ISA and WISHH build partnerships to reap the power of soy protein

Oaktown, Ind., farmer Craig Williams, a director on the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) board, and Purdue agricultural economist Ahmad Zia Wahdat joined the American Soybean Association’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) in December to witness the power of soy protein for businesses and government agencies that are on the frontlines of global food security.

Williams and Wahdat participated in WISHH’s “U.S. Soybean Growers Take Action for Global Food Security” dialogue in Rhode Island on Dec. 15-16, which was funded by the United Soybean Board (USB). USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Associate Administrator Brooke Jamison and U.S. Agency for International Development Deputy Assistant Administrator Mike Michener attended along with other global food security leaders and industry representatives.

Williams serves on the WISHH Program Committee, and he said it’s gratifying to know that U.S. soybeans can make a big difference in the world. WISHH’s December program included an opportunity to pack soy-protein foods at Edesia. The Rhode Island-based enterprise counts on U.S. soy to supply protein and more for the majority of Edesia’s daily production of 1.5 million packets of soy-containing foods at their technologically sophisticated factory that runs 24-hours per day. Edesia is the largest U.S.-based producer of Readyto-Use Therapeutic (RUTF) and Supplementary (RUSF) foods.

In 2022, Edesia forecasts they will use 7.5 million pounds of soy flour, requiring the equivalent of about 192,307 bushels of soybeans. Additionally, Edesia would like to use 5 million pounds of high oleic soybean oil per year.

Edesia and WISHH are exploring a new all-soy formulation of a RUSF, which would meet their protein requirements and reduce their costs. Edesia calculates that the soy protein product would allow them to produce enough of this nutritional treatment to nourish a total of 2 million children each year.

“Not all proteins are created equal,” reported Edesia staff to WISHH’s event attendees. “Soy is by far the best protein available in the plant world for both quality and quantity. That is why soy is such an important part of our products.”

Edesia’s leading customers are the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), USDA and other organizations that purchase their products. These organizations transport Edesia’s products to some of the world’s most challenging places and remote locations. As a federal contractor selling into USAID’s Title II P.L. 480 program, they must source U.S. commodities.

In total, Edesia’s products are consumed in 60 countries. The packages that Williams and Wahdat saw manufactured were shipped to West Africa where government and non-governmental organizations are distributing them to communities with high levels of malnutrition.

Williams said, “WISHH comes in at a ground level and starts to place the building blocks to get a country to a place where they can actually be a large customer for our soybeans.”