SSGA continues to study phytosanitary inspection issues

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By Shane Frederick, SSGA Communications Manager

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance has been working for the several months on how to improve U.S.-based grain and oilseeds inspections, a continuing problem for rural processors and exporters of identity-preserved (IP) field crops.

The high costs and logistical issues associated with getting a phytosanitary certificate are seen as punitive, especially considering the inspections add no extra benefits to the shipment.

IP soya already exports above federal grain standards. Prior to any inspection, crops are already thoroughly segregated, sorted and cleaned. They’re shipped in closed, sealed containers – not to be opened until they reach buyers’ factories where they are made into tofu, soymilk and other food products.

“These are the cleanest crops in the world,” SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg said, stressing that there are SSGA members who, in 20 years of loading crops for export overseas, have never had a phytosanitary finding. “Where’s the risk we’re mitigating? It seems as if we’re asking the least of us to pay the highest price.”

The everyday logistical issues IP exporters deal with – difficulties in finding containers, as well as blank or canceled sailings – make it difficult to schedule inspections for pests, disease and other areas of concern for countries importing field crops.

“We need a more flexible, easier system,” Wenberg said. “It’s not just a cost issue.”

Earlier this year, SSGA led the charge to get Japan to delay implementing a new phytosanitary requirement, working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service. SSGA continues to work with federal and state officials and regulators on this issue.

“We’ve got some breathing room with this issue,” Wenberg said.

Last week, it sent a letter to USDA Deputy Administrator Osama El-Lissy requesting that APHIS review and update its solutions to rural phytosanitary inspections of containerized grains and oilseeds and grant regulatory relief to IP exporters.

Also last week, SSGA put on a webinar and discussion for members to better understand the issue and discuss solutions.

“Together we can speak with one voice because this affects us all,” said Todd Sinner, SB&B Foods vice president and chair of SSGA’s Food Grade Soya action team.

Potential solutions range from negotiating to exempt IP crops from phytosanitary certification to self-sampling and inspection to changing perceptions by educating countries who import IP crops how safe the U.S. system is, among others.

“We need a better system,” Wenberg said. “This is our opportunity to talk about the quality we can provide.”

Watch the latest SSGA IP-ODCAST in which Wenberg and SSGA Communications Manager Shane Frederick discuss the issue here.

SSGA delivers ATP progress report

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The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance recently submitted its first performance report on progress made on projects funded by an Agricultural Trade Promotion grant from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

The grant is for the creation of a U.S. Identity-Preserved (IP) brand and creation of a digital IP exchange, targeting markets in North Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe.

“We’re moving to the most important phase of the project,” SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg said. “And that is establishing a brand to help the globe understand the high quality of U.S. IP – that the United States is farming for a purpose.”

In January, SSGA hired a technical adviser for each region to explore new and innovative ways to connect with key trade and decision makers in the target markets and continue building and driving industry awareness and demand by highlighting the diversity, quality and availability of premium U.S. IP soya and specialty grains.

With COVID-19 restricting travel and direct outreach, the technical advisers have adjusted, representing SSGA in virtual events, such as the USSEC Pan-Asia Soy Foods Summit June 9-11, and helping SSGA plan future events, including virtual educational seminars.

SSGA also commissioned a study to analyze the IP market opportunity in the Philippines and awarded contracts for development of the U.S. IP branding program and IP technical manuals to help potential customers understand the value of premiums required within the IP system. Both projects are expected to be completed and approved by year’s end.

Other highlights include:

  • IP training for technical advisers in Canada along with SSGA staff and board members in February.
  • Addressing market issues, including work with partners and agencies in April to delay the implementation of Japan’s phytosanitary certificate requirement.
  • Presentations on traceability and specialty soya and grains outlook at the June USSEC Pan-Asia Soy Foods Summit.
  • Planning of trade conferences and courses and identifying buyers to attend, many of which have been changed to virtual events or rescheduled to 2021 due to COVID-19.

“While the Japan phytosanitary extension was a big win for members, the IP technical advising team continues to press forward,” said Alyson Segawa, SSGA technical adviser for North Asia. “The IP virtual educational seminars, with support from the new market research, technical manuals and branding focus, present a valuable opportunity for SSGA to launch impactful messaging in key export markets.”

SSGA has partnered with the U.S. Soybean Export Council on its submission to FAS and thanks USSEC for its friendship and cooperation.

