The Northern Crops Institute at NDSU and the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health held a one-day seminar in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 20.
The course highlighted the basics of buying feed ingredients from the United States, working with suppliers, managing quality, and how to manage the price risk on commodities, with special emphasis on soybean meal.
About a dozen Cambodian feed millers and importers heard from Mike Krueger, a risk management consultant, and Mark Jirik, Northern Crops Institute director.
“Cambodia is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia with an estimated 65 percent of their population under the age of 30,” Jirik said. “Their demand for better diets that include meat fed U.S. soybean meal and other commodities continues to grow as well.”
Krueger and Jirik also had several one-on-one meetings with companies during the trip to talk about specific needs and areas of focus.“Programs like this are instrumental in both helping us grow markets for U.S.- based crops, as well as help us refine the work that we do to help grow markets in other geographies," said Jirik.
A number of participants from the workshop are expected to attend an upcoming 10-day short course in Fargo hosted by the institute.
The course was made possible through support from the North Dakota Soybean Council, Scoular and Stone Arch Commodities.