As much as Northern Soy Marketing (NSM) shouts the quality, consistency and reliability of northern-grown soy from the rooftops, seeing is believing.  

The NSM Crop Tour is the perfect opportunity for international purchasers to see first-hand the practices and conditions that set U.S. Soy apart. This year, the tour is set for Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 2025, welcoming participants from Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.  

“We see it as a service to our international customers, so they can come over here and see the pride we take in our crop and help them have a better understanding of the advantages of buying U.S. soybeans,” NSM Chair Glen Groth said. 

The tour will kick off in Minnesota, where participants will spend a morning at the University of Minnesota’s soybean research plots and lab before heading to Groth’s farm near Houston, Minn. While they’re at his farm, Groth plans to highlight sustainability practices and, if everything lines up just right, they may even get to ride in the combine and grain cart during harvest. 

“We want to talk about the pride we take in our crop and how they’re supporting family farms just like ours when they purchase northern-grown soy,” Groth said. 

This won’t be the first time Groth has welcomed an international trade team to his farm. The NSM Crop Tour stopped by his farm in 2024, too.  

“Their genuine curiosity has struck me the most,” Groth said. “It’s been fun to maintain relationships with people I met while in Indonesia. I met them on their own turf and then they came to my farm which I really enjoyed.” 

While in Minnesota, participants will also tour the Minnesota Soybean Processors crush plant in Brewster and visit Joel Schreurs’ farm in Tyler before continuing to South Dakota. In South Dakota, the NSM Crop Tour participants will engage in a poultry nutrition research discussion at South Dakota State University and tour Houdek, a plant-based protein feed production facility before visiting Jeff Thompson’s Colton, S.D., farm and local elevator.  

“Building trust, credibility and reliability are a core tenet of everything NSM does,” NSM Executive Director Gary Williams said. “The Crop Tour is an important relationship builder and the conversations that will happen at every stop along the way help move the needle.” 

Farmers from NSM’s member states – Minnesota and South Dakota – produce 16 percent of the soybeans grown in the U.S., a majority of which are loaded onto rail and shipped from Pacific Northwest (PNW) export facilities. Hence, the NSM Crop Tour will conclude in the PNW, where participants will tour the Seattle harbor and AGP’s Terminal 2 at the Port of Grays Harbor. 

“We’re going from the start to the finish by taking them from the fields to the PNW,” Groth said. “The PNW is the final destination on our shores before soy heads to Southeast Asia. With the Crop Tour, they can see the full process and really understand our supply chain and why we are a clear advantage to our international customers.” 

NSM’s Crop Tour is a critical aspect of promoting northern-grown soybeans and soymeal by working with respected researchers to provide a more accurate picture of soybean feeding quality by considering critical essential amino acids, rather than crude protein as the true measure of soy quality.  

“At the end of the tour, I hope participants takeaway that we supply the world with the best value soybeans that you can buy,” Groth said. “And they should be proud of the fact that they’re originating their soybeans and soymeal from the United States.”