Updates from the experts

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For a recent virtual trade show, Specialty Grains Lead Dave Miller and Strategic Adviser for Trade and Transportation Bruce Abbe provided video updates on their respective areas of expertise. Listen to their updates below.

SSGA participating in Pan-Asia Soy Food Summit

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This week, SSGA is participating in the inaugural Pan-Asia Soy Food Summit hosted by the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC). The virtual show focuses on soy food and oil markets in Asia with industry professionals delivering insight on supply and demand, benefits of U.S. soy, sustainability, impacts of COVID-19 and more. Key soy buyers and users from Southeast Asia, South Asia, North Asia and Greater China are expected to participate.

On Wednesday night, two individuals from SSGA member companies will present about topics related to identity-preserved (IP) soybeans. Rob Prather, Global Processing Inc., will present a supply outlook for U.S. specialty soybeans for food uses at 8:30 p.m. CDT, while Jeff Fjelstul from AGI SureTrack will highlight how production data innovations lead opportunities for IP at midnight Thursday (CDT). SSGA is also hosting a virtual trade show booth in the event.

You can find out more information or register for the event here.

USDA to provide $1 billion in loan guarantees for rural businesses and ag producers

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making available up to $1 billion in loan guarantees to help rural businesses meet their working capital needs during the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, agricultural producers that are not eligible for USDA Farm Service Agency loans may receive funding under USDA Business & Industry (B&I) CARES Act Program provisions included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

“Under the leadership of President Trump, USDA is committed to being a strong partner to rural businesses and agricultural producers and being a strong supporter of all aspects of the rural economy,” Secretary Perdue said. “Ensuring more rural agricultural producers are able to gain access to much-needed capital in these unprecedented times is a cornerstone of that commitment.”

In addition to expanding eligibility to certain agricultural producers, the changes Secretary Perdue announced today allow USDA to:

  • Provide 90 percent guarantees on B&I CARES Act Program loans;
  • Set the application and guarantee fee at two percent of the loan;
  • Accept appraisals completed within two years of the loan application date;
  • Not require discounting of collateral for working capital loans, and
  • Extend the maximum term for working capital loans to 10 years.

B&I CARES Act Program loans must be used as working capital to prevent, prepare for or respond to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The loans may be used only to support rural businesses, including agricultural producers, that were in operation on Feb. 15, 2020.

USDA intends to consider applications in the order they are received. However, the Department may assign priority points to projects if the demand for funds exceeds availability.

USDA announced the expanded B&I authorities in a notice published on page 31035 of the May 22 Federal Register (PDF, 315 KB). The Department will begin accepting applications for B&I loan guarantees on May 22, 2020. Applications must be received no later than midnight Eastern Daylight Time on June 22, 2020, or until funds are expended. Program funding expires Sept. 30, 2021.

Eligible applicants may contact their local USDA Rural Development State Office in the state where the project is located.

USDA is developing application guides for lenders and borrowers on the B&I CARES Act Program. The Agency also will host two webinars to provide an overview of program requirements.

To register for the webinar on Wednesday, May 27 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, visit globalmeet.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1322642&tp_key=7a700acddd.

To register for the webinar on Wednesday, June 3 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, visit globalmeetwebinar.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1324161&tp_key=6067315417.

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.

SSGA launches new webcast

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Let’s talk IP!

The I.P.-ODCAST, a new video series hosted by the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) communications team, was launched on May 15. The first episode features Executive Director Eric Wenberg discussing the core tenet of traceability, as well as other trends the SSGA is currently following, along with host and SSGA communications manager Shane Frederick.

The I.P.-ODCAST will regularly highlight news, discuss issues and give viewers a chance to hear from the movers and shakers in the identity-preserved (IP) world.

SSGA requesting proposals for technical manuals, foreign research

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The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) is seeking proposals for two projects related to its programs under the Foreign Agricultural Service Agricultural Trade Program to increase exports of U.S. identity-preserved (IP) specialty soya and specialty grains through foreign market development programs.

The requests for proposal include:

  • preparing and providing content for five IP crop buying technical manuals
  • foreign market research for the Philippines

Proposals for both projects are due May 14, 2020 by 5 p.m. CDT. View the complete RFPs here.

SSGA leads way in delaying Japan phytosanitary certificate

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In lieu of person-to-person meetings in Washington, D.C., the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) board used technology to hold their board meeting and visit various federal regulators April 6-7.

