Everyone who participated in the 2010 United Soybean See for Yourself Program had only good things to say about the experience.  If you are interested in learning more about the many ways your soybean checkoff dollars are being invested domestically and in the international marketplace, go to the USB website.

The following is editorial/opinion/Cyndi Young’s 2 cents:

As a person who has spent the past 25 years telling the story of agriculture, this experience is one I will not soon forget.  Why?  Many reasons, not the least of which is the opportunity I had to witness U.S. farmers in that defining moment when they see how the soybeans they grow are being utilized by others.  Loren Hylton, a farmer from central Indiana put it best when he said that as he combines his soybean crop this fall, he’ll be thinking about where that crop goes once it leaves his field and the local elevator.  

Barry Alexander, a farmer from Kentucy pointed out that this trip changed his perspective on the sophistication of agriculture in Mexico.  He told me that the world is much more advanced than he realized before he took part in the SFY Program.

Every participant was impressed with the vast array of soy-based food products available to consumers in Mexico.  From the school lunch programs to WalMart, the variety of food products is a true eye-opener.

The enthusiasm and passion these farmers - USB Directors and participants – have for the industry along with the committment of staff in the U.S. and in Mexico – tells me the soybean checkoff is in good hands. 

Finally, I believe it is important to remind everyone that this trip is not only an opportunity for some farmers with little knowledge of the soybean checkoff to see checkoff dollars at work.  It is an opportunity – and I believe a responsibility – for participants to seriously evaluate the checkoff investments to which they were exposed.  Who knows? One of the ten farmers chosen to be a part of the 2010 USB See For Yourself Program just might have that “best new idea” we are always looking for.

Phillip Bradshaw, Chairman of the United States Soybean Board, was one of four board members traveling with the USB See for Yourself Program. A farmer from near Griggsville, Illinois, Bradshaw was impressed by what he saw of U.S. Soybean Checkoff efforts in Mexico.

“I was just so impressed with the livestock farm that we went to, the poultry and dairy farm we went to and how automated and how new it was,” said the chairman. “I have been to Mexico many times and I knew that their plants and their processes were much more modern and much more sophisticated than most in America think. But, this was beyond me. It was the largest feed mill I think I was ever in and I think it was probably the cleanest mill I was every in. And, when you can unload a unit train, one hundred and ten cars in around twelve hours, now that’s efficiency.”

Bradshaw said it will be important to him to relay back to farmers in the United States that without these (Soybean Checkoff) programs, the activities the American Soybean Association and all of those have done here over the years, I don’t think we would have basically 100% of this market. I think it’s important that we keep good staff here, that we keep farmers coming down and other people coming to Mexico – to all countries but specifically Mexico because of its proximity to us – and building those personal relationships. Everybody does business with people they know. You build a trust and all of that. It is very important to build that relationship and I think that is what we need to keep building.”

Just coming off a positive review by the Office of the Investigator General (OIG) at USDA, Bradshaw said it is especially satisfying to hear that the participants in the SFY program believe checkoff dollars are being invested well.

“We continuously have clean bills of health on audits. You come down here and we have reviews of international programs because the world is a big place. It is a challenge to know which location you should put the greatest emphasis in. China is our largest purchaser by far. Two and three times more than Mexico and Mexico is the second. But, how much money should you continue to put there and how much do you put in Mexico? But, I do believe that the programs in Mexico are very important to us because of the proximity and the high percentage of the market that we have and probably will always have.”

Bradshaw has done quite a bit of traveling in his lifetime, and found it refreshing and interesting to talk to participants who had their eyes opened as to the sophistication and efficiencies in Mexico.

“It’s exciting and it’s just a great treat for me to be with these people. Great farmers. Farmers not only in the United States but around the world are all pretty much the same. We have the same problems and everything. So, once these people get out and visit with another farmer, they realize that we are all the same.”

Conversation with Phil Bradshaw