SSGA, WISHH meet to discuss shared interests

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The executive committees of the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance and the American Soybean Association’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) met on Monday, March 20, on Zoom to discuss joint projects and their shared interests in promoting human nutrition and intermodal transport.  

The two groups were joined by ASA CEO Steve Censky, ASA/WISHH Executive Director Liz Hare and SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg. 

SSGA has been supporting WISHH, providing data for various projects. SSGA also has much to learn from WISHH about how it is promoting new business strategies and using online collaboration tools in its market promotions. 

SSGA Chair Bob Sinner noted connecting WISHH’s work to business is an area he wants to support. 

“SSGA and WISHH had a good meeting to discuss opportunities to collaborate and work together,” said Sinner of North Dakota-based SB&B Foods. “WISHH has done an excellent job defining its soybean industry lane, creating activities and realizing meaningful successes. We are impressed with their work. In many ways, there are a lot of synergies in what we are each doing to create demand in a specific segment approach, while at the same time, appreciating the importance of strategic partnerships to grow our industry. I really liked the attitude and willingness to continue our dialogue.” 

WISHH Chair Gerry Hayden of Kentucky has devoted years and boundless energy to supporting soy exports through WISHH and was interested in developing further alliance partnerships.  

“New and innovative strategic partnerships both at home and abroad are a key part of WISHH’s new strategic plan,” Hayden said. “I’m so pleased with our dialogue with SSGA and look forward to building more new markets for U.S. soy together.” 

The two groups discussed the current crisis in intermodal shipping that U.S. companies are facing and how that impacts moving container shipments abroad.  

SSGA Vice-Chair Rob Prather of Iowa-based Global Processing stressed that we must continue expanding educational offerings to our customers and partners, focusing first on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) as it relates to pricing levels and purchase timing. 

WISHH is doing that through its business mentorships. WISHH is also seeking more input and support about how to break down buyers’ resistance to making first-time purchases of U.S. soy. 

“Collaboration between WISHH and SSGA collaboration combines shared directives,” Prather said, “and I’m excited to see where the opportunities lead.” 

SSGA featured on Philippines online food directory

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The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) is part of Great American Taste PH, an online directory of virtual stores and supermarkets that showcase U.S. foods, beverages and ingredients in the Philippines.

The directory, compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila, includes several downloadable recipes and includes a Facebook page to promote sponsors and participants.

SSGA’s recipe entry includes the videos it made with chef David Bonom for the U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange & Specialty Grains Conference. The dishes, all influenced by soy, included coconut shrimp with mango ketchup, harissa apricot pork chops, honey miso tofu stir fry and lemon rosemary spatchcock chicken.

Tech adviser reports available on-demand

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SSGA’s IP technical advisers delivered their reports for the 2020 Annual Meeting via video, and the reports are available to watch on the SSGA Vimeo channel via the links below:

Hoa Huynh, SSGA technical adviser for Southeast Asia

Alyson Segawa, SSGA technical adviser for North Asia

Eugene Philhower, SSGA technical adviser for Europe

SSGA elects SB&B’s Bob Sinner as chair

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Bob Sinner, SSGA Chairman

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance added one new member to its Board of Directors, re-elected another and tabbed Bob Sinner of North Dakota-based SB&B Foods as its new board chair during its 2020 Annual Meeting on Thursday.

Raquel Hansen of Pipeline Foods was elected to one of two open seats on the board, and Keith Schrader of Wheeling Grain Partnership was re-elected to the other open seat.

Following the business meeting, the Board of Directors elected officers, and Sinner was voted in as chair, with Rob Prather of Global Processing elected vice-chair and Darwin Rader of Zeeland Farm Services elected secretary/treasurer.

“I’m humbled to be elected SSGA chair,” said Sinner, who previously served as the organization’s vice-chair. “The chair is only as good as its board, so I will lean on everybody on this team – and it’s really a talented group. I’m excited about where SSGA is going.”

Sinner replaces retiring chair/director Curt Petrich of HC International.

Other members of the board include Rick Brandenburger of Richland IFC, Andy Bensend of AB Farms and Adam Buckentine of The Redwood Group.

“This is a group of such smart, talented people,” SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg said. “They not only represent all of the areas vital to SSGA and its members, but they have a passion for what they do. And that will only serve our membership and help our alliance grow and grow stronger going forward.”

Hansen, the board’s newest director, said she is eager to get started in her new role.

