irrigation canal network
Reservoir into the underground irrigation canal network
Gravity feed water from the reservoir into the underground irrigation canal network
Deep water turbine wells into the reservoir

The water flow rate pictured here approximates the flow rate for pumps to be installed on Amerigui Plantation. About 12-14 separate pumping stations will be required to properly irrigate the developed fields at Amerigui Plantation. Probably ten miles of 400mm irrigation pipe will eventually be buried, as well.

The entire irrigation pumps, valves, and electrical works were custom-designed and installed by Dennis Manufacturing, of Waldenburg, Arkansas. Dennis Manufacturing has designed and built a wide array of specialized farm machinery over the past 40 years, but the huge interest in using surface water for irrigation has created demand for custom-built irrigation pumps.

Dennis Manufacturing is widely recognized as a leading authority on water pump design and will be assisting Amerigui Plantation with its surface irrigation equipment requirements.

The surface water pumping stations will be connected to several miles of underground PVC pipelines that will deliver irrigation water in with pinpoint accuracy to each field. These pipelines will need to be buried about 3-4 feet deep in order to avoid damage from farm equipment conducting tillage operations, as well as to avoid collapsing of pipelines due to heavy equipment traffic.

The following photos illustrate the laying of a new 12" PVC pipeline on the Joey Scott farm that lies adjacent to Gunter Farms, near Fisher, Arkansas. A trenching machine is being used to cut the trench into which the PVC irrigation pipeline will be laid.

The use of a trenching machine rather than a backhoe has several advantages, a primary one being that the trench floor is curved to generally form to the shape of the pipe. If you look closely at the trencher's buckets, you can see that they have a curved digging face. A curved floor will better support the PVC pipeline and provide some insurance against premature collapsing of the PVC pipeline. If the trench floor is dug flat, it is very difficult to properly place soil under the pipeline.

The machine operator assures that the machine advances at the desired rate, the trench is dug to the proper depth, and that the trench is dug in as straight a line as possible.

The trenching machine above was excavating a trench at least four feet deep. A 20' length of PVC pipe was being laid about every three minutes on a continuous basis.

This worker is applying a lubricant to the female joint surface so that the next pipe section will slide in easily and not damage the joint. Care needs to be taken not to damage joints when mating the pipes together. Leaks in the irrigation pipelines will create a wide range of problems for crops and equipment and must be repaired at great expense.

A small mark is printed on the male end of each pipe section so that the installers are assured the new section is completely inserted into the laid pipeline.

The laying of the pipeline is not complicated, but real skills and experience are necessary when installing irrigation risers, valves, connecting to existing water sources, etc. The mating of steel and PVC irrigation components requires a good deal of custom work performed on-site, often in rather poor conditions.

The backhoe operator is covering the pipeline as other workers continue laying new sections. Settlement of the soil will take place during the first year following installation, so extra soil is placed over the trench to allow for this settlement.

A well-designed irrigation system will assure that water is available where it is needed and in quantities sufficient to satisfy the needs of growing crops. This requires careful choosing of pumps, engines, pipeline diameter and length, number of risers, etc. While expensive to install, a proper irrigation system will reduce costs of crop production for decades to come.

This pipeline is being installed by Cart Well Company of Weiner, Arkansas. Cart Well has been installing irrigation wells for almost 100 years and played an instrumental role in the very creation of Arkansas' rice production industry.

The interdependence between rice farmers and their irrigation services company cannot be over-estimated. Northeast Arkansas rice farmers appreciate the competent, courteous, and professional service provided by Cart Well Company.

K. The Corn Production Cycle

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Field corn and possibly grain sorghum will be rotated with rice planted on Amerigui Plantation. The crop cycle needs to be changed each season in order to prevent infestations of red rice and indigenous species from emerging and competing with pure varieties in commercial rice fields.

Additional benefits to crop rotation include better management of weed spectrums likely to appear in either crop, diversification of the herbicide program used, promotion of more desirable soil physics, and more complete utilization of machinery and labor available to the operation.

The production of corn and grain sorghum allows Amerigui Plantation to offer poultry feed as a complement to its milled rice product line. Feed grains grown on Amerigui Plantation will be ground and mixed with rice bran, imported soybean meal, and a complement of minerals and vitamins to comprise a balanced, complete poultry ration for broilers and layers.

The very high market prices for corn in 2007 have encouraged many Arkansas farmers to switch acres away from cotton, soybeans, and in some cases rice, to corn for the first time in decades. Steve Carpenter, a local Fisher rice farmer, has seized this opportunity to plant corn in 2007. The following photos were taken on the Carpenter farm north of Fisher about March 29th.

This corn field was planted about March 12th, 2007 into a stale seedbed. The corn planter was hitched in tandem with the hippers to perform both operations in a single field pass. This specialized equipment is locally designed and built by Dennis Manufacturing, of Waldenburg, Arkansas. Dennis Manufacturing has built around 30 of these One-Pass Planting Systems for use across the Mid-South.

The fields pictured were planted on hipped beds spaced 30" apart, which is common in the Mid-South. An 8-row planter was used, and an 8-row corn head will also likely be used in the harvest operation to gather and strip the ears from the stalks.

Seed spacing and placement is a critical factor to achieving optimal corn field yields. The above photos illustrate that the seedlings have emerged in a very uniformly-spaced pattern. A desired plant population of 30,000 to 32,000 plants per acre is also necessary to attain the highest possible yield potential from each acre.

As of April 2nd, the fields pictured above are growing rapidly and have adequate moisture due to a 1" rain event on March 31st. Temperatures have been unseasonably warm this March in Arkansas and have contributed to getting the corn on the Carpenter farm off to an excellent start.

As of April 5th, the corn had quickly grown to the 4-5 leaf stage. Cooler weather is in the forecast this week, which should promote more typical growth rates for early April. The crop continues to look exceptional.

Once the soil dries a bit more from the 1" rain received on March 31st, nitrogen will be applied to the corn crop. For those of us accustomed to producing rice and soybeans, the very aggressive plant development following the application of nitrogen will be very impressive.

