Soybean Exports Strengthen Farmers, Rural Communities

Foreign markets are critical to the success of individual farmers and to the vitality of a strong rural America, according to Josh Gackle, Chairman of the American Soybean Association (ASA).

“Nearly 60 percent of what we grow here in the U.S. when it comes to soybeans, is exported to some other country,” Gackle told the South Dakota Soybean Network. “That demand, that’s something that the American Soybean Association and the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) work very closely on; continuing to find new markets where we can and build those new markets, but also maintain the existing markets that we have.”

The largest U.S. soybean export customer is China, which because of its sheer size is frequently brought up in discussions of soybean export demand, said Gackle, immediate past president of the ASA, who in December moved into the role of its chairman.

“We always talk about finding new markets, building new markets, but you can’t replace China overnight no matter all the other investments that you’re making, so that trade and that relationship, it’s just critical,” he said, “not just to my success personally on my farm and our operation, but it’s about a strong rural America and just strength in the economy and farm country.”

A great deal of effort goes into maintaining relationships that contribute to robust export demand. Some of that effort is, of course, directed toward export customers, but there is also attention given to partnerships with domestic federal agencies.

“Farmers demonstrate the importance to them by investing in those programs as well; farmer checkoff dollars get invested throughout the world and finding those new markets and building markets, partnering with important programs like the Market Access Program from USDA or the Foreign Market Development Program, working with those dollars as well and matching up with those dollars to make those investments,” said Gackle. “The return on investment is huge there for farmer-invested dollars and then the opportunity to partner with these other programs.”