“I’m looking forward to serving,” Hansen said. “There are a lot of challenges in the industry, and I’m hoping I can help.”

SSGA’s annual meeting was a two-day event held virtually due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions. More than 70 people logged in each day.

Besides board elections and business meeting, highlights from the event included several speakers and presenters, among them: United Soybean Board CEO Polly Ruhland, U.S. Soybean Export Council COO Ed Beaman, Tradelanes CEO Vijay Harrell and organic farmer Carolyn Olson.

USB’s Polly Ruhland delivers keynote at SSGA Annual Meeting

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The demand for protein continues to rise around the world, and there is space for everyone involved in its production, United Soybean Board CEO Polly Ruhland said during the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance’s 2020 Annual Meeting.

“We’re going to need protein of all kind, and it’s time to start thinking about that,” she said.

Ruhland delivered the keynote address during on Thursday, the second day of the two-day meeting, which was held virtually on Zoom due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions.

Speaking to members and allies of SSGA, which included growers, processors and shippers of U.S. identity-preserved soya and specialty grains, Ruhland said soy in human food around the globe “matters so much today.”

Restoring soy’s reputation – the “halo” that it enjoyed years ago – is key.

“It’s critical that we listen more closely to customers and consumers than ever before,” said Ruhland, who has been USB’s CEO since 2017.

Ruhland said she hopes to have SSGA as a partner on USB’s protein-first initiatives.

Soy, she said, can play a role in solving the world hunger problem, which, in turn, would play an important role in global sustainability.

More than 70 people logged on to the Zoom meeting for second day of the SSGA meeting, about the same number that participated on Day 1.

Thursday’s events also included SSGA’s annual business meeting and saw the election of Raquel Hansen and the re-election of Keith Schrader to its board of directors. Bob Sinner was later elected board chair after previously serving as vice-chair. Rob Prather was elected vice-chair, and Darwin Rader was elected secretary/treasurer.

The makeup of SSGA’s board of directors now includes:

Andy Bensend, AB Farms

Rick Brandenburger, Richland IFC

Adam Buckentine, The Redwood Group

Raquel Hansen, Pipeline Foods

Rob Prather, Global Processing (vice-chair)

Darwin Rader, Zeeland Farm Services, Inc. (secretary/treasurer)

Keith Schrader, Wheeling Grain Partnership

Bob Sinner, SB&B Foods (chair)

Petrich, the outgoing SSGA board chair, received special recognition as retiring board member as well as one of the first SSGA Alliance Honors. Petrich received the award for “Advancing SSGA.”

“You can understand why Curt has such a high level of integrity,” Sinner said. “On behalf of all of us, thank you for your committed and dedicated service.”

Said Petrich: “I appreciate the support I’ve been given from Bob, as well as the whole team. You’ve got a group of people here who are passionate about the organization, passionate about their business and passionate about our success.”

Other honors went to SSGA adviser Bruce Abbe (“Advancing Transportation”), SB&B’s Todd Sinner (“Advancing IP”) and the North Dakota Soybean Council (“Stewardship”).

Petrich also reviewed SSGA’s wins and challenges from 2020, and Executive Director Eric Wenberg presented an outlook for 2021 that included a rundown of projects and a robust calendar of events planned for the coming year.

The annual meeting concluded with an interview with organic farmer Carolyn Olson of Fairview Farm. Olson raises soybeans, corn, small grains and alfalfa near Cottonwood, Minn.

“When you raise something specific for someone and that thing is in demand, that’s a vey cool thing,” Olson said. “You want to raise something that’s desired. It is more work, but in the end, it’s worth it.”

SSGA’s annual meeting isn’t over quite yet. The meeting of the Competitive Shipping Action Team will take place 8-10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8. And to see on-demand video reports from SSGA’s technical advisers for Europe, Southeast Asia and North Asia, please follow this link.

Suspension of overseas ag container shipments is blow to US ag community

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Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance members were shocked to learn this week that shipments of agricultural products by containers are being discontinued by a major shipping line, effective immediately and for the foreseeable future.

The German international shipping and transportation company Hapag-Lloyd has dropped a bombshell, informing exporters it is suspending overseas ag container shipments from North America, a decision that could cause major hardships within the entire U.S. ag community.

The decision is being driven by hard economics during a time of unprecedented demand for higher-value North American consumer imports by containers from Asia at premium prices. Reports to SSGA are that Hapag-Lloyd has decided it needs to quickly reposition empty containers back to Asian shipping centers, even if it means forgoing hauling critical food and agriculture products back to manufacturers overseas.

