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Glen Groth hosted some special visitors at his Houston area farm recently. Guests from Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand visited Groth’s farm as they took part in the NSM (Northern Soy Marketing) Crop Tour on September 29 through October 3. NSM is a collaboration of Minnesota and South Dakota soybean checkoff organizations. Minnesota and South Dakota produce 16% of the soybeans grown in the U.S. NSM’s goal is to promote the nutritional value of northern soybeans.
The tour began with a visit to the University of Minnesota’s soybean research plots where soybean agronomist Dr. Naeve spoke with the group. They then headed south to the Groth Family Farms owned by Chair of NSM Glen Groth and his wife Melinda.
Groth emphasized the sustainability practices of his soybean farm as he compared it to the South America farms from which many farmers of Southeast Asia have been purchasing soybeans. According to Groth, most of the farmland in South America has just recently been cleared to use for farming. Since land has been cleared and farmed much longer in the Midwest, the crops harvested here are much better and larger.
The climate of Minnesota and South Dakota with its cold weather gives farmers an advantage over weed, disease and insect control. After harvest in October, the beans are stored in bins out in the cold. This naturally provides refrigeration for the beans. Farmers in the area have experience in soybean farming and are using the right amount of fertilizer and minimum tillage; they take pride in their product, good clean soybeans.
While at the Groth farm, many of the tour participants got to ride in the combine and grain cart as Groth opened up a nearby field for harvest. Groth commented that he saw some big smiles while that was happening.
This was not the first time that Groth hosted the NSM Tour; in 2024 he also was part of the tour which was similar to this year’s tour but had a few other farms involved.
In addition, Groth has traveled to Indonesia himself. His takeaway from that trip was that the livestock industry in Indonesia is very large. Farmers there are very smart, many with advanced degrees; they are smart businessmen, looking for good value with very advanced business practices.
While Groth was in Indonesia, he visited a farmer whose farm was located in the heart of a city. At this year’s NSM tour, Glen recognized that farmer in the group. Groth commented, “It was neat to come full circle and see him again.”
The visitors to Groth’s farm were most interested in how Glen and Melinda are able to operate such a large farm with many acres. With a huge, inexpensive labor force readily available, farmers in Asia use more manual labor rather than as much technology.
This year’s crop tour included a visit to the Minnesota Soybean Processors crush plant in Brewster, which makes soybean oil and meal and Joel Schreurs’s farm in Tyler; the tour then went to South Dakota to visit SDSU for a discussion on poultry nutrition with a researcher and a tour of Jeff Thompson’s farm. At Houdek, S. Dak., the tour group was shown some of the research trials done with different species of aquaculture with plant-based food.
The visitors from Indonesia were involved in poultry farming and were looking for soybean sources. At this point, Indonesia is getting 90 to 95% of their soybeans from South America. In the last decade, prices for U.S. soybeans have been higher than in South America.
During the tour, the guides emphasized that U.S. soybeans are a higher quality product with better amino acid. With the U.S. soybeans, there is no need to supplement feed with more amino acid.
Visitors from Thailand and Vietnam have been purchasing soymeal for aquaculture including shrimp and fish, swine and poultry. The visit to Houdek was of particular interest to them. This tour provided access for the Asian farmers to world class research.
The tour group next flew to the state of Washington to visit Gray’s Harbor; soybeans are shipped from this location to purchasers in Asia. Soybeans can be shipped from Washington at a very competitive rate and quicker than soybeans from South America.
The NSM Crop Tour provided the visitors with a full picture of the soybean supply chain and an understanding of the benefits of the higher quality soybeans with critical amino acids rather than crude protein.
Groth plans to continue raising and promoting soybeans and NSM. According to Groth, he has enough acres to keep him busy on his “average-sized” farm. He and his wife Melinda have three daughters, Kendal, age 10; Addison, age 9; and Ellery, age 7. They want to give their daughters “the opportunity but not the obligation” to continue the soybean farming tradition.
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