Well, folks, this photo above says it all... Mere hours after taking the previous photos of healthy, vibrant seedling corn with 4-5 leaves, record-setting (since the 1880's) cold weather blanketed the Mid-South and Plains states. During the nights of April 5th-7th temperatures dipped to 26 to 28 degrees each night, effectively killing any growing vegetation. The winter wheat crop is believed to have been severely damaged, as were very early rice crops, and corn crops that had been established earlier in the season across the South.

Area agronomists have been consulted for advice on appropriate actions to take, particularly since the losing of spring-planted crops to a late killing freeze is such a rare phenomenon. In the case of corn, most agronomists feel that sufficient energy remains in the roots and seed to sprout new shoots of corn provided that the crop had not yet reached the 6-leaf stage. If that advice holds true, the field above should recover most of its yield potential, but any gains from an early start to the year will have been totally erased, leaving the crop more vulnerable to insect and high temperature pressures during July.

The "Great Easter Freeze of 2007" was even more damaging due to the very warm March temperatures. This is a good example of the risks farmers around the world face each season. While Amerigui Plantation is effectively immune from risks of freeze damage, other risks do remain, such as insect and bird damage; management of stored grain in a warm, humid environment; and operating in a climate having distinctive wet and dry seasons.

Condolences and a sympathetic hug go out to Steve during this very disappointing development in what had appeared to be an ideal growing season for his corn.

Carpenter's corn fields were replanted to corn during April 14-16. There was insufficient energy remaining in the root system to cause fresh, new shoots to emerge. Due to the shortage of corn seed this planting season, a traditional, non-Roundup-Ready variety had to be planted. This required an additional herbicide application, adding insult to injury to what had been a stellar looking crop in late March.

While the replanting was done in ideal conditions, a couple of rain events occured shortly thereafter which appeared to add slightly more moisture to the soil than would have been desired following planting. The crop looks good, but stands would have been better had there been somewhat less precipitation so early after planting.

As of May 10th, Carpenter's replanted corn crop is just now eclipsing the stage of development reached in early April. The loss of one month of time and subsequent later maturity could cause some reduction in field yield. Other additional costs caused by the Easter Freeze are loss of some nitrogen and additional seed, chemical, and machinery costs.

The photos immediately above and below were taken on May 16th. The corn had grown to 7-10 leaf stage with plenty of moisture and favorable temperatures. Plant spacing is very uniform and populations appear to be near ideal.

A few smaller areas have suffered from wetter than desirable conditions, but all fields have a very good appearance. All fields are remarkably free of grasses and broadleaf weeds.

Northeast Arkansas farmers are specialists in rice, soybeans, and soft red winter wheat. Corn is new to most farmers in this area, but lots of attention is being given to diversifying into corn beginning in 2007. Most feel there will be increasing acres planted to corn in this area in coming years, mostly at the expense of cotton and rice acres.

The additional investment required for specialized planting and harvest machinery is a concern to most smaller farmers. Larger farmers better able to amortize the additional machinery expense seem to be more interested in pursuing alternatives to rice and cotton.

The photo above was taken about June 10th. The amount of growth taken place in the preceding three weeks is impressive. Conditions were unseasonably dry starting in late May. This, coupled with corn's huge demand for water to achieve rapid vegetative growth has resulted in the need to irrigate for the first time.

The crop being tracked on this site required irrigation on three occasions through the course of the growing season. By late July the kernel filling process had been completed and the crop had entered the early dent stage of development.

The photo above was taken on August 10th. The crop is nearing maturity, irrigation is no longer beneficial, and the kernels have reached full dent stage. Harvest will take place soon, probably around Sept 1st.

Additonal photos and comments will be added to this section as the growing season progresses.

J. Technologies to be used on Amerigui Plantation

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Western-style production agriculture practices use technology to overcome many common challenges. A frequent result is marked upward shifts in field yields, lower per unit production costs, and much greater labor productivity.

Amerigui Plantation will be employing the latest technologies available in the design, development, and operations of the enterprise. The following sections highlight key elements of this reliance on technology to assure Amerigui Plantation's long term commercial viability.

A. Use of Global Positioning System (GPS) Technology

While the GPS satellite-based technology has been in use for several decades, its applications for civilian purposes began growing only since the early 1990's. Agriculture was quick to recognize the benefits of its two-dimensional positioning abilities and mostly include field pass guidance for equipment applying fertilizers and chemicals, including cropdusting aircraft.

The sprayer pictured above is a GPS-controlled Ro-Gator equipped with a 90' spray boom. The GPS signal is used to align the sprayer on each pass and steer the machine in a straight line from one side of the field to the other. The sprayer operates at around 12 miles per hour, depending on field conditions.

Another GPS feature this Ro-Gator is equipped with is "AutoBoom." The 90' spray boom is plumbed into several sections, each servicing several nozzles. The AutoBoom feature allows the GPS interface to automatically switch different sections of the boom off in order to avoid an overlapping of the spray pattern. This feature is of most benefit along field turn-rows, alongside perimeters of irregularly shaped fields, and around obstacles that may be inside a field (trees, utility poles, irrigation equipment, etc).

The fertilizer spreader pictured above is also controlled by a GPS signal that steers it in equi-distant, straight lines across the field. The spreader probably operates at around 15 miles per hour across smoother field surfaces.

Each of these chemical and fertilizer application machines is owned and operated by a local supply cooperative named Farmers Supply Coop. Each of these machines covers about 60,000 to 80,000 acres each season.

A fertilizer tender truck is filling the fertilizer spreader with its first load. Due to safety and machine control reasons, the spreader machine transports itself empty to the field to be applied with fertilizer, and is then topped off with fertilizer product as needed for the job.

Amerigui Plantation will initially source its fertilizer and chemical needs from Farmers Supply Coop in Poinsett County, Arkansas. Amerigui Plantation management is considering the use of a GPS-controlled sprayer once sufficient acres are brought into production to warrant this investment.

