John Motter, United Soybean Board (USB) Chairman – Ohio, and Jacob Parker, USB Director - North Carolina provided a personal face to the U.S. soybean farmer for attendees of the 3rd USSEC Regional Soybean Processing and Refining Conference. The meeting took place from September 23 – 26 in Dead Sea, Jordan. 80 attendees from the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Pakistan attended this workshop. Attendees hailed from major crushers and vegetable oil refineries in the regions.
Oilseed processing company DeSmet and speakers presented various soybean processing alternatives for preparation, extraction, and refining. Coffee breaks, lunch and dinner allowed the attendees, presenters, grower leaders, and the USSEC staff the opportunity to network and discuss individual queries regarding their own processing issues and philosophies.
Matt Ammermann of INTL FCStone Financial Inc. commented on the conference, “The third regional soybean processing and refining conference was a great success. The participants showed extreme interest in this technical conference. The details presented shall provide a benefit for U.S. Soy products and highlights to me how USSEC provides great assistance for the U.S. Importer.
Brent German, independent consultant stated, “I appreciate the opportunity to meet and interact with the attendees and other presenters at the 3rd Regional Soy Processing and Refining Conference.  The attendees demonstrated much interest in the topics through their questions during the presentations and off-line meetings outside of the conference.  From their comments, this conference was clearly a valuable source of information for them.  The “hands-on” production data and reviews seemed particularly well received.  I particularly enjoyed discussing the differences in bean and oil quality from around the world and possible solutions for difficult processing issues at the various locations.  Thank you!”
Anibal Demarco, Product Specialist - Global Technical Support, De Smet Ballestra said, “First of all, I want to say thanks for the invitation to be a part of the USSEC Congress in front of the Dead Sea.  Having been my first time I participated in this Congress, I found it to be really fruitful for everybody. In my case as a speaker, I received many questions after each of my presentations, but also people showing interest to stay in further contact. 
The hospitality and friendship of everyone is remarkable.”
Alan Paine, Product Manager - Refining, DeSmet Ballestra commented, “Thank you for inviting me again to speak at your conference. It has been good to meet new people and to renew my acquaintance with some old friends too . . .A conference by the Dead Sea is a special experience. Where else could you smear yourself with mud and then float around with your colleagues while doing an imitation of a cork in the super salty water? But it's not all fun and games. The oil extraction and processing industry continues to present us with new problems and new solutions. Sometimes as Brent [Babb] reminded us, solutions often present us with new problems and all we can do is to choose which problem we are most comfortable dealing with. It's been good to have the opportunity to meet with people from different parts of the industry. If conferences were only about technical presentations, I could just post what I wanted to say on the Internet and then go to sleep. In this connected world, there is still a benefit with meeting together in person. In that way we can all go away having learnt something.”