Foreign Territory

AVON PARK ? Shannon Peacock summed up in four words the reason small businesses may be hesitant about exporting their products: ?fear of the unknown.?

Peacock?s fears were alleviated after he attended an exporting workshop earlier this month that was hosted by the Hardee County Economic Development Council, Hardee County Chamber of Commerce, Florida?s Heartland Rural Economic Development Initiative and the Florida Foreign Trade Association

?It was informative,? said Peacock, the plant manager for Bowsmith Irrigation Inc. in Avon Park. ?They laid everything out in a way that I could understand.?

Bowsmith manufactures agricultural irrigation tubing for groves and nurseries. It has been in business in Avon Park since 1982.

Peacock said Bowsmith would ?love to expand? its market overseas.

The company, whose corporate headquarters is in California, does do some exporting now. The potential is enormous because of the type of product Bowsmith makes.

Peacock said people ?have got to grow crops?? and then added ?it doesn?t rain every day.?

Business owners and managers are skeptical about exporting, and Lynn Topel, the executive director of FHREDI, is well aware of that.

Peacock initially thought that Cheryl Sharp of FHREDI was a telemarketer when she called to invite him to the workshop.

?So many of our businesses are not educated (about exporting),? Topel said.

The goal is to help 20 businesses in the region become exporters.

A session was held week at Sebring Regional Airport to train economic development officials, FHREDI and Heartland Workforce staff to provide information to companies about exporting. Topel noted that information and advice is also available at no charge from Enterprise Florida.

Topel sent a copy of a story from Thursday?s Tampa Tribune about the impact of exporting to several businesses in the region.

The story cited data from the Department of Commerce that showed U.S. exports ? aided by a weak dollar that makes U.S. goods cheaper overseas ? jumped nearly $600 million to $138.3 billion in August from July.

Kevin Stoddard, plant manager of Amerikan LLC, attended the workshop to learn about ?the pitfalls of procuring internationally.?

But Stoddard said Amerikan is interested in importing raw materials to make its nursery containers in Sebring. He wanted to find out if it would be worthwhile for the company to go through the process by itself. It probably isn?t, he said.

?It costs you more than somebody else to do it,? Stoddard said.

Stoddard noted that good information was presented.

Leigh Ann Wynn, marketing director for Everglades Season, also attended the workshop and thought it was informative.

Wynn said the Sebring company, which produces various seasonings that enhance the flavor of meats, poultry, fish and other foods, said it needs to expand in the United States before crossing borders.

?We?re trying to get it outside of Georgia,? she said.