The American Soybean Association is "your advocate" in Washington, and is powered by the grassroots support of 22,000 members and 25 state affiliates. 

Steiner Represents ASA At NAFB Washington Watch
There's Always Time For ASA Members To Save Money On Cabela's Merchandise
WSF Participates In Gates Foundation Program Development Meeting

ASA Organizes Commodity Roundtable On Climate Change And Animal Welfare
ASA Participates In Climate Change Meeting At White House CEQ
ASA Reiterates Support For CFTC To Congress
ASA Executive Committee Member Wellman Named To CFTC Subcommittee
ASA Board Member Layton Speaks At Farm Foundation Research Forum
House Committee Holds Climate Hearings, But Mark-Up Delayed
EPA Accepting Comments On Petition To Raise Ethanol Blend Cap

USSEC Protects Interests Of U.S. Soybean Producers At Summit Of The Americas
ASA-IM And Mexican Hospitality Industry Team Up To Improve Food And Profits
Traditional Indian Foods Benefit With The Inclusion Of US. Soy
Booming U.S. Soybean Meal Market In Philippines Expands With Cassava

Soybean Checkoff Efforts Improve Agriculture Image
Survey Reveals Consumer Support for Soyfoods

This week on the Soy Radio Newsline listen to comments from ASA Vice President Ray Gaesser, who recently met with Senator Chuck Grassley to advance ASA's biodiesel agenda and share concerns about a court ruling on the Clean Water Act that could negatively impact soybean farmers. This report may be heard on SoyGrowers.com.

AT-A-
GLANCE

CBOT Futures 04/29/09

FAS Worldwide Weekly Sales Report as of 04/23/09
(1000 Metric Tons | Million Bushels or Pounds)

Settle

Net Change

This Week

Year Ago

% Change

SoyBeans

(09May) 1034.0

+444

27,206.2

9995

24,634.7

9051

+104

SoyMeal

(09May) 330.1

+182

4,279.1

9,414

4,490.0

9,878

-4.7

SoyOil

(09May) 35.43

+0.53

3618

796

7977

1,755

-546

Steiner Represents ASA At NAFB Washington Watch   American Soybean Association (ASA) Vice President Joe Steiner was in Washington, D.C. this week to participate in the annual Washington Watch event hosted by the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB). The NAFB dinner event on Monday night was sponsored by ASA, which afforded Steiner a seat at the head table and the opportunity to address the group to thank them for the work they do to communicate news about ASA to their listener audiences. ASA Communications Director Bob Callanan also participated in Washington Watch events and assisted the ASA leader by setting up one-on-one interviews with farm broadcasters during the Issues Forum. Steiner talked about his meeting earlier in the day with a China Trade Delegation, about the importance of the U.S. honoring it's obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement and other issue of importance to all soybean producers. On Monday morning, Callanan also met with ASA communications contractor Paul Weller during the ASA Quarterly Policy Communications Staff meeting held at the offices of Gordley Associates. ASA Washington representatives John Gordley, Tonya Kemp and Beverly Paul also participated in portions of the staff meeting to discuss plans for keeping ASA leaders, members and state affiliates well informed about ASA's policy initiatives.

There's Always Time For ASA Members To Save Money On Cabela's Merchandise   As American Soybean Association (ASA) members are busy in the fields this spring, ASA reminds them that it is quick and easy to save 10 percent when purchasing Cabela's gift cards through ASA. The gift cards can then be redeemed at full value to purchase the Cabela's merchandise for use around the member's farm and home. Cabela's gift cards are also handy as presents for family, friends and farm staff. To receive the 10 percent discount, ASA members must purchase Cabela's gift cards through the ASA web site at www.SoyGrowers.com. To purchase the gift cards, ASA members must have their membership ID number, found on their ASA membership card or on the address panel of the ASA Today newsletter. The gift cards can be purchased in virtually any dollar amount and used to purchase merchandise from the Cabela's web site, catalogs or stores. "This special program with Cabela's is just one of the benefits of ASA membership that bring you value," said ASA Director of Marketing and Planning Jill Wagenblast. "There's no limit on how many Cabela's gift cards a member can purchase throughout the year, so the savings can really add up on merchandise from truck bed protectors to outdoor clothing to towing and hitching products and much more."

WSF Participates In Gates Foundation Program Development Meeting   Director of the American Soybean Association's World Soy Foundation (WSF) Jim Hershey was invited to Lusaka, Zambia this week to participate in a strategic planning session with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation is developing an initiative to help small-scale farmers (2- to 5-acre farms) increase their incomes. The two countries Gates is targeting are Mozambique and Zambia, two of the poorest countries in the world. One of the crops the Gates Foundation is considering is soybeans, primarily to feed the local poultry industries. Hershey was invited to offer input on value-added systems for post-harvest soybean and soyfood processing, especially through extrusion technology. Africa is chronically short of protein; South Africa imports over half-a-million tons of soybean meal every year.

