United States Trade Representative Michael Froman is heading to Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, Aug. 9, to visit with local farmers, small business owners and elected officials to discuss the state’s major role in international trade and the opportunities that deals in the works will offer Iowa farmers and families.

According to a news release from the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Froman will specifically focus on how Iowa stands to gain from the current U.S. trade agenda, specifically through unprecedented trade deals being negotiated with countries in the Asia-Pacific and the European Union. Iowa is the second-largest agricultural exporter in the United States. President Obama’s trade agenda will break down barriers to Iowa’s top four export markets: Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Germany.

He’ll also visit the Kimberley Family farm and tour facilities to see the technologies, including the latest in agricultural equipment and touch-screen crop monitors that digitally map soybean and corn fields.  Also, he’ll stop by Kemin Industries, a Des Moines company that manufactures more than 500 specialty ingredients for specialty ingredients for global feed and food industries around the world. Froman will tour the company’s new Molecular Advancement Center and view several demonstrations.

In the afternoon, Froman will meet U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley at the Iowa State Fair for a tour of the Agriculture Building and in the afternoon he’ll join Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds for the Governor’s Charity Steer Show, hosted by the Iowa Beef Industry Council and the Iowa Cattlemen's Association.