Checkoff Funding ASA’s activities to expand international markets for U.S. soybeans and products are made possible by producer checkoff dollars invested by the United Soybean Board and various State Soybean Councils, as well as by cost-share funding provided by the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. Building more international business. Although U.S. soybean product exports have increased from 600 million bushels in 1970 to more than 1 billion bushels today, world competition has greatly increased as well. That's why the soybean checkoff is ready to go the distance - ready to grow the foreign market and increase the U.S. worldwide export market share. To accomplish this, checkoff investments focus on creating new markets and expanding, developing and maintaining mature markets in three major areas: the Asia region, the Latin America region and the Europe/ Commonwealth of Independent States/Middle East/Africa region. Since the early 1990s, foreign soybean meal consumption has risen at an average of 6 percent annually, compared to foreign non-soybean meal consumption which has increased by only 2 percent annually over the same period. Even though the foreign market is prospering, checkoff funds continue to be invested in researching ways to make U.S. soybeans, meal and oil exports even more competitive in the global market. This includes closely examining the impact of U.S. production costs and foreign tariffs. With the help of checkoff investments, U.S. soybeans are gaining major shares of new and expanding markets. New ASA international marketing offices have opened in India, Vietnam and Turkey - the first three foreign offices fully funded with checkoff dollars. The soybean checkoff is also helping grow market share in current markets. In countries such as South Korea that already consume a large share of U.S. soybeans, efforts are underway to increase demand and build a proportional increase in U.S. soybean meal exports. To do this, the Korean industry is being provided with technical advice on the extra nutritional value of de-hulled soybean meal.
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