SSGA met with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) staff in the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) departments to discuss SSGA’s programs as well as Japanese market access issues. During these meetings, officials announced they received official communication from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) confirming the delay of the Japan phytosanitary requirement set to be implemented June 1.

In the past few months, SSGA led the way by documenting examples from its member companies to USDA about the difficulties of certifying under current practices and complying with Japan’s request.

“This move gives us the breathing room we need to work with USDA to find a cost-effective, fair way to create these new certificates,” says Todd Sinner, chair of SSGA’s food grade action team and partner at SB&B Foods, Inc. “This June 1 deadline was really an April deadline because our companies were starting to do as directed and fulfill the phyto requirement. It’s too big of a risk – if we get a rejection it can cost thousands in losses.”

Although Japan has not announced new dates for the implementation, SSGA will continue to pursue long-term solutions with APHIS, other agencies and industry partners from across the spectrum of U.S. agriculture.

“The whole industry needs to pull together,” says SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg. “Passing the regulatory or administrative reform in the United States needed to comply with Japan’s requirement will take a lot of effort. We can pursue solutions together. Identity-preserved (IP) field crop shipments are low-risk inputs to food manufacturing and we need to send them to customers with as much efficiency as possible.”

To get a phytosanitary certificate for these shipments, a sample inspection from FGIS officials would be necessary, which would incur fees from the official traveling, often to rural and remote areas, to take the sample; but also indirect costs and inefficiencies, such as managing the phyto certificates, missing scheduled shipments waiting on a sample to be taken and infrastructure updates.

“Our customers trust us and are satisfied with the current inspections and certifications we go through to ensure they’re receiving the purest product,” says Curt Petrich, SSGA chair and president of HC International in Fargo, N.D. “It’s important that SSGA works for its members to either exempt IP crops from this inspection requirement or develop solutions with APHIS to improve the process of obtaining a phytosanitary certificate.

SSGA’s meetings with FAS officials detailed SSGA’s use of the Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) grant funding and SSGA’s recent additional attention to expanding market development opportunities for specialty grains.

“We had three great meetings with various officials that helped us plan our next steps. We’ve realized the potential change here is the process of obtaining a phytosanitary certificate, not about the need for the certificate,” Petrich says. “Our next step is to give Japan a suggested date for the delay. The IP industry needs a delay of 12 to 18 months to implement the infrastructure to accommodate their request. It’s not time to quiet the conversation.”

 

SSGA visits Ottawa for training, meetings

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By Eric Wenberg, executive director

As we move closer to spring, work is ramping up on the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) ATP grant to brand and grow identity-preserved (IP) crops to customers abroad.

As such, SSGA staff and board members visited Ottawa, Canada, Feb. 18-19 to meet with and attend training for the overseas technical advisers SSGA has hired to promote IP abroad. The group covered logistics and financial or compliance matters, but also dug deep on what SSGA can accomplish abroad and what the technical advisers should do.

And what is that?

Promote exports of specialty soya and grains by adding to U.S. capabilities in market development by:

  • Working to brand the U.S. as a quality origin for IP crops.
  • Coordinating with and pushing opportunities with all the commodity organizations active in exporting.
  • Reporting on IP and transportation issues, and answering your questions about SSGA and the markets

Much of our Ottawa meeting centered around our working plan for the ATP grant. Additionally, our advisers reported to SSGA opportunities to explore. Those advisers, Alyson Segawa, North Asia; Hoa Huynh, South East Asia; and Gene Philhower, Europe, also spent a great deal of the meetings learning about SSGA and our goals as an organization and our goals through the grant.

One topic we couldn’t escape in Canada was traceability, which was the word of the week. Agromeris’ Peter Golbitz ran everyone through their paces about the great detail needed to make an IP transaction work. Our transportation analyst Bruce Abbe taught everyone about container shipping and what we need to watch for to help businesses export. Member volunteers Rob Prather, Global Processing, Sean Mulford, Agniel Commodities, Darwin Rader, Zeeland Farms, and Curt Petrich, HCI, added context from their business experience.