SSGA members in the Upper Midwest, including shippers of bulk and identity-preserved (IP) soybeans and specialty grains, note the decision will especially hit exporters hard in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. The strong Twin Cities market frequently finds itself short of inbound containers to meet demand and has long relied on Hapag-Lloyd’s services to reposition containers for exports.

“Hapag-Lloyd has been one of the most reliable and dependable carriers for rural, inland ag shippers, so this announcement is devastating and shocking,” said Bob Sinner, president of North Dakota-based SB&B Foods and chair of SSGA’s competitive shipping action team. “For those of us in the food soybean arena, we are just coming off a harvest that our overseas food manufacturing customers are anxious and desperate to begin receiving.”

According to available information from the global trade data company Panjiva, as read by SSGA, Hapag-Lloyd delivered 878 shipments of U.S. bulk soybeans at a volume of more than 17,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) between Oct. 22, 2019 and Sept. 25, 2020 to destinations around the world. The majority went to Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia, as well as to Thailand and South Korea. Over that same span there have been 172 shipments of IP non-GMO food-grade specialty soybeans at a volume of 780 TEU.

“This disrupts the food supply chain,” Sinner said, noting that consumption of soy foods has been strong throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and that worldwide food inventories are low. “Companies in those countries rely on us for their food manufacturing. We’ve got our new crop harvested and we’re making significant and consistent bookings with carriers to get our products shipped quickly and as soon as possible.”

The move by Hapag-Lloyd poses an ominous sign for U.S. ag exporters if other ocean carriers decide to follow suit or delay ag shipments. SSGA is encouraging Hapag-Lloyd and any other carriers considering similar decisions to reexamine this policy. SSGA will explore all options to work on behalf of its members to try to help resolve this issue and is encouraging exporter members to talk to their shipping representatives.

Renewal time for SSGA members: ‘It’s nice to have a voice’

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By Shane Frederick, SSGA Communications Manager

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) was born in February of 2019, and the first official members began joining the organization the following spring.

A year and a half later, members are starting to renew with SSGA, showing their belief in the young organization and seeing value in being part of it.

“I believe this organization can be successful,” said Roger Mortenson, vice president for specialty products at Grain Millers. “My feeling is there’s a tremendous amount of experience and a tremendous amount of driven people, people actively involved on the board, people who are really respected. I’m really happy to see how it’s going.”

For six years, Mortenson was on the board of the Midwest Shippers Association, the organization that merged with the Northern Food Grade Soybean Association to form SSGA. That included three years as board chair. Grain Millers was one of the first of SSGA’s members to renew in 2020.

“SSGA has a lot of really good things going on,” Mortenson said.

Over the last year, SSGA has taken on big tasks, leading the way on the getting Japan’s phytosanitary certificate requirement delayed and working on market access issues in India and China. It’s moving ahead on projects such as helping plan and organize this summer’s virtual Global Trade Exchange & Specialty Grains Conference, which will be held Aug. 24-27, and getting a U.S. identity-preserved (IP) brand created and established.

“We do a lot of work with other companies that are part of SSGA. What’s important to them is important to me. What affects their business affects our business,” said Jacob Noll, general manager at Friederichs Seed Inc., another company that quickly re-upped its SSGA membership. “The issues we’re working on are important; the phyto is huge right now.”

Shipping, especially out of rural America, solving other logistical puzzles and market development are also important issues SSGA is tackling, Mortenson said.

“It’s good how the organization is focused on our business,” he said.

Noll agreed, adding that SSGA is indeed a true alliance of businesses big and small that focus on the production, processing and shipping of specialty soya and grains around the world.

“There are issues we need to work together on as a group,” Noll said. “Even though we’re competitors, we’re working together for the greater good. There is strength in numbers this way. … SSGA is putting action teams together and putting the right people in the right places. Having who understand the politics of it has really helped. That’s vital – to get funding, to work on the issues.”

Even though SSGA is a national organization often working on a global scale, it’s not a monolith. Noll said he can call up SSGA leadership and staff and speak directly to them whenever he has questions or concerns.

“It’s a great feeling,” Noll said. “SSGA has a national presence, but there’s still a hometown feel to it.

“It’s nice to have a voice.”

For more information, check out the SSGA membership brochure or go to the membership page on the SSGA website.

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.