Mapping of fields for soil fertility and special weed infestations has also become a common practice. Sophisticated fertilizer and chemical application equipment is able to use this data and apply varying doses of inputs to each area of the field as warranted by the input data.

The same technologies described above that guide the liquid and dry-mix applications to the soil are also used to precision-guide farm machinery in straight, parallel passes across the field. The GPS receiver shown above is mounted to the roof of a tractor being used to plant seed with a n0-till without the use of additional markings. The alignment of each parallel pass is calibrated to match the implement being towed behind the tractor, and can even compensate of implements that have a consistent drift in favor of one side.

I. The Rice Production Cycle

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There are two distinct planting and production programs used to produce rice around the world. The Asian program is to transplant seedling rice plants into flooded paddys that have been thoroughly worked into a clean slurry free of grasses and weeds. The Western rice production scheme involves planting rice seeds directly into the soil for germination and controlling grasses and weeds through chemical means early in the growth phase.

The Asian way is labor intensive; the Western way is capital intensive. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Most rice currently produced in Africa is carried out using poor execution of the Asian production scheme. This is largely due to a lack of investment in field design and irrigation, which collectively are the basic resources for successful rice production.

Amerigui Plantation will employ the Western rice cultivational program exclusively, which necessitates the precision landgrading of all fields, installation of a high-volume irrigation system, an extensive investment in machinery and maintenance facilities, use of a turboprop cropduster, etc. While very capital intensive, the naturally flat terrain with its existing canal system lends itself well to Western-style land and water resource development, all on a scale that is of economic size.

Dry seeding of rice can be achieved in several different ways. These are commonly referred to as: 1) pure no-till, 2) no-till into a stale seedbed, 3) conventional drilling, and 4) conventional broadcasting. Each is acceptable if used within an appropriate context of field and weather conditions. The soil type, weed control program, weather, field conditions, previous crop, available planting equipment, etc. all play roles in which planting scheme is best for a given field on a given day.

The above photo is of a 330-hp 4WD tractor pulling a 41' Case IH 4900 field cultivator. This implement is capable of performing primary and intermediate tillage, depending on level of residue from the previous crop. C-shanks aggressively lift and till the soil, while the coil tine harrow at the rear provides further pulverization, separates residue from the soil, and levels the seedbed. A primary tillage field cultivator is a very versatile tool and can be found on most Arkansas rice farms. A cultivator of this type will be used on the Amerigui Plantation property.

This is another photo of the same primary tillage field cultivator being used in different field conditions. The field pass pictured above is the first of the planting season and is being made in rice stubble from the previous crop. Note the contrast in appearance to the first photo, which was a field pass being made as an intermediate tillage pass.

This is a bridge-type landplane, which is used to maintain a very flat--but well-drained--field for rice production. The wheelbase of the landplane is 80' in length, which allows the blades to detect minute highs and lows in the field and correct these as it is being pulled across the field. The landplane is about 20' wide and the rear wheels are steered by a cable system mimicking the track made by the front wheels. As might be imagined, moving this landplane from field to field requires good operator judgement and field/road design.

This is a float-type landplane, which also has three angled blades that level the soil surface. While it does perform some landplaning services, a major function is the preparation of a desireable seedbed that is level, free of clods, firm, and retains moisture in the seed planting zone. Collectively, these conditons provide the best assurance of a complete stand of healthy rice seedlings.

These photos were taken in May 2006 during the field trials of the John Deere 9200 4WD tractor purchased and reconditioned for use in Guinea. A float-type landplane will be used on the Amerigui Plantation project, although the shipment of this huge implement presents many logistical challenges.

This is a photo of dry rice seed being augered into the no-till drill for planting into the soil. Row spacing for rice drills is about 6"-7" in width. No-till drills may be used in a variety of seedbed conditions and have become standard equipment on most Arkansas rice farms. This equipment technology has evolved primarily in the past ten years or so, and will also be used in Guinea. Arkansas farmers generally choose from among about ten varieties from which to plant each season, each offering its own promise of solutions to agronomic challenges, market demand, and profit potential.

A closer view of the 30' wide John Deere 750 no-till drill. Its use in the well-prepared conventional seedbed pictured above is testament to the versatility of this planting tool.

This photo was taken about 25 days after planting, and about two weeks after seedling emergence. Irrigation levees are installed immediately after planting so that rice in the levees will share the same development pace and maturity as rice in the paddy area.

This clean, vibrant stand of rice is about four weeks old and is ready for final herbicide treatments, application of 50-60% of the season's nitrogen (generally in the form of urea), and flooding of the paddys.

This photo is of herbicide being applied to the rice prior to flooding. The cropduster is owned and operated by Rusty Cartillar, of Cartillar Flying Service, located near Fisher, Arkansas.

Rusty keeps the plane about 6-8' above the field elevation to achieve proper spray coverage of the grasses and weeds and to minimize drift onto adjacent fields. The cropduster can spray about 30 acres per load and cruises over the field at around 130 knots. A cropduster will be sent to Amerigui Plantation once planted acreage reached an economically justifiable level, which will likely be about the fourth season.

This is an irrigation riser valve that releases water into the rice field. Amerigui Plantation will have several miles of 400 mm (about 16") diameter underground PVC irrigation pipe installed. The pipelines will be supplied with irrigation water from about 10 turbine pumps to be strategically installed in the canal system. Diesel engines will power the irrigation pumps.

This rice field is being flooded. The purpose of the flood is to blanket the nitrogen, which minimizes volatilization. Another equally important purpose is to prevent grasses and weeds from germinating and competing with the rice crop. The yield and profit potential of a rice crop is heavily determined during the first six weeks following seedling emergence, since this is when the stand is being established, weeds are controlled, and most fertilizer has been applied.

An irrigation riser releasing water into the rice field. Most risers are placed on the perimeter of the field to minimize interference with field tillage and harvest operations.

Irrigation water flowing from one paddy elevation to the next lower paddy elevation. Irrigation levees are installed on 2 1/2" interval changes in field elevation. Laser transmitters and receivers are used to determine and mark the positions of the irrigation levees. A GPS system will be used at Amerigui Plantation, which will be the first of its kind on the African continent.

