Leaders from the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council returned from the Council’s first-ever trade mission to Uzbekistan.

To begin the latter portion of the trip, Council Directors Patrick O’Leary and Gene Stoel started their day by catching a flight to Andojan, Uzbekistan from the capitol. The first stop in the region was the Sammix feed mill ,where they saw the modern mills operation, which runs 14-16 hours a day and makes 100% broiler chicken feed.

After driving past the mountains, the farmer-leaders and Council Director of Market Development Kim Nill and Communications Specialist Bailey Grubish headed to a modern crushing plant. On sight the plant crushes, runs research projects and has a textile plant. One of the test runs the facility does is clean wheat seed for farmers,.  

The farmer-leaders continue to see various operations and the opportunities each presents. 

A private crushing plant in Kokand recognizes the impact of Minnesota farmer-leaders in Uzbekistan. 

When farmer-leaders arrived on site to the crushing plant on Saturday, Sept. 10 they were greeted by the owner, employees, plus the local news. 

The owner, along with the other organizations, recognize the importance of the trade mission work MSR&PC is doing. 

The owner of the crushing plant is one of the few to grow soybeans in Uzbekistan with a small amount of acres. The group visited the soybean field to look at the crop and the farmer asked questions. This is the first time the farmer has planted soybeans and he is eager to learn more about soybeans.

Getting into an actual field in the country allowed the farmer-leaders to see for themselves how badly the country needs to import soybeans and how the U.S. can help fill that void. 

“It’s a country that is growing rapidly,” Stoel said. “We tried to talk to people we needed to talk to. … We tried to get a feel for what this market looks like.”