Soybean Supply Chain Trip

Soybeans are a major component of U.S. and global agricultural and food systems. This class seeks to help students better understand the importance of soybeans – domestically and globally – and the complexities and opportunities for soybean use. Technological advancements, low carbon solutions, and policy are combining to make the soybean supply chain extra exciting and dynamic!

This domestic study trip will follow soybeans as they travel through the supply chain, starting from the farmgate, through points of value-added processing, and to export terminals. This will include seeing a local cooperative “farm gate”, train loading facilities, soybean crush plants, a feed mill (soybean meal), a renewable diesel refinery, a biodiesel plant, and export terminals where ships are loaded for Asian destinations. The trip will start in Iowa, move through Minnesota, and end at shipping ports near Portland, OR (Kalama, WA and Grays Harbor, WA).

This program was offered for the first time in fall 2023.