Advancing forward about 6-7 weeks, the rice plant has completed its vegetative growth stage of developement and is well into its reproductive phase. Rice heads have just appeared above the canopy in the above photo.

Rice grains are being filled with a milky substance, which hardens into a mature rice kernel. Once the heads become heavy with milk and turn over from their own weight, you know harvest is but two or three weeks away.

Another view of a maturing rice field. The erect flag leaves will start desicating as physiological maturity approaches. Mechanical harvest commences once leaves have dried and rice kernels have fully matured.

This photo shows about 300 acres of rice at maturity. Kernel moisture is about 17-18% and the tips of the leaves have become dry and a bit brittle, allowing for acceptable separation of the grain from the chaff.

A view of the field being harvested from the operator's perspective of the harvest machine. Modern rice harvest machines typically use 25' wide headers. Field travel speed is about 2.0 to 2.5 miles per hour, or a decent walking speed.

Rice being gathered, cut, and fed into the harvest machine for threshing. Note the full stand of rice, freedom from weeds and grasses, and uniformity of the field conditions. All these are essential for profitable commercial rice production.

Once the rice hopper is full, it is transferred to a rice cart and augered onto waiting trucks. About 350 bushels, or about 7 metric tons of paddy, are unloaded during each transfer to the cart.

The above photos show the importance of productivity and time managment. The rice cart is driven alongside the harvest machine and the unloading process takes place while both machines remain in motion. The two operators must have good judgement and skill to accomplish this feat without damaging the equipment, spilling grain, or wasting valuable harvest time.

Rice being loaded onto articulated hopper-bottom tractor trailers. The truck will deliver the paddy rice to grain drying and storage tanks. Rice must be dried to about 11-12% moisture for safe storage until milled.

Photo of typical truck and trailer used to deliver rice to drying and storage tanks.

H. Satellite Images of Amerigui Plantation

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This section contains some satellite images of Amerigui Plantation and its environs obtained from the Google Earth service.

This image is of Amerigui Plantation's farm property taken from an altitude of about 50,000 feet. The overall layout of the farm is easily visible, as is most of the canal system. The darker field areas are irrigated fields being managed by local inhabitants and the small military contingent currently assigned to Monchon.

This image shows the headquarters site. On the opposite side of the road the warehouse, workshop, and water tower can be seen. On the lower side of the image, the larger building is the rice mill, with the adjacent open machine shed, housing units, and cafeteria.

Amerigui Plantation can be seen in this photo as a reference. The developed site to the left is the Port of Kamsar with its bauxite jetty. Bel-Air, a hotel and beach resort, is located just a few miles away on the peninsula to the right side of the image.

G. Photos of Farm Machinery on Amerigui Plantation

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The John Deere 9200 4WD tractor shown below will perform most tillage and landgrading work on Amerigui Plantation. This tractor is equipped with a Trimble GPS landgrading system that uses a signal from an RTK base station and satellites to guide the Rome scraper.

A GPS receiver mounts onto the crossbar over the scraper. This Rome 18C scraper has a capacity of 18 cubic yards with a cutting width of 14 feet.

Below is a John Deere 4840 2WD tractor with a powershift transmission. This versatile tractor is found on many American farms and will perform some lighter field tillage operations, seeding, and heavy 3-point hitch equipment such a hipping and ripping for feed grains production. Attached to the tractor is a levee plow that is used to construct and deconstruct irrigation levees in rice and feed grains fields.

This John Deere 4630 tractor is equipped with a front loader, which makes it useful in unloading and reassembling farm machinery. It will be used in building and managing irrigation systems, mowing roadways and lots, and other general purpose farm duties.

The service truck performs an essential function for Amerigui Plantation since it serves as a portable maintenance vehicle. Aside from mechanic's tools, it has an air compressor, welder, generator, fuel transfer tanks, and other features that expedite repair and maintenance of farm machinery.

The 1120 Rome disk shown below is a heavy cut 32' disk with 24" blades and oil bath gang bearings that last for several seasons with need for repair. The disk has been fully reconditioned, as is all machinery sent to Amerigui Plantation.

Three Triple-K field cultivators have been sent to Amerigui Plantation. This is one of the two 34' models and was being reassembled when the photo was taken. Most machinery sent to Amerigui Plantation will be repainted to Deere green, Cat yellow, and black for simplicity and ease of maintenance.

The second 34' Triple-K field cultivator.

A closer look at the 21' Triple-K field cultivator.

Below is a 40' x 10" irrigation water relift pump that will be powered by the Deere 4630 tractor. This irrigation pump will transfer water from the canals into rice fields. If fields are suitably arranged it should be able to irrigate about 400 acres of rice.

The 32' gooseneck equipment trailer has been very useful in transporting machinery from the ocean port at Kamsar to Amerigui Plantation. It has a capacity of 12 tons and will be used to move crop supplies from warehouse to the fields for application (seed, chemicals, fertilizers, etc).

A John Deere 900 ripper is pictured below. This ripper is used to loosen compacted soil prior to planting of feed grain crops such as maize and sorghum. Feed grains will be rotated with rice to promote plant health, improve weed control, and to provide raw material for Amerigui Plantation's poultry feed mill.

This 8-row John Deere 7340 planter is equipped with no-till coulters and will be used to plant both maize and sorghum on 30" row spacings.

Two 8-row hippers have been sent to Amerigui Plantation to provide a raised seedbed for feed grains crops. Raised beds will promote efficient irrigation in precision-graded fields. This first unit also has a ripper attachment in front of each row.

The implement shown below is an Amco water furrow plow, also referred to as a ditcher. Small drainage ditches are constructed in each field after planting to assure positive drainage during crop production and prior to harvest. It is important that fields are well-drained before harvest to minimize rutting of fields, ease stress on equipment, and create fewer challenges to preparing the field for the next season's crop.

