A 20 ft. container of U.S. soybean meal is loaded and ready for departure from Zeeland Farm Services Inc.

A 20 ft. container of U.S. soybean meal supplied by Michigan soybean processor Zeeland Farm Services Inc. arrived at the Port of Dakar in Senegal, West Africa in early January.

The World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) ordered the shipment for use in a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded Emerging Markets Program (EMP).

WISHH is organizing feeding demonstrations to highlight the benefits of using quality U.S. soybean meal in poultry and aquaculture diets. To design the demonstrations, WISHH has contracted with an aquaculture expert from Auburn University and a U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) consultant based in Morocco.

The results of the demonstrations will be presented at a conference in Senegal scheduled to take place at the end of 2018. Several of the companies participating in the feeding demonstrations will attend the 2018 International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta, Ga. in January. WISHH will introduce these companies to additional U.S. soy suppliers, help them network with other U.S. industry, and spend additional time planning for the demonstrations. Senegalese companies have expressed a need for better quality soybeans than those available regionally. The EMP demonstrations will be useful in demonstrating the quality of U.S. soy and the benefits of altering feed formulations to include higher levels of soy, which will increase the demand for soy to fill the protein requirements of poultry and aquaculture diets. Zeeland Farm Services Inc. is based in Zeeland, Mich. and has now sold two containers for use in the WISHH Africa program.