Certified Sustainable Demand Grows

As more consumers show interest in sustainably sourced ingredients, more customers of U.S. soy need to prove that the raw ingredients they buy – such as U.S. soybean meal for animal feed – are produced in a sustainable manner.

To demonstrate U.S. soybean farmers’ sustainability, the U.S. soy family, consisting of the American Soybean Association, the U.S. Soybean Export Council, the United Soybean Board and state soy checkoff board, developed the U.S. Soybean Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP). The protocol is a certified, aggregate approach to measuring the sustainability performance of U.S. soybean production. The data used is regularly compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources that collect it from U.S. soybean farmers through existing government programs.

Since the introduction of the protocol and accompanying certification program nearly three years ago, the demand for certified-sustainable soy continues to increase, as do the number of countries importing U.S. soybeans.
Certified-Sustainable Soy Purchases on the Rise

More and more international customers are demanding soybeans that are certified sustainable through SSAP.