Indiana Farmer Mike Koehne is a very busy man. Not only does he farm near Greensburg in Decatur County, but he was just appointed to the Board of Directors of the U.S. Soybean Export Council—or USSEC for short.
“I’m really looking forward to promoting U.S. soybeans across the world, and hopefully we can make a difference for here in Indiana and across the whole U.S.,” says Koehne.
He was named to USSEC’s board during Commodity Classic in Houston just a few weeks ago. Koehne also serves on the boards for the Indiana Soybean Alliance, American Soybean Association, and the Soy Transportation Coalition.
His new role with USSEC will be to help grow the value of U.S. soybeans by growing relationships with trade partners outside the U.S.
“USSEC is pretty much our boots on the ground,” he says. In all of these countries, we have people stationed around the world to promote and assist any buyers who are buying U.S. soybeans, answer questions to promote our soybeans, so being on the board, I get to hear their needs and what they need to do so hopefully I can bring some of that information back to Indiana.”
Although the top five markets for U.S. soybeans are China, Mexico, the EU, Japan, and the Philippines, Koehne says that USSEC is looking for new opportunities for soybean exports.
“They’re looking at Africa, Indonesia, and India. Those are probably some of the bigger markets,” according to Koehne. “Vietnam and South Korea are big markets for U.S. soybeans, but we can get our foot in the door with Africa, India, and Indonesia. It seems like they’re hungry for a cheap protein source and that’s what soybeans can provide.”
He adds that the Asian markets are pushing U.S. growers to produce and export more food-grade soybeans.
“They’re hungry for soybeans over there. When I was over there, that’s what they talked about. They want food-grade soybeans, and they want to feed their people. We can produce that here,” says Koehne.
“When it comes right down to it, food security and safety starts on the farm. We are where it all starts. We can promote that and give them a good, finished product from right here in the U.S.A.,” he says.
For more information about the U.S. Soybean Export Council, visit ussec.org.
