U.S. soybean farmers are partnering with Brazilian soybean farmers to promote global demand for soybeans in India. Today, while participating in the first-ever joint grower trade mission, U.S. soybean farmer-leaders met with Brazilian farmers in Mumbai, India, to discuss how they could work together to increase market potential and improve soybean farmer profitability by removing trade barriers and improving market access.

The farmer-leaders signed a Global Grower Development Agreement between the United States Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and APROSOJA, the Soybean Producers Association of Mato Grosso. Farmer-leaders from the United Soybean Board (USB) and American Soybean Association (ASA) were on hand to endorse the agreement.

The agreement will focus on removing barriers to trade with India, and the two countries will work on reverse marketing in India, allowing that country to consume more of its own soybeans and soybean meal. Similar agreements were signed by U.S. farmer-leaders with Paraguayan farmers in June, and with Argentine farmers in October.

“Growing future demand for soybeans is going to help all soybean-producing countries, not just the United States,” said Mark Pietz, USSEC Vice Chair and a soybean farmer from Lakefield, Minn. “The Brazilians understand that it is time for North and South America to begin identifying ways to share the cost of building demand for soy products.”

India’s population is rising rapidly, and it is expected to surpass China, with a population of 1.5 billion people, by 2040. Currently, India produces a large amount of soybeans, but the reverse marketing efforts could not only remove Indian soybean meal from the export market, but also create new Indian consumers of soy. At one time, China was an exporter of soy, but today it is the largest importer of soy, thanks in part to checkoff-sponsored reverse marketing efforts.

The agreement with Brazil states that APROSOJA and USSEC agree to expand cooperation in the area of market development. The countries will focus building mutual benefit in marketing and other areas for the global growth of the soy industry. The agreement will broadly promote the development and use of the soybeans as a valuable commodity that advances the interests of its producers, processors and users through product and market development support. Further, the organizations agree to cooperate on resolution of soy trade barriers and restrictions.

“We understand that this agreement is very important for Mato Grosso state soybean farmers because it is the beginning of a new time when a single farmer is not taking care of only his farm and yield, but also looking at the market development that can provide him better prices,” said Rui Carlos Prado, President of the Accociacao dos Produtores de Soja do Mato Grosso (APROSOJA). “It is amazing to see how farmers from different countries can build understanding when they talk to each other about common problems, and have the vision that this understanding will be good for all the farmers in the world.”

The activities of the U.S. Soybean Export Council to expand international markets for U.S. soybeans and soy products are made possible by producer checkoff dollars invested by the United Soybean Board and various State Soybean Councils, support from cooperating industry, and through the American Soybean Association’s investment of cost-share funding provided by USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service.

View a photo essay of the trade mission.