U.S. Soybeans in China and around the world (Part 2) – Ohio Ag Net | Ohio’s Country Journal

By Dusty Sonnenberg, CCA, Field Leader, a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and Soybean Check-off

The U.S. Soybean Board (USB) represents the interests of soybean farmers from across he country, all over the world. Steve Reinhard, an Ohio farmer and current chairman of the USB recently traveled to China in support of these efforts. The Ohio Field Leader recently visited with Reinhard about this recent trip.

OFL – Representing U.S. Soybean growers internationally and promoting the quality and quantity of U.S. Soy to perspective buyers is important. Once the beans are sold, the logistics of getting the U.S. Soy products to their final destination can be a challenge at times. How does the U.S. compete globally with some of the difficulties we have had such as low water levels on the Mississippi River and in the Panama Canal?

Reinhard – Transportation and logistics is definitely another force to reckon with. I think one of the things that the buyers have always been concerned about is food security in China. When we had the drought of 2012, it opened the door for them to look other places for their soybean commodity needs. That’s one thing that they want to do with their Belt and Road Initiative. Their goal is to connect all of Asia and Europe through that initiative.

They like to call it “the World Open Initiative” which is a plan for how China is going to be more open to the world. They have done a lot of work in South America and Africa as well as building infrastructure and port facilities to get goods in and out of the various countries. It continues to be a challenge for us, especially with the Mississippi River. A year ago, the Panama Canal had issues getting ships through, and when you have to add an additional two weeks’ worth of freight time, that that cost money and as to the price of our soybeans.

OFL – We hear about the importance of sustainability when producing our agricultural commodities, but especially when growing soybeans with more sustainable practices. How much emphasis is there in China on the sustainability of our beans?

Reinhard – We stress the sustainability component of U.S. Soy a lot. We let them know that we have a soy sustainability protocol that we go through with the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and we believe we can accommodate the European Commission on deforestation regulations today. The way it stands currently, we are probably one of the only countries in the world that can do that. We want to continue to stress that point. Sustainability is something that the Chinese government talks quite a bit about and even the Chinese people talk about sustainability. Hopefully they can see that we have a niche in that area and we don’t have the deforestation issues here that some places around the world do. We can continue to embark on that advantage by continuing to use programs like farmers for soil health and some of those other sustainability programs as well.

When it comes to trade all around the world, obviously there’s a lot of work being done on multiple fronts in India and Africa and other places to create more trade opportunities. China is still the 900 pound gorilla in the room when it comes to the sheer volume of exports that they consume.