Rady Chea, general manager of the first feed mill in Cambodia to add a manufacturing line for fish feed, discusses soy protein with USB Director & WISHH Ex-Officio Member David Williams of Michigan, ASA Director and WISHH Program Committee Member Morey Hill of Iowa, and WISHH Program Committee Member and Past Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council Chair David Lueck.

There’s no simple one-size-fits-all solution to overcome the obstacles to connecting supply chains that will support lasting trade relationships between the U.S. soy industry and developing and emerging markets. That’s why WISHH used its 20 years of experience to design its USB-funded initiative to take on these challenges in Africa, Asia, and Latin and Central America.

The Mobilizing Entrepreneurs to Expand U.S. Soy Utilization in Developing and Emerging Markets Initiative works to compress the time for a new U.S. soybean market to go from emerging market entry to basic market ready.

The initiative attracts and mentors entrepreneurs who can invest in developing and emerging market soy enterprises, bringing new market sectors into the U.S. soy market pipeline.

“Soybean checkoff dollars are the core funding that WISHH uses to go out and secure additional resources, such as those available through USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service,” said USB Director David Williams, a Michigan soybean grower who serves as an ex-officio member of the WISHH Program Committee. “WISHH has leveraged farmer checkoff dollars at a six-to-one ratio over seven consecutive years.”

USDA provided stage-one funding for WISHH’s USB-funded initiative by supporting WISHH conducting a series of key market assessments in:

• Africa: Burkina Faso, Kenya and Togo
• Asia: Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka
• Central America & The Dominican Republic: Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.