SSGA featured on Philippines online food directory

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.

Study shows food-grade soybean acreage on the rise

In 2020, U.S. producers grew 2.6 million acres of non-GMO food-grade soybeans. That represented an increase of 7% from 2019, according to a USSEC study.

The Non-GMO Food-Grade Soybeans Quantification Study was based on information collected from 101 non-GMO producers – as well as purchasers, exporters, state associations and other sources – in August and September. According to USSEC, the purpose was to update the organization about the number of acres currently produced in the United States, end use and destination and trends that impact identity-preserved (IP) production.

According to the study, U.S. soybeans were farmed on 83.8 million acres in 2020. Five million of those acres were devoted to non-GMO soybeans, and 52% of those acres were food grade, a slight drop from 2019. It was as high as 66% in 2015.

However, more growers – 19% of respondents — reported that they plan to increase, rather than decrease, their non-GMO food-grade acreage going forward. Fifty percent planned to grow the same amount, and another 19% were undecided.

Non-GMO soybean yields have increased by 2.8% annually since 2015 with a 56.9 bushels-per-acre-average expected in 2020.

Premiums are also expected to be on the rise in 2021, according to the study.

Eighty-seven percent of non-GMO food-grade soybeans are exported to other countries, with 47% used for tofu, 18% for soymilk, 14% for natto and 9% for miso.

Please see more information from USSEC, which can be found here.

Soy samples, please!

Soy samples, please!

Identity-preserved – or IP – means buyers of U.S. soy can get the specific characteristics they’re looking for in order to make their food. Those characteristics can include color, size, oil, protein content and much more.

But how do those customers find the specific products they’re looking for?

A tool to help them learn about the different varieties of soybeans available in the United States is currently in development. A U.S. Soyfood Variety Database is expected to launch in 2021, and soyfood exporters are being asked to submit samples of the varieties they currently handle.

The database project is being led by U.S. stakeholders, including U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA), United Soybean Board, qualified state soybean boards, exporters and farmers.

“We want to provide a holistic picture of soy foods that are being grown in the U.S.,” Will McNair, USSEC Director of Oil and Soy Foods Programs, told a virtual audience at the U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange & Specialty Grains Conference in August. “We need information from exporters and farmers on varieties that exist and are being developed.”

Todd Sinner, partner and vice president of SB&B Foods and chair of SSGA’s Food Grade Soya Action Team is a member of the workgroup that helped develop the database.

“After months of collaboration among many U.S. soy industry stakeholders, we are excited to deliver a database of U.S. IP soybeans to the international marketplace,” Sinner said. “Buyers of U.S. IP soy will soon have access to variety of data and analysis spanning multiple soy food industries. As this effort kicks off, it is very important for all IP soy exporters and allied industry partners to participate in the University of Minnesota sampling program.”

Exporters should contact the University of Minnesota’s Seth Naeve and Jill Miller-Garvin, who are handling the samples and testing, for sample kits at naeve002@umn.edu and mille443@umn.edu. Samples should be submitted no later than Oct. 30.

IP: It starts on the farm

By Shane Frederick, SSGA Communications Manager

When people in the identity-preserved (IP) industry talk about traceability, the term they often use is “fork to farm.” It’s the idea of following food and food ingredients all the way back through the value chain, tracing the path of the manufacturing process, containerized shipping, processing and, of course, the growing of the crops themselves.

During a recent webinar aimed at European buyers of U.S. IP field crops, the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) put a couple of IP soybean farmers front and center in its marketing and educational efforts.

Michigan farmer Tim Boring and North Dakota’s Joe Morken took part in a panel discussion led by Eugene Philhower, SSGA’s technical adviser for Europe, during the Sept. 15 U.S. Identity-Preserved Soya and Specialty Grains Virtual Seminar. The event was co-organized by SSGA and the European company Bridge2Food.

“For the first time, we committed ourselves to providing messaging from our farmers and growers,” SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg said. “It’s in their rich, fertile soil throughout the United States where the IP process truly begins.”

The producer panel, entitled “Fork to Farm: U.S. Farmers Discuss How They Grow and Deliver What You Order,” gave Boring and Morken an opportunity to explain their roles in the IP process to potential European buyers.

“I think it’s important for producers to be able to tell our side of the story – hearing it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak – as to what we’re doing on the farm, how we’re keeping the soybeans or other products being grown pure in identity and traceable and how we’re taking that very seriously ourselves so that we’re giving customers the products that they desire in the way that they want,” said Morken, a third-generation farmer who grows soybeans – including food-grade beans – as well as sugar beets and corn near Casselton, North Dakota.

Farmers are indeed the ones who take the first steps in the segregation of specialized crops, starting with the seed, and putting in the extra work all the way through harvest that’s required to make IP traceability possible.

