French reporter on Iowa farming: 'Very impressive'

A French journalist came away very impressed with Iowa's agriculture and farming industry, which she will be writing about.
A French journalist came away very impressed with Iowa's agriculture and farming industry, which she will be writing about.
An international business journalist came away from her four-day visit to Iowa very impressed with the agriculture and farming industries, according to published reports.

When Beatrice Mathieu of L'Expansion wasn't busy sitting in the perch of a John Deere tractor at the Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines, she was visiting farms, ethanol plants, and mingling with economists. And she left with positive opinions about what she had been viewing and looking into.

"Iowa agriculture is very impressive," Mathieu said.

Now working on gathering agriculture news material for a special edition story about the U.S. economy and where Iowa's farming industry fits into it, Mathieu also visited a feedlot for cattle and a biotech firm. That was a curious visit considering her home nation does not allow seeds for biotech purposes.

"In 10 years, biotech seeds still will be banned in Europe," she said.

Despite heavy snow not preventing her visit to those agricultural sites, she was unable to visit one of Iowa's emerging assets, a winery.

"I would like to have seen one," Mathieu said.