FarmConnect Continues Focus on SoyLink, Direct Markets

It’s been four years since FarmConnect (www.farmconnect.com) became organized in Minnesota as an effort to link farm commodity producers with farm commodity buyers. The premise of the farmer-owned cooperative is to supply crop and livestock products that possess specific traits or characteristics for specific uses, thus improving profitability for grower members through production of higher value, “made to order” products for the marketplace. For buyers, the benefit is a “one-stop shop” where they may access a reliable supply of exactly the quality and quantity of product desired.

Based in Crookston, Minn., FarmConnect has about 700 members in the states of Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. About 90% of the members are from Minnesota. Initial membership is $1,000 and annual dues are $100.

FarmConnect was never meant to be a “bricks and mortar” value-added venture. No goal to build a processing plant from the onset has meant less capital and less risk for grower members.  No flagship factory or product has also allowed the effort to “fly under the radar,” so to speak. Organizers continue to wile away quietly at establishing links with buyers.

A continuing goal is to create market awareness of FarmConnect, and its ability to direct market. “We want to differentiate various northern grown products for quality and distinctive protein, baking or other distinctive qualities they may have,” says Art Brandli, a Warroad, Minn. farmer and FarmConnect board chairman.

Most emphasis recently has been geared toward soybeans.  “We’ve seen a lot of soybean farmer interest because of our activities and the various opportunities in the soybean market,” says Brandli.

Brent Sorenson, FarmConnect CEO, says FarmConnect’s activities have included an ongoing soy program with South Korea. They have been shipping non-GMO beans since October to private and government buyers, and expect that to continue through the summer.  “We are discussing increased volumes for next year with South Korea,” he says, adding that some FarmConnect members also have contracts for the domestic sale of organic soybeans.

SoyLink (www.soylink.net), an offshoot from FarmConnect, continues to develop. SoyLink is based in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and produces fine soy powder for the soy foods market at a plant there. The plant started operation in July, 2002 in a joint-venture partnership that includes 250 members of FarmConnect, and venture partner Soy Driven Enterprises.

“A major objective of SoyLink is to have a traceable product, tracing ingredients in consumer retail products back to farm production,” Sorenson says. “The goal is to develop new markets for SoyLink products in the rapidly developing soy foods market and increase plant utilization,” he says.

Don Senechal, principal of The Hale Group, Ltd., a leading strategic management consulting firm specializing in the food and agribusiness industries, said in a news release when the SoyLink venture was first announced that “the soy food category is one of the most exciting opportunities in the global food industry. U.S. sales are over $3 billion and growing at about 20% per year due to the increasingly well-documented healthy benefits of soy-based foods.”

FarmConnect completed a premium wheat sale a year and a half ago. Sorenson says he hopes they can develop more IP (identity preserved) wheat activity in the future.  He says FarmConnect is also working to develop innovative ingredients and new markets for edible beans, partnering with a Michigan co-operative of edible bean growers in that effort. “One of the ideas of FarmConnect all along has been to partner with other groups to research and develop new products and leverage our resources with others when it is useful,” he says.

Both Sorenson and Brandli say that developing markets is all about building relationships, trust and credibility as a reliable source and direct marketer of farmers’ products. “The Internet has opened up a whole new world of information about products and source of supply, but it’s still all about establishing a good relationship, credibility and trust to make a deal,” Sorenson points out.

Just as important as establishing relationships with buyers is communicating the aims and ideas of farmer members.  “FarmConnect’s members are like a global phone book and email address book where customers at home and abroad can call on for a link directly to the farmer source of supply,” Sorenson says.