A soybean farmer near Wells and another outside of Clarks Grove joined a group of 11 other farmers from Minnesota and North Dakota for an opportunity to follow their soybeans south.

Mark Fendrich and Jerry Demmer both traveled to Chile and Colombia on a week-long excursion through the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council. While there, the farmers toured a handful of facilities and met with pork and aquaculture industry members.

“I wanted to see where our soybean money was being spent, how it was being spent, and I was glad I did, because it reassured me they were doing a good job using our dollars,” Fendrich said.

According to a release from the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, the destinations were selected by the council’s board because of their high-growth markets for U.S.-origin soybeans and its products.

Colombia imported 151,000 tons of U.S.-origin soybeans, was the fourth-largest importer of U.S.-origin soybean meal and the fifth-largest importer of U.S.-origin soybean oil during the last U.S. soy marketing year, the release said.

Demmer said seeing the pork industry on the rise in Colombia — a country with whom the United States has a trade alliance — is good for Minnesota farmers.

“The more soybeans they want, the more of our product is going to them,” he said. “When they increase, we go, ‘Yes. Now we get to sell them more beans.’”

In addition to touring a pork, chicken and beef processing facility, the group also toured a salmon aquaculture production facility in Chile.

“That was one of the neatest things, I guess, was viewing that aquaculture from start to finish,” Fendrich said.

Demmer said the trip was a two-way opportunity: it was also a chance for those in Colombia and Chile to talk with boots-on-the-ground growers about their product. Fendrich said the group had a conversation about the receiving quality upon reaching the two South American countries.

“We’ve got to be very aware of how they’re getting our product from us to the final buyer down there,” he said. “From start to finish, what we give to our local elevators and what gets to them, we’ve got to make them aware that we’re kind of concerned about how we’re getting it to them and the quality they’re receiving down at the other end,” he said.

Both Demmer and Fendrich said the trip reminded them how important markets are to soybean growers.

“Every customer’s very important, no matter how big or small,” Fendrich said. “We have to have them all.”

While Demmer said most of the trip was pork- and aquaculture-related, the group also learned about a research plot in Chile funded in part by soybean checkoff dollars. By testing in both the U.S. and Chile, the researchers can operate with two growing seasons to get results more quickly.

Demmer said he undertook the trip as a learning opportunity.

“It opens my eyes to our end-use customers and how they use our products and how important they are to our end users,” Demmer said.