The small tool below is used to cut a gap in rice irrigation levees and dig a trench on the upstream side of the levee where the irrigation spill is to be installed. While this task can be done by hand, using this tool greatly minimizes the manual effort involved and speeds the irrigation spill installation process a great deal.

Below is a 21' flat roller, which is commonly partially filled with water to serve as a ballast. Flat rollers are pulled after planting of seeds to firm the seedbed and promote good seed-to-soil contact. They may also be used after rice harvest to flatten stalks to the ground so that it may burn more thoroughly.

There are many, many miles of dirt roads on Amerigui Plantation, so this John Deere 2018 mower will be used to keep roads free of larger grass and weeds. This makes management easier, and also prevent weed and grass from producing new seeds alongside the fields each season.

This Deere 709 mower will keep smaller spaces looking tidy.

This 1993 Toyota Landcruiser is one of two passenger vehicles sent to Amerigui Plantation. Landcruisers are the vehicle of choice for many organizations in Africa due to their reliability and durability.

This 1994 Landcruiser was also sent to Amerigui Plantation. It has been equipped to serve as a GPS survey vehicle capable of making topographical maps of the fields to be developed. This photo was taken on the beach at Wilmington, NC just before it was placed on board the ocean vessel bound for Kamsar, Guinea.

F. Photos of Fields on Amerigui Plantation

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The photos in this section were all taken in April 2006, near the end of the dry season. This is the best time of year to tour the Monchon rice plains since the roads are dry and the stubble from rice and grasses has been burned off. As you review the photos, make careful note of the very flat terrain and its relationship to the the canal system.

This is one of my favorite photos since it illustrates the flat, expansive nature of the Monchon rice plains. The farm is about seven miles long and roughly three miles wide. Everything in this photo is a part of the Monchon property.

This is a typical field border road adjacent to the principle canal just before it joins a second supply canal from the right. Local villagers sometimes seine for fish in these canals. Not much to catch, but I guess every little bit helps.

Nice view of a primary artery leading from the main canal. This canal services about 1,200 acres with irrigation water and drainage. The farm's northwest border is about where the distant tree line is located.

This field is just a bit higher in elevation than most. It would make a dandy corn field once the field is graded and irrigation pumps are installed.

Nice view of the flat terrain. Makes for a rice farmer's dream.

Junction of main and minor canal arteries. Water travels on the level for miles throughout the canal system, illustrating the near-flat terrain. The Russian engineers did a splendid job designing and installing the canal network.

It is standard procedure to burn off the previous year's rice and grass stubble each February or March.

This is the junction point mentioned in other sections. There is a large dam in the main canal here, as well as two smaller dams in major arteries leading off on either side. The crossing point over the main canal makes this a natural meeting place. I can envision a small concession stand operated from a shipping container with refrigeration and lighting supplied by a small generator. This would be a nice business for a local villager with some entreprenurial skills.

A minor canal draining into a major artery. Amerigui Plantation will keep the water level low enough in the major canals to drain the fields all year round. Irrigation water will be delivered to the top side of each field through 15" underground PVC pipe supplied by diesel-powered pumps drawing from major canals.

Nice view of the overall farm looking from southwest to northeast. The headquarters site is just behind the most distant trees.

The land pictured here will likely be the first area targeted for landgrading and planting. Amerigui's operations here can be carried out in such a way as to minimize effects on the villagers' activities. A few cattle are brought to this area each dry season from the mountainous interior in search of better grazing opportunities. This practice will be disallowed once Amerigui's cropping operations commence.

Nice perspective of the land.

One challenge to farming here is providing economical ways to move large farm machinery and articulated grain trucks from one side of the canals to the other.

The soils at Monchon appear to be predominately clay, but do have a distinctive fine sand content as well. Higher elevations seem to have mixed soils more suitable to corn production. In any event, all fields will be rotated between rice and corn in order to prevent red and indigenous rice varieties from germinating and competing with pure rice varieties.

The rice fields are currently divided into 2-3 acre fields defined by field levees. It appears that the Russian engineers used a typical levee plow to mark off all the fields, and these levees remain today after 25 years.

Nomadic ranchers move cattle to the coastal areas in the dry season. Enforcing a no-grazing zone around Monchon will be a challenge, but I am told that the local villagers also prefer the cattle to be kept elsewhere.

E. Photos of Existing Water Management Infrastructure

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The photos in this section illustrate the extensive water management infrastructure currently in place at Monchon. These engineering works were installed by a Russian contractor in the early 1980s as a part of the Guinean government's desire to modernize its production agriculture infrastructure.

The wet season runs from June through early September, during which time 2-3 feet of rainfall is received each month. The natural watershed drains naturally into two creeks that converge near the headquarters site at Monchon.

The water is then channeled through an elaborate canal and dam network that retards the flow of this fresh water and distributes it throughout the 6,000 acres of cleared land before being released into the Atlantic Ocean. Fresh water flows through the canal system from late June through December, so access to irrigation water is restricted to about seven months each year. Minor restrictions to the volume of water entering the canal system may extend the available irrigation period by another month, well into January.

The entire farm is very flat and just a few feet above sea level, which presents a small challenge of keeping sea water from being pushed inland into the canals during high tides. The four concrete dams each have automatic flap gates that allow water to flow to the sea, but prevent brackish water from entering fresh water zones of the canal system at high tide.

This is a small drainage canal serving two fields. At present, it is possible to push irrigation water to the high side of the two fields pictured here. This does eliminate any drainage, however.

Amerigui Plantation will install underground PVC pipelines charged by high volume irrigation pumps to deliver water to the high sides of each field. Dam level settings will be kept sufficiently low to allow field drainage in all seasons. Modern rice farming techniques necessitate the ability to add or remove water from fields as an integral part of weed control, fertilizer managment, and crop development programs.

This photo, taken in April 2006 near the end of the dry season, is of the upstream side of one of the concrete dams. The backflow of water into the upstream side of the dam is leakage from the flap gates on the sea water side of the dam. Refurbishment of the rusted flap gates is necessary to alleviate the contamination of fresh water by brackish water.

