Commentary

When someone asks, “What did you do on your summer vacation?” I chuckle to myself and think, “What summer vacation??” I was very busy at home and at Brownfield Ag News.

As many of you know, the older we get, the more quickly our summers pass by, and this one flew by with such fury that I’m sure I can see Christmas just over the horizon.

Most of the schools in my neck of the woods held their first days of class last week. State Fairs in the “I” states are over and my neighbors are hiding beets and mammoth zucchini in the backseat of my car.

Summer is waning, but the memories of what I learned and experienced this summer is not. One experience of my summer that I wish every of the 589,182 U.S. soybean farmers could experience is the United Soybean Board See for Yourself program. This was the third year that ten farmers with limited knowledge of the soybean checkoff were selected to participate and see first-hand a variety of projects funded by soybean check-off dollars both in the United States and in Mexico. Participants are asked to evaluate what they see and assess for themselves the types of programs their investments are funding.

As a person who has spent the past 25 years telling the story of agriculture, the opportunity to travel with this program and document my 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.

In the state of Jalisco, Mexico, we visited one of the largest livestock farms in Latin America; one that uses soybeans from the U.S. in feed rations. With 22 million hens, 45 thousand sows and 5,000 dairy cows, this family operation has its own feed mill, box factory and railroad terminal where they can unload a unit train of 110 cars in 12 hours – it was a picture of efficiency, productivity and bio-security in animal agriculture.

Perspective on sophistication of agriculture in Mexico changed for everyone on the trip. Kentucky farmer Barry Alexander told me that the world is much more advanced than he realized before he took part in the SFY Program.

To see the vast array of U.S. soy-based foods available to consumers in Mexico through school lunch programs, at the Mom and Pop shops and at Wal-Mart was an eye-opening experience for every one of us. The fast-growing aquaculture industry in Jalisco is hungry for fish feed containing U.S. soybean meal.

It’s not only what I learned, but the enthusiasm and passion these farmers – USB Directors and participants – have for the industry, along with the commitment of staff in the U.S. and in Mexico – that impresses me so and gives me great hope for the future.