The U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange & Midwest Specialty Grains Conference welcomed hundreds of decision-making global U.S. soy customers to this year’s event to further the relationship building process and put a face to the American soybean producer. International leaders were able to meet one-on-one with key U.S. trading partners and visit soybean farms throughout the midwest.

I met many over the three-day event, but sat down with Samuel Kwame Ntim Adu, CEO, Yedent Agro Group, who traveled here from Ghana. Yedent processes soy and maize and serves as a supply chain partner for the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) and American Soybean Association (ASA) in Ghana. Pictured with Samuel is Executive Director of WISHH, Jim Hershey.

Samual said he came on this trip to identify businesses where relationships could be built with WISHH. “WISHH is an arm of the U.S. agency that tries to encourage soy consumption outside of the U.S in both humans and animals. Ghana is an emerging market with a growing income, growing middle class and where health issues have become a certain proposition. It’s a great time for U.S. soy processed products.”

Learn more about Ghana’s emerging soy market and why this conference was so important for Samuel in my complete interview here: Interview with Samuel Kwame Ntim Adu, Yedent Agro

I also caught up with one of the international customers representing the America’s and calls Colombia home. Mauricio Campillo is CEO of Solla, which produces soybean and soybean oil for animal feed and pet foods. Solla customers are located in Central America and throughout the Caribbean. Mauricio said their customers are feeding soy products in areas of aquaculture, poultry, swine and cattle.

The bottom line for buyers is a quality product. So, why U.S. soy? “We use the soybean products because they are the core ingredient to produce the feed to feed animals in Colombia. We import from the United States because they produce a very good product and logistics are very good for our country.”

It was Mauricio’s first time to the global trade event and he said it was a very good opportunity to get an update on all the things that are happening in soy globally. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a photo of Mauricio, but you can listen to my complete interview to learn more about the soybean market throughout Central and South America here: Interview with Mauricio Campillo, Solla

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 US Soy Global Trade Exchange Photos