Minnesota’s soybean farmers are busy building relationships with international buyers and exporters at the U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange and Midwest Specialty Grains Conference in Omaha, Neb.

The 2017 trade show opened with a reception at the Joslyn Art Museum where 11 Chinese purchasing agreements were signed with five U.S. exporters.

“This conference is an opportunity for our farmer leaders to interact with the international market and build those relationships, along with trust in our product,” says Patrick O’Leary (pictured above), chair of the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC).

Joel Schreurs, Minnesota farmer and American Soybean Association director, agrees.

“A lot of trade deals are done because of this conference, and it really comes down to building trust with our customers,” Schreurs says.

The Minnesota soybean farmer leaders in attendance were busy promoting the quality of Minnesota’s soybeans, along with meeting with exporters to foster new relationships or maintain current ones.

“The strength of our national effort to export our soybeans opens the doors to have conversations with both the buyers and end users about the quality of our soybeans,” O’Leary says.

Although the topic of international trade is surrounded by the cloudy waters of potentially renegotiating current U.S. trade agreements, that didn’t seem to damper the conversations between eager buyers and exporters.

“We continue to work with our commodity groups to protect international trade and promote how important trade agreements are to the agriculture economy,” O’Leary says.