Many farmers have felt the constraints of tariffs and trade wars, especially when looking for a place to contract soybean bushels. In North Dakota, some farmers even recently received letters from their local elevators telling them to find other markets for their crop.
With the Chinese soybean market traditionally taking the lion’s share, the recent trade war left many farmers without a place to sell their beans.
“In South Dakota, seven out of every 10 rows of soybeans are exported,” said Mike McCranie, a South Dakota soybean farmer and newly elected chair of the U.S. Soybean Export Council. “It used to be that 3½ of those exported rows were heading to China, but USSEC has been working to diversify markets for a long time.”
The United Soybean Board (USB) and USSEC are two organizations working to showcase the quality and opportunities of U.S. soy on the world stage.
“We only had one soy processing plant until recently,” McCranie said. “We had a big crush plant come in, and now most of the soybeans in our area are contracted there.”
McCranie farms alongside his wife, Monica, and two sons, Mitchell and Matthew, near Claremont, S.D. This is his sixth year with USB, and he has been growing soybeans for almost 40 years.
The soybeans are crushed into soy meal and oil, and then most of that heads for the Southeast Asia market.
“One place we’re really focusing on is Indonesia,” McCranie explained. “I was recently on a trade mission there, and I was so impressed with the contacts and collaboration happening. There was a lot of collaboration between USSEC and USDA, and when there’s collaboration, it saves a lot of time and money.”
Matt Gast, vice chair of USB, farms near Valley City, N.D.
“Agriculture is tough right now,” he said. “Commodity prices aren’t great, and we’re trying to find the best return on investment for farmers. We need real results now.”
Gast explained that exports are a big focus for USB as it looks to find new markets for soybean producers. “Our goal at the end of every day is to continue to move that pile,” he said.
Moving the pile
For Gast and McCranie, finding new markets and uses for soybeans is a top priority. Biofuels, which use soybean oil that is extracted during the crushing process, continue to be a focus as well.
“Biofuels consume 7.4 billion pounds of soy oil annually,” Gast said. “We want to continue to build on that.”
He recently returned from Egypt on a See for Yourself tour. “I encourage all farmers to apply for one of those tours,” he said. “They can see what their checkoff dollars are doing in real time.”
McCranie said market diversification is one of the biggest priorities for USSEC.
“We have a lot of hope in all these smaller markets,” he said. “When you diversify, maybe we’ll have 50 different markets compared to one.”
Taiwan, Guatemala, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Egypt are all countries of focus for USB, Gast said.
“Showing up matters. Relationships matter. We can’t rely on just one country,” he added. “We want to keep and expand the relationships we have.”
In addition to new partners, new products are another avenue.
From fire-retardant foam to shoes or tires, soybeans can be found in more products than ever before.
“There’s all kinds of uses, and as we invest in all of these things collectively, we can really move some beans,” Gast noted. “We take pride in finding those new uses and products, and making U.S. soybeans the most desired in the world.”
With new products and new partnerships developing opportunities for U.S. soybean farmers, the future is bright for this year’s harvest.