USSEC held the third and last of its series of regional meetings last week in St. Louis. Meeting participants included stakeholders, regional representatives, and USSEC staff and contractors. This final series of meetings focused on the Americas region.
The first meetings, which took place in late October and early November, focused on North Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and the Asian Subcontinent (ASC).
The United Soybean Board’s (USB) new Long Range Strategic Plan went into effect on October 1 and USSEC’s regional meetings are designed to ensure that USSEC’s projects are aligned with the needs of its funding source.
International staff and consultants, industry reps and various U.S. soybean farmers discussed markets, various soy organizations’ strategic plans and soy export promotion ideas. Other members of the U.S. Soy family included the American Soybean Association (ASA), USB, Qualified State Soybean Board (QSSB) and ASA’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) Program.
Topics covered included strategic landscapes such as a review of the global soy trade; funding; the outlook and strategic implications on various trade agreements; perspectives from the supply and demand side; a strategic review of how USSEC incorporates its founders and industry; how Global Utilization Plans (GUPs) are relevant to strategy in meal, oil, aquaculture and market access; and an assessment of regional markets. Discussions included how to best meet stakeholders’ needs; program building; project management discussions; and leadership topics.
USSEC staff will now prepare regional and utilization plan budgets and strategies for grower leader review in late January.