WISHH’s East African supply chain partner remains confident in their ability to produce nutritious foods thanks to their reliable supply of U.S. defatted soy flour entering the country at a rate of five containers per month. WISHH has leveraged USDA Foreign Agricultural Service programs with U.S. soybean checkoff funds to aid the company in developing a wide array of nutritious foods and beverages made with U.S. soy.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, WISHH continues to leverage USDA programs with soybean checkoff resources to ensure strategic partners in developing and emerging economies know that U.S. soybean farmers remain committed to getting a quality soy product to them this year just as they always have.

WISHH is working to support strategic partners in these markets by sharing technical knowledge with the businesses that buy U.S. soy in order to ensure trading partners for the future.

WISHH supply chain partners in Africa, Asia and Central America have important roles for food security in their countries and are strategic partners for U.S. soy trade. Over the last seven consecutive years, WISHH has leveraged farmer checkoff dollars at a six-to-one ratio.

USDA Market Access Program (MAP), Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP), and Foreign Market Development (FMD) resources have allowed WISHH to send innovation experts to companies or to support business leaders gaining new insights by participating in conferences or training programs. Companies as well as their governments and allied non-governmental organizations sent their leadership to participate in WISHH’s USDA Cochran Program trainings on school meals.

Through its strategic relationship in Ghana, WISHH used the USDA’s Quality Samples Program (QSP) in 2017 to ship 18 metric tons of U.S. soy food product samples including defatted soy flour (DSF) and textured soy protein (TSP). Subsequently, FAS MAP and FMD resources assisted companies in launching promotional campaigns for foods made with U.S. soy and technical trainings for new users.

When COVID-19 led countries to close schools this year, a WISHH strategic partner experienced a large cancellation of textured soy protein orders for its emerging school meals business. WISHH connected the company to another WISHH strategic partner in the region to support an exchange of ideas on how to pivot operations to increase retail sales at the same time the company continues discussions with its government to provide soy-based food rations for communities.