WISHH hosts trade team members from Kazakhstan and Cambodia as they tour a soybean farm. This is just one example of how WISHH collaborates with several partners to build trade for U.S. soy.  

For 25 years, the American Soybean Association’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health program has worked to build trade for U.S. soy in new developing and emerging markets around the world. WISHH brings together a large network of partners both in the United States and in Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. As WISHH works to expand global demand for U.S. soy, one word comes to mind: partnerships. 

WISHH partners with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, United Soybean Board, qualified state soybean boards, international and domestic non-profits, global government agencies, businesses and academic institutions to promote the utilization of U.S. soy in human foods and animal feeds. This broad network allows WISHH to customize its work to the specific needs of emerging markets while also creating new opportunities for American soybean farmers. 

Partnerships are at the heart of WISHH’s impact. In many countries, WISHH works directly with feed millers, food processors and manufacturers to build technical and logistical capacity for soy trade. The program helps introduce soy-based innovations in aquaculture, livestock production and human nutrition. For instance, WISHH has been instrumental in building associations on two different continents. In Southeast Asia, the Cambodia Aquaculturist Association is a partnership made of more 1,200 aquaculture industry representatives. A creation of WISHH’s years-long CAST-Cambodia project that works to strengthen fish farming in Cambodia, CAA is a long-term strategy for U.S. soy in the country as CAST winds down. Similar programs focused on egg production and growing WISHH’s aquaculture network exist in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, WISHH’s training programs in Ghana and Nigeria have reached thousands of fish farmers in more than a dozen countries across the continent. Companies like Animal Care Laboratories in Nigeria and Yedent Agro in Ghana also rely on WISHH for technical support to strengthen their relationships with thousands of customers. All the while, these customers learn the value of U.S. soy. These partnerships are all part of a strategy to build strong ties to companies that use soy for feed and create connections to the next generations of farmers in Africa—all of whom are vital potential trade partners for U.S. soy. 

“One thing I didn't realize before I got involved with U.S. soy and the checkoff was how important these partnerships are,” said Tony Mellenthin, chair of USB’s Export Working Group. “In a lot of these markets, for WISHH to accomplish what we want to accomplish as U.S. soybean farmers, we really need to find key partners. And WISHH is doing that.”  

Mellenthin joined WISHH earlier this year at its 2025 Global Food Security Conference in Guatemala. At the conference, WISHH brought together key actors to find areas where soy can be a solution for global food security while opening new markets for farmers.  

At home and abroad, WISHH works with international business leaders and stakeholders for not only conferences like these, but also site visits to U.S. soybean farms, and technical training sessions to deepen their understanding of U.S. soy’s quality, reliability and value. That might even include taking a regional approach, such as introducing business leaders from Kazakhstan and Cambodia to feed courses at the Northern Crops Institute in Fargo, North Dakota, while making a pit stop at a soybean farm. At other times, soybean grower leaders travel to partner countries to meet firsthand with customers, witness progress on the ground and strengthen long-term relationships as they did in Ghana this year. 

“After 25 years, one thing remains true for WISHH,” concluded WISHH Executive Director Gena Perry. “Partnerships are vital to the work we do. We’ve created a network across three continents outside the United States, all the while leveraging resources from USDA to the soybean checkoff to grow trade for farmers.”