“This is high-level management, making sure things are well-segregated, things are cleaned out and we’re avoiding contamination at planting and at harvest,” said Boring, who operates his family’s sixth-generation farm in Stockbridge, Michigan.

Boring raises a variety of soybeans, corn, wheat, barley, dry beans and other crops utilizing soil health and regenerative principles. His innovative farm practices have been the subject of national and international publications and invited presentations. He is the president and founder of Michigan Agriculture Advancement, an organization dedicated to improving the economic and environmental opportunities for Michigan farms.

“I’m willing to put in more effort on the acres I have,” said Boring, who holds a Ph.D. in crop and soil sciences from Michigan State University. “There’s a message that there are farmers who are willing to put in the time and effort, knowing there can be a significant financial return on the back side.”

Morken, a board member and past chair of the North Dakota Soybean Council, agreed.

“Everything has to be pure,” he said, “so the planters need to be cleaned, all the hoses need to be cleaned out, the combines need to be cleaned. There is extra work to it. That’s part of the reason for the premium, to make sure it’s an identity-pure product.

That premium is beneficial to all parties along the value chain, and the quality, condition and specific traits of those crops make them worth paying extra for.

“The companies we work with are selling the beans overseas, so it’s vital that we’re doing our part to keep these things pure,” Morken said. “That’s in their contract; that’s in our contract. And they check in with us to see that things are right and are passing that information on to the end users.”

Including farmers in presentations in the Bridge2Food event and upcoming SSGA seminars, including traceability events for the Philippines and South Korea, is vital to delivering the IP message, Wenberg said.

Boring agreed, saying that the case is built by allowing potential buyers to hear voices representing each sector of the value chain.

“As growers, we can add value to the products we sell through higher levels of management, such as specialty soybeans, but we can also add value by connecting buyers with a face and story behind that production,” said Boring, one-time research director of the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee. “Trust is one of the most valuable but difficult-to-build aspects of a business relationship. When growers participate in these virtual events, it’s building trust with buyers – trust in who is growing their soybeans, the way in which they are grown, in how the business relationship is valued. I see these virtual events as cultivating a business opportunity that helps give me access to the high-premium specialty soybean market.”

SSGA will continue to include growers in its presentations and is seeking speakers and presenters from throughout the IP industry for its events. SSGA members interested in contributing may fill out a survey here.

SSGA to launch European marketing efforts Sept. 15

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) is launching its marketing efforts in Europe on Sept. 15 with the U.S. Identity-Preserved Soya and Specialty Grains Virtual Seminar. This webinar will promote the U.S. container and identity-preserved (IP) traceability system and its benefits to European companies and consumers.

The co-organizer of the event, the Dutch company Bridge2Food, is promoting the event on its website and through social media channels to attract a robust audience of European buyers. SSGA is also working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture offices in Europe to promote the event. Target participants include companies along the soy value chain, from traders and importers, to food processors and ingredient companies, to food producers and retailers. Registration is free so we hope and expect significant participation by European companies interested in high-quality, U.S. IP products.

The seminar will feature three SSGA presentations and a virtual trade show. Two of these presentations will introduce the U.S. IP system and focus on its advantages, including traceability of container-shipped field crops. We will also have a panel discussion with U.S. producers of IP soya and specialty grains.

Concurrent to the presentations and during networking breaks, participants will be able to meet with exhibitors in the virtual trade show. SSGA members can exhibit for free. This will be a great opportunity for SSGA members to introduce themselves to the European market and to make new contacts in this important market.

If your company would like to join us, email Katelyn Engquist to register.

Soybean exports projected to meet targets; China seeking traceability

As the 2019-20 U.S. marketing year nears its close, U.S. exports of soy and corn have much different outlooks as the industry hopes to meet volume projections.

Soybean exports are on pace to meet expectations despite a two-year low in exports to China in May, according to Reuters. These losses were offset by the second-largest volume shipped to the rest of the world for the month since 2018 and strong sales in June, which surpassed projections.

Corn, meanwhile, on the heels of a slow start to the year, is expected to come up short of projections – even with May’s total finishing as the second-largest for the month on record and the largest one-month total since August of 2018. However, sales in June fell short of expectations, leaving year-end targets likely out of reach.

For more on this story go here.

China seeking traceability
Bloomberg recently reported that China’s biggest food company, Cofco, is publicly vowing full traceability for all the soybeans it buys directly from farmers in Brazil by 2023.

This could show that the U.S. getting ahead on promoting traceability, which could have some traction in the Chinese market if non-GMO product can obtain market access.

Go here for more on this story.

Compiled by Alyson Segawa, SSGA Technical Adviser, North Asia

SSGA delivers ATP progress report

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.

SSGA participating in Pan-Asia Soy Food Summit

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.

