When a group of Southeast Asian buyers stepped off the chartered bus and onto Patrick OโLearyโs farm in Danvers, Minnesota, the chair of Northern Soy Marketing greeted a few familiar faces.
โI recognized some of them from a trip NSM took earlier this year to Indonesia and Thailand,โ OโLeary said. โItโs always a good sign when visits like these are reciprocated.โ
The tour of OโLearyโs farm was the second stop in NSMโs inaugural Midwest Crop Tour, which took place Sept. 11-15 in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska, respectively, before ending in the Pacific Northwest.
The team of 13 international buyers included professionals employed in their companiesโ procurement, purchasing, market research, supply chain and other divisions. The companies represented on the tour include some of the largest purchasers of soybeans in Southeast Asia: Charoen Pokphand, Japfa, Thai Vegetable Oil and more.
The โreverse cropโ tour started in North Dakota where participants were exposed to more than just soybeans. As the bus pulled into North Dakota Soybean Council Director Dallas Loffโs farmyard near Wahpeton, N.D., attendees were glued to the window as they watched sugar beet harvest unfold.
Since most group members had never heard of sugar beets before, it was an excellent opportunity to highlight North Dakotaโs agricultural diversity. And, of course, Loff gave them an in-depth view of the soybean growing and harvest process on his operation.
Farmers and buyers continued the conversation over lunch before the Southeast Asian group headed to South Dakota to visit Peever farmers Bob and Bud Metz and Kevin Scott of Valley Springs.
While at the Metz farm near Peever, South Dakota, participants took a deep dive into the agronomy decisions Metz makes with his agronomist to grow a quality soybean crop.
The tour also featured a visit with Ag Processing Inc. (AGP) staff at their headquarters in Omaha, Neb., and their Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, crush facility. The team later flew to Seattle for tours of AGPโs export facility, as well as the Washington State Department of Agricultureโs Grain Inspection Program, to learn more about quality testing, grade inspection and phytosanitary services for grains and commodities.
The multi-state visit was handled in coordination with the U.S. Soybean Export Council.
Northern Soy Marketing news release
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