This is a water discharge gate for a tract of farmland nearest the ocean. Irrigation water is delivered to this area from other points, but drainage is achieved through this exit gate and then out to the ocean.

This dam retains water in an area of about 1,000 acres. A road across the top provides vehicle access to about 400 acres of farmland. The photo was taken in April 2006 during the dry season, so the water pictured is not flowing and is just pooled until it begins flowing once the rains arrive in June.

This is another dam also serving as a bridge so that local villagers may cross from one side of the main canal to the other. About 4,000 people live in peripheral areas surrounding the Monchon rice plains.

This is a junction of the main canal and two majors arteries leading in opposite directions. Villagers do a little fishing here to supplement their food needs. The site is a natural meeting place and would make a nice spot for a concession stand supported by a small gas-powered generator for refrigeration and lighting.

This photo of the same area as the one above was taken in August 2006 near the end of the wet season. See the contrast in foliage between April and August. Note the clarity of the fresh water flowing through the dam. Tempting to take a drink, but I would advise persons not from the region against it.

Also taken in August 2006, this photo shows the downstream side of the dam with its flap gates designed to prevent high tides from pushing brackish water to inland areas.

This photo provides a nice overview of the junction point. Fresh water is flowing through the dam gates, people are milling about, and you can get a sense of the very flat terrain. My guess is that the whole 6,000 acres of irrigated land probably lies within 4-5 feet of the same elevation. There are several sites like this throughout coastal West Africa in need of land and water resouce development before significant crop production can take place.

Another view of a minor concrete dam that retains water in canals serving about 1,500 acres. The flap gates are in need of refurbishment after being exposed to the elements for about 25 years.

Another shot of the main dam at the junction site. By adjusting the three gates pictured, one can flood or drain about 3,000 acres of farmland. I believe this photo was taken in November several years ago.

This is the reverse angle of the same dam pictured above, taken at the same time. There are a few bicycles and 125-cc motorbikes used by the villagers to get around, but the vast majority are pedestrians.

This is a view of the principle canal as it exits the Monchon rice plains. The water marks on the banks signify the level of the high tide.

From here the water flows through a channel for about one mile until it joins the Atlantic Ocean. Drop a message in a bottle here and it may be picked up by someone in the eastern Caribbean, North Carolina, Maine, or Labrador a few months later.

D. Photos of Amerigui Headquarters Site

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The photos in this section depict the various buildings and infrastructure currently in place at the headquarters site. The existing commercial buildings will be suitable for Amerigui Plantation's needs in the early stages of the project, but modern structures will a full complement of features will be required once the scale and scope of the project eclipses a certain level of activity.

This is a panoramic view taken from the cluster of twelve 3-bedroom houses. The building in the center is used as an office building by the military. A rice vending kiosk is to the left, with the rice mill building to the rear.

This is the former cafeteria building. It has room to seat about 50 persons, along with some office and pantry storage space. A small area in the rear once accommodated a first aid station, complete with a patient's room and nurse's quarters.

Amerigui Plantation plans to use the building to the left as a diesel generator and fuel shed. The warehouse building to the right will host feed milling equipment and provide flat storage warehouse space for 50 kg bags of poultry feed. Fertilizers, seed, and chemicals needed on the farm may also be stored here.

This open structure was designed to be a farm machinery repair shed. An enclosed cement room provides security for tools and supplies storage. A beam in the ceiling is fitted for use as a hoist. A second cement block room serves as a residence for one of Amerigui Plantation's employees.

This water tower is about 50' in height. The electrical service and water pumps are no longer present, so getting potable water established again will require a fair amount of work. At this site fresh water can be found at around 25' in depth. The headquarters site is about three miles from the Atlantic coast, with mostly brackish water found between this site and the ocean.

Another general view of the headquarters site, as seen from the rear of the office building and looking towards the rice mill building, existing generator shed, and open equipment shed. The 50' antenna tower could be refurbished to support a private radio network covering the project's property.

This building houses the rice mill and will also serve as a secure farm machinery storage and repair shop until a proper maintenance shop is built about one-half mile away on the farm. The large farm machinery to be used at Amerigui Plantation requires much wider roads, gates, and maneuvering area than what is currently in place at the headquarters site.

Electrical generators are located in the building behind the fuel tanks. These generators provide electrical power to the rice mill and housing units at the headquarters site, but only one remains operational. The very high cost of fuel forces the military personnel to use the generator only intermittently, such as for welding or other machinery repairs.

This is the paddy rice receiving pit inside the mill building.

Paddy rice buffer tanks supply the rice milling machinery.

At 2-mts/hour installed capacity, this rice milling equipment will serve Amerigui Plantation's needs for about five years. By that time enough acres will be in production to warrant more milling capacity.

This open shed provides cover for smaller farm machinery at Monchon. The support poles are too closely spaced to accommodate most of the machinery planned for use at Monchon, but the structure does have its role to serve for smaller items.

This is one of twelve 3-bedroom, 2-bath cement homes at the headquarters site near the rice mill. The houses are in decent structural condition, but need electrical, water, and kitchen services refurbished before use by Amerigui Plantation's foreign workers.

C. Project Sponsor Biography

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John R. Gunter is a fourth generation northeast Arkansas rice farmer, where nearly half the American rice crop is grown and processed. After graduation from university he developed and operated his own 2,200-acre rice and soybean farm, farming for thirteen years before retiring from active farming in 1996 in pursuit of other interests.

After visiting Guinea in 2000, and later residing there through 2001, Mr. Gunter became increasingly involved with the West African rice trade and a myriad of other commodity trading and processing opportunities in the region. Regular contact with Guinean authorities has been maintained over the past six years, resulting in capturing this opportunity to develop Guinea's largely ignored production agricultural sector for the betterment of its citizens.

Mr. Gunter earned Bachelor’s (1983) and Master’s (1984) degrees in Agribusiness and Economics from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas and a Master of Business Administration degree with a finance emphasis (1999) from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. In 1998-1999 Mr. Gunter served a one-year assignment to Dominica, West Indies with the Free Market Development Advisors Program administered through USAID.