ASA Organizes Commodity Roundtable On Climate Change And Animal Welfare   American Soybean Association (ASA) First Vice President Rob Joslin was in Washington, D.C. this week to chair a meeting of the Commodity Roundtable on key issues affecting production agriculture. ASA Chief Executive Officer Steve Censky also participated in the Roundtable, which included producer leaders and top staff officials from 19 major row crop, livestock and general farm organizations. ASA organized the meeting and developed the agenda, which included discussion on the outlook for climate change legislation and efforts by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to force states to adopt restrictive policies on farm animal confinement. Speakers on climate change included Bill Hohenstein, Office of the Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Anne Simmons of the House Agriculture Committee staff and representatives of John Deere, The Fertilizer Institute and the American Farmland Trust. Steve Kopperud with the Farm Animal Welfare Coalition addressed how state livestock organizations are responding to the HSUS campaign and the need for groups that produce feedstocks to support them. The climate change discussion identified the various proposals currently under consideration by Congress and the Administration, and the prospects that agriculture may be included in a cap-and-trade system with carbon offset credits. Participants agreed that, whether they support or oppose climate change legislation, the likelihood that Congress will move a bill this year or in 2010 makes it imperative for production agriculture to engage the process in order to minimize the costs and maximize the opportunities.

ASA Participates In Climate Change Meeting At White House CEQ   American Soybean Association (ASA) Washington, D.C. staff participated in a meeting on climate change policy issues at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on April 30. The CEQ called the meeting of representatives of interested agriculture organizations to brief its staff on the agriculture community's goals for cap-and-trade legislation and the potential carbon markets that may emerge in the future. ASA has joined other agricultural groups in identifying some key principles for any greenhouse gas cap-and-trade legislation or regulatory framework. These principles, and the concern for the costs that could be imposed on agriculture, were stressed to CEQ. View the key principles identified by ASA.

ASA Reiterates Support For CFTC To Congress   The American Soybean Association (ASA), along with a coalition of 30 organizations representing production agriculture and its processing and marketing infrastructure, has written to Congressional leaders to support the independence of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and ask that the CFTC not be swept up in efforts to resolve problems with the commercial banking or securities regulatory structure. Letters were sent to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, which hold jurisdiction over the CFTC, and the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees, which hold jurisdiction over banks and the securities industry. "The governing philosophy of the CFTC has allowed it to maintain a strong track record of oversight and enforcement, despite the breakdown in systems and procedures that we have witnessed in other regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission," the letter states. "To combine an effectively functioning agency like the CFTC with other financial regulators, especially without first resolving serious problems in the other agencies, would invariably weaken CFTC."

ASA Executive Committee Member Wellman Named To CFTC Subcommittee   American Soybean Association (ASA) Executive Committee member Steve Wellman has been selected for the Subcommittee on Convergence in Agricultural Commodity Markets, a new Subcommittee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Agricultural Advisory Committee. The Subcommittee will identify the causes of poor cash-futures convergence in select agricultural commodity markets and advise on actions to remedy the situation. The Subcommittee will be chaired by the CFTC's Chief Economist and will conduct at least three sessions, which will be open to the public. The Subcommittee selected a total of 18 members. Wellman serves as Chairman of ASA's Markets Performance Working Group. View the full list of Subcommittee members.

ASA Board Member Layton Speaks At Farm Foundation Research Forum   American Soybean Association Board member Joe Layton spoke at the National Press Club March 28, about agricultural research issues. The well-attended forum on "Agricultural Research and Productivity for the Future" was sponsored by the Farm Foundation and the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education & Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board. Layton spoke in his role as President of the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR). Layton spoke on the topic of "Working Together at the National Level." Other speakers on his panel were Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman and Ian Maw from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. The forum was particularly timely as on March 27, President Barack Obama pledged to raise total U.S. spending on research and development by government and industry to three percent of the gross domestic product. In addition to his role as C-FAR President, Layton also represents ASA on the NAREEE Board.

House Committee Holds Climate Hearings, But Mark-Up Delayed   Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee held four days of hearings on the Waxman-Markey proposed climate change legislation. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 is a comprehensive energy bill that would establish a cap-and-trade program to address greenhouse gas emissions, a Renewable Electricity Standard and proposes a low carbon fuel standard that would be implemented when the current Renewable Fuel Standard is scheduled to end in 2022. The legislation does not specifically address potential agricultural offset credits through carbon sequestration. Negotiations on the provisions of the bill are ongoing, and the previous plan to begin the mark-up this week was delayed while committee leaders and supporters of the bill attempt to address concerns and garner the votes needed to report the bill out of committee.

