Soybean experts tout crop's benefits in India

This year marks a bumper crop for soybean farmers around the United States. With supply becoming greater than demand, the American Soybean Association continues to look for the best ways to use this crop.

American Soybean Association farmer-leader Matt McCrate of Cape Girardeau said he believes the answer may lie with industries in India.

McCrate and members of the United States Soybean Export Council recently visited India for one week to see how the country operates and to educate industry leaders about the nutritional values of their food.

"Currently India is like China was 20 to 30 years ago," McCrate said, "when their focus of the government was to be completely self-sufficient and not import anything. India actually has 22 million acres of soybeans, and they export soybeans, but the last two years they've had a really bad crop, and then they have just a tremendous, growing population."

McCrate estimated there are 1.23 billion people in India, and that within 15 years the country is going to surpass China in population size.

"Right now, China purchases 70 to 80 percent of all U.S. soybeans exports," he said. "Well, India has a huge population; they also have an exploding middle class, and as that middle class continues to grow they're wanting to improve their diet."

The majority of Indian people are vegetarians, and their diet consists mainly of lentils, so McCrate used the example of chickpeas and hummus as part of their important food groups. But, he said, if the middle class continues to grow, those who choose not to continue vegetarianism will want to expand their diets to include chicken and fish.

McCrate also mentioned the benefits of U.S. soy products and how they could benefit the Indian people.

"India is the No. 1 dairy producing country in the world, and yet most of their livestock has zero feed -- it's whatever they can find on the side of the road to graze on," McCrate said.

So by importing U.S. soy they will be able to better feed their cows, producing a more nutritious dairy product, which will ultimately benefit the children in India, as well.

McCrate said India has a high rate of low-income people, and about a 46 percent malnutrition rate. "So that's where we had our industry people try to work with the school in their school nutrition programs in soy flour, which is basically pure protein into their diets," McCrate said.

Improving the children of India's diets will help them excel in all areas of life, from a longer life span, better quality of life, and also, in the short term, to give children more energy to focus and do better in school.

McCrate said if industry leaders had their way, they would begin importing U.S. soy immediately, but the government process doesn't work that quickly. He said patience is the key to eventually working with India.

"Depends on who you talk to. Some say maybe we can get started today, then you talk to industry leaders, the larger import/export handling companies, and they're saying probably three to five years," he said. "As growth comes there will be more and more pressure on the government to lower trade barriers."

It is important for the American Soybean Association to expand its trade with other countries so as to protect the markets when issues come up between those traders.

A recent example of this is United States relationship with Russia. In the first week of August, Russia put an embargo on all U.S. products, a move that cost the U.S. roughly $1.5 billion, McCrate estimated.

"Fortunately -- although it was $1.5 billion I think is what they said it was costing ag products -- because we developed all these other markets like China and other countries, it hasn't had as huge an impact as what it would have when the last embargo we had, with Russia when Jimmy Carter was in, it had a dramatic affect on our commodity prices," McCrate said. "But, that's because the American Soybean Association has spent the last 30 to 40 years trying to develop opportunities in other countries and other uses for soybeans."

"It's much better to have 100 good, loyal customers rather than one big customer buying everything you've got."

smaue@semissourian.com

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