Farmers are proactive.

They purchase crop insurance before the hailstorm hits, secure their seed long before the snow melts and sometimes they’ve even sold portions of their crop before it’s been harvested.

Therefore, it only makes sense that they’re proactive when it comes to marketing the product they painstakingly grow. As an invested member of Northern Soy Marketing (NSM), MSR&PC has gone the extra mile in ensuring a strong presence in foreign markets.

A delegation from NSM traveled to Indonesia in February to meet with foreign purchasers to gain more insight into their buying habits and to assess the potential U.S. soybean meal market.  University of Minnesota agronomist Seth Naeve, poultry nutritionist Bob Swick and South Dakota farmer Mike McCranie were the key players leading important conversations centered around measuring the quality of soybean meal and encouraging the purchase of soybeans via the Pacific Northwest (PNW).

“This trip was really important because we know that we are going to have a lot of meal coming out of our region and going through the PNW,” said McCranie, who serves as NSM vice chair. “The best customers that we have are in Southeast Asia, so we do have to look at countries like Indonesia to expand our market.”

Visiting a total of seven feed mills throughout Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, and Surabaya, the group had many quality conversations with general managers, nutritionists and purchasers. To cap off the trip, NSM hosted an “Essential Amino Acids in Soybean Meal” seminar. With about 40 attendees looking on, the seminar homed in on measuring soybean quality and the research that supports a closer look at the critical amino acid value.

“Protein itself doesn’t paint the entire picture of quality,” Naeve said. “U.S. soybean meal should be viewed not as a commodity but as a package of nutrients for animals.”

MSR&PC will continue to reap the benefits of NSM’s efforts to expand the U.S. soybean market, increasing profitability for Minnesota soybean growers.

Working to grow global demand for northern-grown soybeans and shift the soybean value standard from crude protein to nutritional value, NSM’s visit to Indonesia was just the beginning of realizing the full potential of U.S. soybean meal in not only Indonesia, but Southeast Asia.