When a trade delegation arrived Sept. 30 at Glen Groth’s family farm near Houston, Minn., it was hard to tell who was more excited for the visit – Glen’s three daughters or the team of South Asian buyers who arrived as part of Northern Soy Marketing’s (NSM) annual Crop Tour.   

 Let’s call it a tie.   

 “It seems like it’s always a hit on both ends,” said Groth, NSM chair and Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) treasurer, who hosted a similar trade team last harvest during the 2024 NSM Crop Tour. “The girls were so excited, because they had such a good time last year and the buyers did such a good job in speaking to the girls.”   

 The multi-day, three-state tour arrived at Groth’s farm just a day after he started harvesting his 2025 soybean crop. During the afternoon visit, Groth met with over 15 buyers and producers from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. He provided snacks, including raspberries grown on his farm, and Honeycrisp apples developed through the University of Minnesota, and explained his growing practices and how his crop is delivered to market. The Groths also gave a tour of their equipment, including their combine and grain bins, and offered their guests a closer look at Groth’s soybean crop.   

 “They were really interested in our labor demands and were amazed my wife (Melinda) and I could run our farm with pretty much me and her and some part-time help from my dad,” he said. “With the technology we have, we can accomplish a lot, and they’re not as used to that type of labor efficiency.”   

 Groth also reconnected with an egg producer from Indonesia, whom Groth met on an NSM trade mission to Southeast Asia.   

 “It was cool to have that full-circle moment where I saw his farm and he saw mine,” Groth said.   

 Prior to meeting the Groths, the Southeast Asian delegation, which included poultry farmers and representatives from feed milling industries, started its tour at the University of Minnesota and met with Soybean Agronomist Seth Naeve, who showcased the composition of Upper Midwest soybeans and highlighted the value of the U.S. Soybean Quality Survey.   

 Day 2 of the mission began with a stop in Brewster at the Minnesota Soybean Processors facility, which recently celebrated 25 years as a soybean crush and biodiesel facility.   

Attendees met with staff and were gifted Minnesota Soybean Processors hats, which the group wore during a visit later that day to the Tyler, Minn., farm of Joel Schreurs. While Schreurs’ beans weren’t quite ready for harvest, he gave an overview of the operation and his grain handling equipment, along with explaining how trade is a mutually beneficial relationship.   

 “We want you to buy our crop, because we want to plant another crop,” Schreurs said during a Q&A session. “That’s what we love to do – I want to farm, and you take our product and turn it into eggs and chicken.”   

 Schreurs, who has hosted numerous trade teams over the years, said, even with language barriers, he enjoys conversing with his international guests.   

 “These meetings are very important,” he said. “They really make a difference.”   

 Ann Tang, a Vietnamese soymeal importer, considered her first trip to Upper Midwest a success. She had an up-close look at cutting-edge research, visited a crush facility, saw soybean harvest in action and learned how the beans she imports are shipped via ports at the Pacific Northwest (PNW). She was also pleasantly surprised at the 80-plus degree temperatures.   

 “My friend said it might be snowing here,” she said.   

 In the end, the Crop Tour goes beyond agriculture to foster human connections between producer and purchaser, Groth said.   

 “Sometimes, that goes further than constantly talking about soybeans, and you don’t always get that doing business in other parts of the world,” he said.   

 The tour continued west to South Dakota with a poultry nutrition research discussion at South Dakota State University, plant-based feed ingredient producer Houdek, a stop by Jeff Thompson’s farm in Colton, S.D., and at the Central Farmers Cooperative elevator at Lyons, S.D.  

Farmers from NSM’s member states – Minnesota and South Dakota – produce about 16 percent of the soybeans grown in the U.S. Most of those beans are loaded onto rail and shipped from PNW export facilities. Thus, it was only appropriate that the NSM Crop Tour capped at the PNW, where NSM Executive Director Gary Williams joined participants on a harbor tour of Seattle and AGP’s Terminal 2 at the Port of Grays Harbor.   

 NSM hopes to continue the trade exchange by embarking on another trade mission to Southeast Asia in early 2026.   

 “Those are the countries that are the focus of a lot of our efforts in promoting the quality of northern-grown beans,” Groth said.