Mr. Gunter is a private pilot with 500 hours of experience in single engine aircraft and owned a plane until involvement in foreign activities interfered with this pastime. Personal satisfaction is derived from implementing land and water resource projects on the family’s rice farm, as well as maintenance and operation of farm machinery. International travel and immersion in foreign cultures is also rewarding.

B. History of the Property

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The “Monchon Rice Plains” refers to a flat, coastal swampy area in the north of Guinea near the small village of Monchon. This land was mostly used by French colonialists in the 1920’s-1930’s to grow sugar cane and pineapples for export. Following the departure of the French over the subsequent decades, and particularly after the 1958 French handover of Guinea to local governance, the site has been generally ignored.

In the mid-1980’s a Russian mining company sought to establish a large bauxite mine in the rich deposits in Guinea. In exchange for its mining concession and in recognition of the potential of this site to produce rice on a commercial basis, the Government of Guinea required the Russians to firstly perform large-scale civil engineering works and the construction of a farming/milling headquarters at Monchon. Extensive drainage and irrigation works were installed, as well as several commercial buildings, housing, and water and electricity infrastructure.

The lasting utility of these developments is a strong testament to the planning, wisdom, and skills of those Russian engineers. However, when these works were completed about 1987 and handed over to the Government of Guinea, there appeared to be neither a viable plan to make use of the property nor an entity capable of executing the plan even had one been conceived. The underutilized, newly-developed property languished for several years.

In December 1996 a government-owned Malaysian rice milling/trading corporation, Bernas, leased most of the property from the Government of Guinea and commenced commercial rice farming and milling operations at Monchon. In 2000, a small 2-mt/hour rice mill was installed inside a large building erected by the Russians over a decade earlier. A small collection of farm machinery was also delivered, little of which survives to this day.

Bernas enjoyed some financial support from the Malaysian government in undertaking the project. A nice plaque is affixed to the wall of the mill building stating the rice mill was dedicated by the Malaysian Minister of Agriculture. Guinea's President Conte himself later paid a personal visit to Bernas’ headquarters in Malaysia.

During this pre-Asian financial crisis timeframe, Malaysia aspired to be a first-world country. Undertaking this and other developmental projects, including operating several national phone companies in West Africa, was Malaysia's proof to the world that it had joined the ranks of highly developed countries.

I visited Bernas’s operation (SOBERGUI) on three occasions from 2000-2002. While the company presented itself in a very professional manner and operated the small rice mill quite ably, I was not impressed with the level of commitment being made to make the project a commercial success from a rice production perspective. The Malaysian staff were very cordial and conversant, but appeared to be poorly motivated to be rice farmers. The SOBERGUI staff admitted that their annual planted area to rice had fallen from an original 400 acres down to about 100 acres--far short of the vast potential of this expansive natural resource.

Following the June 2002 departure of SOBERGUI from Monchon, The Ministry of Agriculture asked the Ministry of Defense to assign a small military contingent (now numbering 68 soldiers) to the premises to provide security for the buildings and installations. The military also produce about 50 acres of rice each season, most of which is given to their superiors for consumption or sale to provide working capital for the next season's crop. With the absence of SOBERGUI, local villagers have also begun cultivating rice in small plots; most is for family consumption, but some is sold in local markets for cash.

Amerigui Plantation arrived on the site in May 2008 and has been warmly welcomed by local villagers. As the headquarters site was being reclaimed from years of neglect the villagers expressed their complete support for Amerigui Plantation and the promise of economic development that is sure to follow.

A. Project Overview

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Amerigui Plantation is an agribusiness production and processing venture situated on the flat, coastal plains in northern Guinea, near the port of Kamsar. The project's property includes 2,900 hectares (about 7,200 acres) in gross land area, of which 6,000 acres is irrigated and suitable for rice and corn production. Both rice and corn will be produced and processed on-site into bagged milled rice and poultry feed.

Interested parties are encouraged to post comments to the material presented by clicking on the links at the end of each section. Alternatively, the project sponsor may be contacted at:

John R. Gunter
Phone: (870) 974-0155
E-fax: (425) 660-2934
E-mail: management@amerigui.com.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find the project interesting and worthwhile.

*******************************

A. Reserving of the Property—On May 9th, 2008, Gunter Food Products, Ltd. signed a Protocol of Accord with the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Finance, formally securing the rice plains, all commercial buildings, housing units, the rice mill, and some farm machinery currently situated on the property to Gunter Food Products. The signing ceremony was recorded and was broadcasted on Guinean and regional news programs the following day.

B. Project Company-- The local operating company will be “AMERIGUI PLANTATION”, chartered as a Guinean corporation in early 2006. Amerigui Plantation established its corporate bank accounts with EcoBank Guinea in April 2006.

C. Operational Objectives—The primary purpose of the project is the commercial production and milling of rice and feed grains for domestic sale as bagged milled rice and bagged poultry feed. A 500-bird/week broiler (poultry for meat) operation is also planned, which will serve as a model for Guinean growers of poultry and eggs.

Experimentation in fresh and saline water shrimp and fish production will be performed. Once the production model and marketing aspects have been refined these aquaculture crops will be expanded to commercial scales of production.

The demand for feed in Guinea is very high, but offering feed products also makes effective use of rice bran, a rice milling by-product very high in nutrition. Rice hulls may be used as bedding material for confined poultry operations and later collected and spread on the rice farm as an excellent source of fertilizer.

D. Sources of Materials, Equipment, and Supplies--All crop inputs, farm machinery, commercial vehicles, grain drying and storage facilities, feed milling equipment, etc. will be imported from the USA. Aside from fuels, agricultural lime, and some labor there is little available for purchase in Guinea suitable for these farming and milling activities. Exoneration from duties on most items is included in the long-term lease agreement with the government of Guinea.

