Moving the Piles

Delivering Illinois’ harvest to the world

By Mace Thornton

Todd Main is on a mission to sell Illinois soybeans. The Director of Market Development for the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) knows his work is segmented into many tactics, and on many fronts, but it is guided by one over-riding strategic principle — move the piles!

That’s for good reason. Illinois is the nation’s largest soybean producing state, accounting for about 15 percent of the national total. Even with this year’s crop being down about 7 percent, that’s still a lofty pile of soybeans to move to market. So, as the combines of 2023 roll across the Prairie State, Main has already been working months, even years, in advance to find a home for all those Illinois soybeans.

“My job is about taking barriers away from getting our soybean products out to feed the world,” he said. “Every day I get up excited about that because food security really is the foundation of geopolitical security.”

Since 60 percent of all Illinois soybeans are destined for international export, a good share of Main’s attention is on rapidly growing and urbanizing regions of the world, where there is a “rising demand for low-cost protein sources,” including for livestock feed and human food.

ISA collaborates with the United States Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and international partners to capture that demand. USSEC’s establishment of Soy Excellence Centers is increasing demand for soy-based livestock feed in countries around the world.

“They host small producers, who maybe have 100 chickens running around in their backyard and say, ‘Hey, we're going to train and certify you with the latest technology and best practices, so maybe you can set up a house where you can have 1,000 chickens,’” Main says.

Main identifies Turkey, the Middle East & North Africa region, South Asia, India in particular, and the Southeast Asia markets of Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines as key growth areas for Illinois soybean sales. He also emphasizes Mexico and South America, due to the close-by transportation advantage.

ISA At-Large Director Scott Gaffner, who farms near Greenville, credits trade missions focused on building relationships with foreign buyers as essential in all those key markets.

“We want buyers in other countries to be our friends and business partners,” he says. “That’s an important aspect for ISA as an association. We visit those buyers in their countries and do the best job possible representing all of our 43,000 Illinois soybean farmers. We share information face-to-face about the positive aspects of Illinois soybeans, and by establishing that relationship, they not only become active buyers but also avid buyers.”

Having that diverse marketing network is vital, according to Gaffner. If something goes wrong in one market, such as China, other nations are ready to step in and take up the slack.

While discussing China's profile in Illinois soybean exports, Main acknowledges its significance as the largest market. However, faster export growth will come from many of those other nations with emerging economies.

“This long-term approach involves educating and cultivating relationships in less mature markets to secure lasting market share for the future,” Main says.

Steve Pitstick, ISA Government Relations Committee Chairman, also believes Market Development is critical to moving the pile.

“It’s a long, slow build, and there are no easy things that just happen,” says the Maple Park farmer. “Today, we are seeing the coming of age of dollars spent years ago to teach users in foreign nations the benefits of U.S. soy protein.”

When talking about exports, one must also talk about competitors. Main knows anytime he is applauding the virtues of Illinois soybeans to buyers, he is up against Brazilian counterparts.

“It comes down to quality,” he says. “We're probably not going to be competitive on price with Brazil. What makes us competitive is quality and our transportation system. One value proposition is U.S. soy makes sense in terms of animal agriculture. We have studies that document the advantage of our amino acid profile, and we can show growth charts that demonstrate why our soybeans are better as well as being raised sustainably. Price is always going to be a factor, but quality is what differentiates us.”

Domestic markets, while accounting for a 40 percent share of the total pile, also draws ample attention from Main. While the value equation between oil and meal has flipped in recent years due to increased oil demand for renewable fuels, Main is focused on both products.

“Biodiesel is the biggest driver right now,” he says. “It's generating a lot of oil demand and generating the construction of new crush facilities. The second thing is relatively new – sustainable aviation fuel. We know there's a crush facility and refinery being launched right now in Gilman at Incobrasa Industries. They want to establish a pipeline that goes directly to Midway and O'Hare airports.”

Another domestic growth market falls under the heading of “New Uses.”

“This year we have plans to launch our Soy Innovation Center,” Main says. “It’s an incubator to help spur the development of new products and the use of new techniques. It’s really a strategy to diversify our markets. With electrification of vehicles coming, we don't know how biodiesel demand is going to hold up over the long term, but we know we have a good run ahead of us for the next five to seven years. So we have to hedge that risk a bit.”

Non-food, soy-based products are ever popular due to the fact that soybean oil can be substituted for petroleum in almost any product and have a much more sustainable profile and lower environmental footprint, according to Main. That includes products such as lubricants, degreasers, cleaners, coatings, and asphalt bindings. A tangible example was a soy-asphalt demonstration project during this year’s Farm Progress Show in Decatur.

Soybean meal is also part of Main’s “top-of-mind” marketing strategy.

“Soybean meal is one of the least expensive forms of protein that exists,” he says. “The growth potential is exploding around the world for pork, poultry, and aquaculture feed. Then, there's the whole human food side."

There is also the matter of soybean meal being a value-added product as livestock feed here at home.

“Soybean meal is either being exported as meal or it’s being exported as U.S. pork or poultry,” Main says. “We work closely with the U.S. Meat Export Federation. They do a tremendous job.”

While part of the Illinois soy success story is due to quality and price, additional production capacity will be driven by technology.

“It’s a brave new world that’s opening up in front of us,” Main says. “We are going to be standing even taller when it comes to sustainability because we are going to lead the world in this next generation of agriculture. We have proposed a new economic model for broadband connectivity that works for rural Illinois. Instead of looking at population, we use acres-under-production as our metric, so we can do precision ag and get all the economic benefit from that.”

Main says the estimated productivity boost from high-speed internet access is between 15 and 30 percent. Many Illinois counties, however, are not able to tap into available resources to make the connection.

“We have a program called ‘Broadband Breakthrough.’ We teach counties how to do unique broadband plans so that they can qualify for federal funds. We’ve already done that with the first five counties, and we’re doing that for the next 10 counties right now. It’s very exciting, and it is going to be a game-changer.”

More productivity undoubtedly means more bushels – more piles for Main to move. By all indications, he and ISA are up to the task.