Containers expanded Illinois soybean demand

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The move over the past decade-plus toward utilizing shipping containers opened new markets and has had a major positive impact on Illinois soybean producers.

As part of its 60th anniversary, the Illinois Soybean Association is looking back over its history and how the organization played an important role in developing the container industry in the Prairie State.

About 60% of Illinois-produced soybeans are now exported around the world, and the state ships the most containers to international markets.

The container market in Illinois offers a cost-effective, efficient option for soybean shipments while preserving product quality.

As the largest soybean container exporter in the United States, Illinois gives farmers a strengthened basis and price premiums for commodity, identity preserve and non-GMO soybeans.

The northern Illinois container market offers buyers an additional soybean origination point with a robust railroad system, helping to meet consumer interest in where their products come from.

All this results in a huge preference for Illinois soy in the international marketplace.

Some of those involved in connecting soybeans to the container shipping market reflected on the initial move in an ISA 60th anniversary video.

“One of the things we noticed was there was a lot of shipping containers coming into Illinois, particularly, that were going home empty,” said Stan Born, Lovington area farmer, past ISA director and retired U.S. Soybean Export Council chairman.

“Why not put something of value into those containers? So, it seemed like an ideal opportunity to be able to figure out a way to get soybeans into containers that were empty, send them back at a very competitive freight rate to customers that needed them.”

Rail, Roads, Ships

“The infrastructure that exists here is so perfect,” said shipping industry advocate Eric Woodie, ISA trade facilitator and analyst.

“Illinois has such an abundance of good quality soybeans that they can reship back out to these markets where a lot of those same consumer products shipped here in containers are being produced. I’d say that played a really pivotal role over the last 10 years. The development of containers really started here in Illinois.”

“There was a large intermodal facility near Joliet, Illinois, that became a key linchpin and being able to get them onto trains, for example, that might take them to some of the ports on the East Coast, or on trucks that could take them up and load them on container ships and go through the Great Lakes and out the St. Lawrence Seaway,” Born said.

“So, it was just a kind of an organic natural opportunity where we had customers asking us for service. We had connections with professionals like Eric and we’re able to make that come together to meet customers’ needs.”

Global Consumers

“My first exposure to the fact that my soybeans don’t stay here at home was by having international groups come to the farm and see what we see, what we do and how we produce our soybeans sustainably, regeneratively by sharing my story,” said Jeff O’Connor, Kankakee farmer and ISA at-large director.

“It also opened up the opportunity for me to hear their story. They’ll start to reveal what it is they’re looking for. Oftentimes, I find out that they’re interested in some part of the soybean production that wasn’t even a factor before for myself.”

Preference

“This program really started creating a preference from Illinois for having more and more discussions with destination buyers, coordinating those back with exporters from Illinois, telling them that, yes, it’s OK to go to your exporters and say, ‘We really want the soybeans to come from Illinois. We expect the quality is always outstanding year after year,’” Woodie said.

Team Effort

“A lot more is done when we’re pulling together than when we’re pulling in different directions sometimes. So, it’s been great to see that as time has gone on, how much we really do have to gain by working together,” O’Connor said.

“But if there’s challenges that are arising because of roads and bridges, that’s where government affairs and working with legislators that ISA can work with on behalf of any of the container markets, that’s where we intersect.

“And seeing how no one of those pillars can stand on their own, we really rely upon each other. We have to constantly be working five, 10, 20 years ahead to have those relationships in place. The more relationships we have, the stronger they are, the more profitable I’ll be as a farmer going forward, as well as every farmer who contributes into that checkoff.”

“So, one of the things that the container market offers to farmers is it allows us to have a more direct connection with the people that are going to use the products,” Born said.

Market Development

“We’ve had some really developed markets like Indonesia and Taiwan and Vietnam that we’ve seen just incredible growth over the last 10, 15 years. There are lots of markets like them that we will see containers introduce U.S. soy, hopefully mostly from Illinois, and we’ll see those efforts expand those markets more and more,” Woodie said.

“It’s just a much deeper relationship than I ever imagined existed, and you have to constantly keep the ball moving to keep soybeans moving,” O’Connor said.