E. Location of the Project--One reason I am attracted to this site in particular is its close proximity to the private ocean port at Kamsar. This port is operated by Compagnie des Bauxite de Guinee (CBG), which is a joint venture between Alcoa and Alcan, the huge American and Canadian aluminum companies, and the government of Guinea. The Port of Kamsar is not too busy and good road access is in place to Monchon, which lies just 50 miles to the south by road (only 12 miles by air).

A CBG supply vessel commuting between Wilmington, North Carolina and Kamsar, Guinea every six weeks facilitates ocean freight shipments of containerized supplies and farm machinery being imported from the USA. CBG has generously awarded Amerigui Plantation priority placement of its materials aboard the CBG vessel due to the developmental nature of the business model.

Kamsar will also serve as the nearest place to get groceries, purchase fuels, and visit a restaurant on occasion. In contrast, the capital city of Conakry and its port are about 180 miles south of Monchon and are very congested. All machinery and supplies will be imported through the Port of Kamsar, so moving machinery, materials, and supplies to Monchon will present fewer logistical challenges.

F. Products Offered for Sale

1. Bagged milled rice will be sold to known rice wholesalers and the huge international bauxite and iron ore mining companies operating in Guinea. These mining companies employ about 2,000 workers each and provide rice and other basic foodstuffs to employees as a portion of their compensation packages.

Guinea produces about 200,000 metric tons of rice each year, most of which is consumed near the site of production. About 400,000 metric tons of rice is imported annually from Asia, so the idea of increased commercial rice production is very attractive to the Government of Guinea and its people.

Guineans have a strong loyalty to domestically produced goods, and capitalizing on that cultural trait also supports the business model. A premium is freely paid for rice of local origin over imported Asian rice much higher in quality. Capitalizing on this loyalty for domestic products will be instrumental to the commercial success of Amerigui Plantation's agribusiness enterprises.

2. Bagged poultry feed made from corn, grain sorghum, rice bran, soybean meal, and other available materials will be sold directly to commercial poultry producers. Commercial poultry production is very small at this time, but this is due to the scarcity of feed. Growers must now send trucks several hundred miles to Mali, Burkina Faso, and Cote I’voire for bagged corn for feed, so the current cost of feed is prohibitively high. Feed quality is also rather low since sources for protein are scarce in the area.

Once AMERIGUI PLANTATION establishes a reliable track record of providing feed to poultry producers, it is likely that a Guinean commercial poultry producer will set up a new operation near Monchon so that we may work more synergistically.

G. Terms of Payment--Terms of payment will be advance deposit into the company’s bank account, or cash for goods picked up FOB mill. Sales must likely be denominated in Guinean franc, but this can be converted into USD through banks or private money changers.

H. Management and Staff—I’ll personally be on the site and managing the project, as is the case for all farmers here in the USA and other developed countries. Generally speaking, western farm owners and operators perform the same tasks as employed labor. It is best that all persons be cross-trained to carry out any duties on any given day.

There is little about farming that I have not done already, and done successfully. Executing the development of land and water resources; planting, cultivating, and harvesting the crops; drying, storing, and milling the crops; etc. are all routine tasks for me. Living and working in a third-world environment poses challenges, but none that cannot be mitigated in some suitable manner.

I feel fortunate a few years ago to have met a very capable, energetic, and amiable Ghanaian farmer with exceptional management skills. This fellow is about my age (mid-forties) and will join the operation at Monchon. My plan is to carry out the land and water resource development and farming tasks between the two of us, plus maybe one additional hand-picked Ghanaian, until the planted area and mill management activities grow in scale and require additional workers.

Some Guinean labor will be used to hand-rogue the rice fields free of any indigenous rice varieties that may be present. Guineans will also be employed when the mill is in operation to monitor machinery and handle bags as they are warehoused. These tasks will not really become material until the second year of production, however, since planted acres will remain small until land has been graded and irrigation works are installed. Sweet corn production is also being considered and would necessarily require a substantial amount of local workers for hand harvesting.

A 500-bird per week broiler operation is also planned. This will serve as a model for Guinean growers of poultry and eggs and demonstrate the economics of using Amerigui Plantation feed. Aquaculture crops such as shrimp and fish are planned on an experimental basis until production and marketing systems warrant expansion to a commercial scale.

Guinean workers will be added each season as they become familiar with the machinery and techniques used. Farm, grain handling, and milling machinery is dangerous and the risk of accidents is very high for inexperienced workers.

I. Land and Water Resource Development--Development of the land is necessary before “western-style” planting can take place. The land is currently divided in hundreds of 2-3 acre fields to accommodate the Asian cultural practice of transplanting rice seedlings, but redesigning and precision grading the fields into rectangular 80-160 acre fields will be necessary to facilitate western mechanical farming methods.

The tractor and scrapers pictured above are representative of the sort of machinery required at Monchon to precision grade the rice fields to a uniform grade. Precision graded fields permit more control over irrigation, drainage, and chemical and fertilizer programs.

After fields have been precision graded, about 12-14 high-volume irrigation pumps and miles of underground 15” diameter PVC pipelines with dozens of risers and valves will deliver water to each field. The water depth retained in the canals will be kept high enough to supply the irrigation pumps, but low enough to drain all fields year-round. Through the installation of additional dams and header canals approximately 20% of the land area may be irrigated by gravity, eliminating the need to set up and operate expensive pumping stations.

J. Grain Drying and Storage Facilities—Grain Storage and drying facilities will be installed to handle the paddy rice production and prepare it for milling. There are currently no grain drying, storage, or handling facilities on the site. This investment will be the largest single expenditure in the first two or three years. It costs about $4.00 per bushel to construct the metal drying and storage tanks, but they last for decades with minimal maintenance. Every 100 acres of crops in production requires an investment in grain storage of about $40,000-50,000.

These steel grain tanks, equipped with aeration fans and heaters, are representative of what will be erected at Monchon to dry and store the rice and corn before processing through the mill. The tanks pictured are sufficient to service 500-800 acres of cropland, so approximately this amount of storage will have to be installed each year as land is graded and irrigated and brought into production.