After our meetings wrapped, I, along with Petrich, SSGA’s chairman, stayed behind in the cold weather to meet with agencies and allies in Canada. Of note was our learning about Canada’s grain inspection system where they use a 2nd-party sampler system that monitors companies as they take samples to be sent to labs for testing. This substantially cuts downs on their costs to follow rules regulating control of pests and diseases. Canada takes its quality and safety issues seriously and is confident that 2nd-party testing works. Canada has recognized its rural roots and tried to make it simpler for companies to comply with rules.

SSGA received great support from the USDA FAS office at the embassy in Ottawa, and looks forward to returning to Canada soon to liaison with its businesses and officials active with food variety field crops and identity preservation.

The next ATP implementation phase is to unveil our global branding and research contractor. As that data becomes available, we’ll keep you informed as we ramp up activities.

Get to know SSGA’s identity-preserved technical advisers

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By Kaelyn Platz

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) takes pride in developing ways to reach foreign markets through funding from the ATP grant. The grant has enabled SSGA to hire identity-preserved (IP) technical advisers to address issues in their designated regions to help enable increased exports by communicating about the benefits of IP crops and their traceability, reporting on trends, competitors and transportation and build upon SSGA’s value of providing resources that communicate the quality, diversity and availability of specialty soy and grains. The three advisers will represent Southeast Asia, North Asia and Europe.

The Southeast Asia adviser is Hoa Huynh. Huynh has an extensive background working for the U.S. government in a variety of capacities. He has served as acting assistant deputy administrator, area director for North Asia and Agriculture Trade Office (ATO) coordinator of the Office of Foreign Service Operations, Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Huynh also completed an assignment as director of the ATO at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China.

Huynh was the regional agricultural counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. In addition to Bulgaria, he also covered Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo. He has served as director of the ATO at the American Institute in Taiwan and U.S. agricultural attaché to the United Kingdom.

Hunyh joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) FAS in 1990 as an agricultural economist and served in various capacities at FAS’ Headquarters in Washington, D.C., in between his overseas assignments. In 1999, Hunyh successfully negotiated the market access for agricultural and food products chapter of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). The BTA established a solid foundation for the current flourishing exports of U.S. agri-food products to Vietnam.

“After almost 30 years of serving U.S. agriculture, I’m very excited and grateful to again have the privilege to assist our farming community in developing, maintaining and expanding overseas markets, especially in Southeast Asia, for U.S. IP soybeans and specialty grains,” Huynh says.  “I look forward to working with specialty grains farmers to increase exports of their crops abroad.”

Huynh is a graduate of Oregon State University, where he received an MBA, an MA in multidisciplinary studies (MAIS) degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. Hunyh is fluent in Vietnamese, Chinese Mandarin, Bulgarian and French.

The adviser for North Asia is Alyson Segawa. Segawa began her career by managing a multimillion-dollar portfolio of international market development projects for a leading international affairs management consulting firm. Through this experience, she gained access in 15 international markets, including North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

With her knowledge in international markets, Segawa decided to found her own business, Eliasan Consulting, in 2018. Her extensive experience has enabled her to be able to pinpoint market development strategies and tactics to be able to support SSGA’s goals.

“I am looking forward most to being an advocate for IP soya and specialty grains within the Northeast Asia region,” she says. “It sounds like there is a lot of real opportunity there to grow the different export markets for the industry.”

Segawa received her bachelor’s degree in international studies and Spanish from Seattle University and earned her master’s degree in international business and policy from Georgetown University.

She has been a guest speaker for numerous organizations such as U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council, Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, and Washington State Wine Commission. She also serves as a member of the U.S. National Small Business Association (NSBA) Leadership Council.

Eugene Philhower is the IP technical adviser for Europe. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis, Philhower started his career for the U.S. government.

In total, he spent 33 years in numerous different positions for the government. He spent five years with the Agency for International Development and later joined USDA’s FAS serving as an overseas post in Brussels, Belgium; Geneva, Switzerland; Lima, Peru; London, UK and various positions in Washington, D.C., including three years as chief of staff and most recently as director of the Fragile Markets Office.

Since leaving his government job, he worked as an adjunct professor at Delaware Valley University, teaching a course on global agriculture and trade.

Philhower learned that he loved teaching, but realized that he had found a passion in learning himself.

“It is always a good thing to be learning something new,”Philhower says. “I view my role as a matchmaker. I know that U.S. producers can produce the crop, so I must figure out the demand and how to put the two of them together within the conditions of the markets and the countries.”

In addition to his expertise, Philhower speaks French, Spanish and a bit of German and Nepali.