High demand for tofu may signal area of growth

By Shane Frederick, SSGA Communications Manager

Coverage of meat shortages and supermarkets imposing limits on meat purchases during the COVID-19 outbreak has popped up recently in the national media. Some of those stories have even suggested that consumers explore alternative protein sources, such as tofu.

A fine idea, to be sure. But tofu may be hard to find right now, too.

Tofu reportedly has been flying off the shelves around the United States, with supermarkets having trouble keeping up with demand.

“Demand in the U.S. is … shockingly high,” said SB&B Foods Inc.’s Bob Sinner, Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) vice chair while speaking to the India Soy Dairy Analog Workshop recently. “The shelves are empty.”

Reasons for the high demand are unclear – it could be directly or indirectly related to the coronavirus pandemic – but it should signal to soybean growers, processors and buyers who make the healthy, high-protein soybean food that the U.S. tofu market may be an unmet area of growth.

Linda Funk, executive director of The Soyfoods Council, has heard about the high demand from a few of her contacts, noting that shelf-stable silken tofu is a popular item filling consumers’ pantries.

“In general, people are adding more protein to their diet,” Funk said. “The relative trend is there. There’s an increase in eating plant protein, but there’s an increase in meat, too. … I think people want more food healthy protein, whether that’s tofu or chicken or a combination – meat and soy can exist on the same plate.”

Rob Prather, chief strategic ambassador for Iowa-based Global Processing, said shortages due to increased demand may demonstrate an immature domestic market that, historically, simply is not used to selling so much tofu. Americans’ attitudes toward tofu are shifting, he said, but volume hasn’t yet caught up to trends.

“There’s a feeling that it’s healthy,” Prather said.

Funk agreed, and it’s especially true now, as consumers’ eating habits have evolved. They’re preparing more meals at home, and they’re shopping economically.

“People are looking for alternatives,” Funk said. “Tofu is so versatile. It’s a blank slate. You add the flavors. You marinate it; you add spices or herbs. It blends well with things.”

Morinaga Nutritional Foods’ Mori-Nu Silken Tofu, varieties of which are sold at 10,000 retail stores around the country, has been in high demand since the pandemic started, according to Colleen Sherfey, senior director of Marketing for Morinaga. The company’s website reports that its online supply is out of stock, and there are shortages of some varieties in the retail market.

“People have been trying to stock up,” Sherfey said. “One of the nice benefits of our tofu is that it’s shelf-stable for up to one year. It travels well and doesn’t need to be refrigerated.”

Whether people are buying tofu as a more-affordable, healthier protein option; as an alternative to meat they aren’t able to purchase due to current disruptions in the food supply chain; or even to cook with it because their favorite vegan restaurants are shuttered during the pandemic, the trend should signal to producers in the specialty soya industry to plan for the future.

Farmers who still have space and time could look into diversification of their crops, adding the high-premium tofu beans that can be processed and shipped directly to customers.

Buyers, including international customers, who are interested in high-quality tofu beans shouldn’t wait to place their orders. Soybeans from the 2020 crop should have been ordered last September. Waiting to buy could mean getting lower-quality beans. And while identity-preserved (IP) beans may be more expensive, consumers will get what they’re ordering.

Nancy Kavazanjian of Wisconsin-based Hammer and Kavazanjian Farms has been growing varieties of IP food-grade soybeans, including tofu beans. Her soybeans have been planted already. The decisions of what to grow get made in the winter months when they order seed and chemical for their crops.

“I think every year is different,” Kavazanjian said. “We grow for The DeLong Company and have been for 30 years. We order seeds in January, February, March at the latest. We make those decisions in early winter or mid-winter. There’s really not that much leeway. … We decide how much acreage to devote to corn, to soybeans, to wheat.

“With soybeans, how much will be food beans? … Food beans have been very good for us for 30-plus years.”

Kavazanjian said she hasn’t seen the tofu shortage firsthand but said that if demand is indeed growing, that might play into her growing decisions for next year.

“Anything we can do to add value to our crop, we’re willing to look into it,” she said. “It can be worth it, especially in this environment.”

SSGA presents to U.S. Soy workshop

India has tremendous potential to grow in the soybean industry, Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) Vice Chairman Bob Sinner said on Friday as he made a presentation to the India Soy Dairy Analog Workshop, hosted by the U.S. Soybean Export Council.

Sinner, the president of SB&B, spoke on the topic of quality attributes and sustainability of U.S. specialty food soybeans. He introduced other participants from SSGA and touted the benefits of U.S.-grown, identity-preserved soybeans to the Indian market.

“Our job is to grow your business, and we want to work with all of you,” Sinner told the nearly 75 participants who were on the video conference at the time.

Sinner says there are many India soy food manufacturing entrepreneurs that are excited about the possibility of sourcing IP food-grade soybeans from the U.S. Two previous programs that got U.S. samples into the India soy food businesses has industry in that country excited about what U.S. beans can do for improving their retail products.