How U.S. Soy Can Help Global Food Security and Grow Markets

Global food insecurity isn’t top-of-mind among most soybean farmers, especially regarding its relationship to national security. However, those golden beans gathered at harvest certainly play an expanding role in global peace and market development.

South Dakota Soybean Executive Director Jerry Schmitz was among 150 public and private sector leaders at the September launch of Feed the Future Accelerator for Sub-Saharan Africa. The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are driving this innovative bipartisan effort to promote global food security and strengthen national security.

“Working with food-deprived nations is in our best interest for peace. Soybeans can play a vital role to help malnourished and chronically hungry people,” Schmitz says. “Investing in food to assist nations with a protein shortage is also a line of defense to keep the peace and reduce the opportunity for bad actors to step in.”

Conflict realities

While this accelerator project aims to build a breadbasket in southern and eastern Africa for 260 million hungry people, the hope is to build a long-term resilience across many countries to reduce pressure on U.S. taxpayer funding of constant emergency responses.

Luke Lindberg, President & CEO of South Dakota Trade, says conflict is the number one driver of food insecurity, and unfortunately, the world is in conflict right now. At the annual Midwest Ag Export Summit in August, many global experts discussed global challenges to trade, including armed conflicts and growing hunger.

“The goal of many food aid efforts is to alleviate some of these crisis spots and make the world a better and safer place—one that is well fed,” Lindberg says. “If we can be there as good stewards and good friends to support someone when they’re down, then they’ll be there to support us when they’re up.”

Through those golden harvested beans, soybean farmers’ investment plays a critical market development role as these underdeveloped and developing countries learn how U.S. soybeans play an essential role in human nutrition.

One example of how soybeans play a more significant role in Ready-to-Use Supplementary foods and Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods is in Edesia Nutrition products used for malnutrition in more than 60 countries. After dialogue with representatives from the United Soybean Board (USB) and continued work with the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), Edesia created a product that contains 25% more soy flour, which make the product more cost effective and meets nutritional and protein needs.

WISHH’s work with this nutritional product fits our strategic plan to deliver sustainable soy solutions to every life, every day, says USB Director and Salem, SD, farmer Dawn Scheier.

Growing relationships are critical

Since 2000, when visionary soybean leaders founded WISHH, U.S. soybean farmers are investing in global food security through increased export opportunities. WISHH is the catalyst for developing and emerging markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

“We are grateful every day for farmer support as we find and create new human food, animal, and aquaculture feed markets for U.S. soybeans,” says Gena Perry, Executive Director of WISHH. “We’re laying the foundation for future trade in developing and emerging markets, working at the intersection of food security, market development, and trade.”

Challenges abound on the ground, everything from finance to infrastructure to supply chains, value chains, and cold storage, and they vary by country, according to Perry. A critical piece is connecting U.S. soybean farmers as brand ambassadors with our in-country partners.

Ask any farmer who’s traveled on an international See For Yourself tour or attended the Northern Crops Institute INTSOY Course about the value of these meetings. They will smile with fond remembrances of global buyers and the personal bond they experienced when discussing their farm and family, especially as photos were shared.

Farmer travels help exports

“Once we get our foot in the door and establish a relationship, the people from other countries who meet U.S. soybean farmers really value this interaction,” Schmitz says. “They want to keep this relationship going so that as future food needs arise, they will become U.S. soybean buyers and want to visit their farms.”

Alan Poock, Director of Asia for WISHH, says international buyers are also impressed that U.S. farmers invest their money (through checkoff) to help developing countries improve food security and grow local businesses.

A case in point involves an aquaculture technology and soy feed production value chain program in Cambodia, entering its fifth year. WISHH worked with an aquaculture advisor to adapt a U.S. in-pond raceway system (IPRS) design to create a new production method that meets Cambodia’s unique challenges.

“This new production method dramatically increases fish production using a cage that mimics natural current in existing ponds,” Poock says. “Instead of using homemade food tossed in a pond, a commercially produced, higher protein soy-based floating pellet feed has dramatically increased fish production.”

Thanks to checkoff investment, WISHH not only provides technical assistance and education for Cambodian fish farmers, but it helps with local pelleted feed production and supports a local IPRS builder, helping new and existing farmers.

A second success story in Cambodia involves many years of work with a tofu and soy milk company. “They’ve now completed their third order of identity-preserved U.S. food soybeans and are considering expanding their plant which opened seven years ago,” Poock says.

Such work in Cambodia has made it a growing and important export country for U.S. soybeans. Similar successes are occurring in other countries. “We take a long-term view to develop these markets, because we’re changing people’s behaviors, buying habits, and value chains,” Poock says. “By building relationships and investing time, money, and U.S. expertise in these countries, we’re earning trust, which increases markets over time.”

As these developing countries grow their need for more protein, the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) begins to expand the market. By partnering with growing countries like India and others in Central and South America, we can help improve their protein consumption and alleviate childhood and adult nutritional deficiencies.

“We’re working with many governments, in-country associations from food and nutrition to livestock and supply chains, and local businesses,” says Will McNair, USSEC Director of Human Protein and Oil. “Our goal is to educate and promote how U.S. soybean quality delivers efficiencies and a higher-quality soy food desired by these growth countries.”

For example, Indonesia is the largest soy food market for U.S. soybeans. They import approximately 2.3 million metric tons, primarily for food use to produce tempeh. “As countries become wealthier, they’re increasingly buying high-end identity-preserved soybeans and soy protein isolates to produce better quality food products,” McNair says.

Such U.S. soybean market growth in developing countries bodes well for our export future, as higher-quality soybeans are gaining on lower quality, lower priced Brazilian soybeans. “And if higher soy food consumption trends continue among more elderly populations in Japan and beyond to improve health, greater global adoption could occur over the next 10 to 20 years,” McNair says.