EPA Accepting Comments On Petition To Raise Ethanol Blend Cap   The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has invited comments on a petition filed by the ethanol industry to raise the regulatory cap on blending ethanol in gasoline from the current level of 10 percent to up to 15 percent. Comments are due by May 21, 2009. Parties interested in submitting comments on the petition should identify their comments according to "Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0211" and may submit them by one of the following methods: Go to www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions; email a-and-r-docket@epa.gov; fax comments to (202) 566-1741; mail comments to Air and Radiation Docket, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0211, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, D.C. 20460 Include a total of two copies in the mailing. Access the EPA's April 21, 2009, Federal Register Notice at www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html.

USSEC Protects Interests Of U.S. Soybean Producers At Summit Of The Americas   Founded in 2004, The Summit of the Americas provides a forum for the 34 democratically elected heads of state from the Western Hemisphere to gather and discuss regional issues and concerns. In 2005, leaders chose to supplements this conference with a two-day Private Sector Forum preceding the Summit. The Forum gives private sector leaders a chance to discuss current issues and to forward suggestions resulting from these discussions to the heads of state during the Summit. Last week U.S. Soybean Export Council Senior Manager of Global Issues and Alliances Blair Fortner and United Soybean Board Vice Chairman Phil Bradshaw attended the Private Sector Forum representing soybean producers' business interests and forwarding their positions on sustainability. This role was especially vital this year as much of the Summit focused on the idea of sustainability. Bradshaw spoke on the importance of agriculture, the advantages of biotech crops and on the important role that the Western Hemisphere plays in feeding the world. Listeners interrupted his short speech twice with thunderous applause. Bradshaw went on to attend the Summit of the Americas where he met with various heads of state directly including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Speaking of his experience, Bradshaw explained that "it is important for U.S. producers to be engaged in multilateral processes. Agriculture is not only one of the United States' competitive advantages but one of our entire hemispheres"

ASA-IM And Mexican Hospitality Industry Team Up To Improve Food And Profits   American Soybean Association International Marketing Latin America's Nayeli Vilanova and Felipe Tello helped a chef from The Image-Gourmet Company in Playa del Carmen promote Ovolight, a new soy flour-based egg substitute. Ovolight offers chefs from large hotels in Cancun and Riviera Maya a soy-based alternative to eggs. Chefs can use Ovolight when baking cakes, breads and other desserts, which reduces costs, waste and food contamination. The 110 hotels between Cancun and Riviera Maya use millions of eggs per month and an estimated 70 percent of these hotels are interested in using Ovolight. If Ovolight sales grow as expected, full fat soy flour sales to this region will rise by over 35 metric tons monthly. Vilanova and Tello also trained the chefs of the Valentin's Maya Resort Hotel in the use of texturized soy protein to extend the meat preparation and reduce production costs.

Traditional Indian Foods Benefit With The Inclusion Of U.S. Soy   American Soybean Association International Marketing (ASA-IM) and MicroSoy Inc. (MSI) conducted a series of demonstrations in India to introduce uses for U.S. soy in traditional Indian foods. These demonstrations showed how to make healthier food products while creating local economic benefits through the use of imported U.S. soy protein products. Safir Moizuddin, the Research and Development Manager for MSI, conducted demonstrations at traditional food products manufacturing companies on the utilization of soy flakes in soy food products. Specifically, Moizuddin held demonstrations at the first- and second-largest traditional food companies in India. During these activities, Moizuddin stressed both the economic and health benefits of manufacturing popular traditional foods utilizing soy flakes. ASA-IM also coordinated workshops with 45 existing soymilk and tofu manufacturers in New Delhi and Hyderabad. MSI and ASA-IM consultants demonstrated how to process soymilk and tofu using soy flakes. During these workshops, Moizuddin demonstrated a 33 percent increase in tofu yield and significant improvement in quality when U.S. soy flakes are used. This increase in yield alone covers the cost of the U.S. soy flakes. ASA-IM consultants are in ongoing discussions with the leading traditional food products manufacturers to introduce U.S. soy protein products into their commercial products. These activities may create a new market for U.S. soy protein products in this growing economy.

The activities of the U.S. Soybean Export Council to expand international markets for U.S. soybeans and products are made possible through the American Soybean Association's investment of cost-share funding provided by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, support from cooperating industry, and by producer checkoff dollars invested by the United Soybean Board and various State Soybean Councils.