USSEC conducted a series of activities in China to promote the U.S. Soybean Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP) from June 21-24. United Soybean Board (USB) director April Hemmes, a soybean farmer from Iowa, together with Dave White, former chief of Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Marty Matlock, professor at Arkansas University and Jaime Picarra, Secretary General of Portugal Feed Industry Association, traveled to China.
The delegation’s first stop was in Shanghai where USSEC conducted meetings with two key customers, Yihai Kerry Group, the largest crushing group in China, and Shanghai Bright Liangyou Group, a local state-owned crushing and refining group, to encourage them to participate in the SSAP certification program for their U.S. purchases. Both customers recognized the sustainability of U.S. soybean production and obtained SSAP certificates for U.S. soybean shipments. USSEC’s next effort will be to encourage customers to label their products with the “Sustainable U.S. Soy” logo.
USSEC also staged a workshop in Shanghai for about 20 regional feedmillers to introduce the U.S. SSAP system to downstream customers so that they are aware of the availability of such certificates, which could be of great value to their marketing strategy.

In Beijing, USSEC conducted a press conference for 12 mainstream media to introduce them to the SSAP.   Participating reporters showed special interest in the legal system and the third party auditing practice.
As the last activity in the series of SSAP promotions, USSEC collaborated with the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import & Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce & Animal By-products (CFNA) to organize the U.S. - China Sustainable Soybean Trade on June 24 for 75 participants, including government agencies from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST); officials from industry associations such as China National Vegetable Oil Association (CNVOA), China Animal Agriculture Association (CAAA); China Feed Industry Association (CFIA), China National Food Industry Association (CNFIA), and China Soybean Industry Association (CSIA); researchers from the China Academy of Sciences (CAS) and China Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS); managers from seed companies such as Monsanto, Pioneer and Bayer; and executives from soybean importers and exporters such as COFCO, Chinatex, Jiusan, Yuanchen, Agrex and Cargill. Two Chinese speakers joined other speakers in presenting topics on the importance of sustainable soybean trade to China’s food security and food safety, the core value of sustainability to corporate social responsibility, the European Feed Manufacturers’ Association’s (FEFAC) business practice benchmarking SSAP in sourcing soy, the USDA’s long term efforts in conservation, continuous improvement by moving key performance indicators (KPIs), and U.S. growers’ production practices in conservation. Many participants made positive comments on the sustainability certification and several major soybean buyers told USSEC that they are going to request SSAP certificate on every shipment from the U.S.
Dave Cottrel, Director of U.S. Agricultural Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy, together with Bian Zhenhu, President of CFNA and Ms. Hemmes opened the seminar in Beijing while Katie Woody, Deputy Director of ATO Shanghai opened the workshop in Shanghai.