Finding An ‘Identity’: Council Leaders Attend International IP Summit

The Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) remains committed to supporting and building the identity preserved soybean industry, investing checkoff dollars in the U.S. Identity Preserved International Summit March 22-24. 

This year, the U.S. Identity Preserved International Summit went worldwide, welcoming 160 participants from 18 countries to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. After the conclusion of a Northern Soy Marketing trade mission in Vietnam, MSR&PC Treasurer Glen Groth made his way down the street to attend the Summit before heading home to attend MSR&PC’s spring board meeting and make final preparations for the 2026 planting season.  

“It was great to meet attendees from around the world and really understand what their needs are and how we, as growers, can better meet those needs,” said Groth, who farms near Ridgeway. “I really liked hearing about the ways that the United States Identity Preserved Alliance facilitates the export of specialty soy and grains.” 

Hosted by the U.S. Identity Preserved Alliance, the leading voice for the industry that delivers traceable, high-quality, variety-specific field crops to food markets across the globe, this year’s Summit was a catalyst for robust discussions and networking experiences centered around the identity preserved agriculture industry.  

Boasting an agenda packed with industry experts, keynote speakers included U.S. Soybean Export Council CEO Jim Sutter; Jinhwa F.I. CEO Jin Yoon; World Initiative for Soy in Human Health Program Manager Tate Jeffries; and Edil Vidal Torres, a food technologist and scientist at Northern Crops Institute. Insight from Paul Newnham, CEO of SDG2 Advocacy Hub, spotlighted the Hub’s “Beans is How” campaign aiming to double global bean and other pulse consumption by 2028 and the role identity preserved crops can play in the movement.  

“Identity preservation is not just a technical system, it’s a promise,” Newnham said. “A promise that what was planted is what will be delivered. A promise of integrity from seed to shipment. A promise that trust can travel across oceans.”