The Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board (WSMB) is hosting its first-ever “See For Yourself” (SFY) tour Aug. 6-7 in Milwaukee and Joliet, Illinois. The tour, which includes leaders from WSMB and the Wisconsin Soybean Association (WSA), is curated to take a closer look at export opportunities via the Port of Milwaukee, along with visiting processing and container facilities. 

WSMB President Pat Mulloolly said he’s excited to visit Port Milwaukee’s DeLong Agriculture Maritime Export Facility, along with the company’s Joliet container facility. 

“We want to learn more about the market opportunities here at home and expanding those markets and give us ideas on where to invest our checkoff dollars going forward,” he said. “A lot of See For Yourself trips are held internationally, but we have a lot to offer in Wisconsin and Illinois.” 

Sara Stelter, who represents Wisconsin on the United Soybean Board, said the See for Yourself tour is another sign of Wisconsin Soybean Program’s increased efforts to find new export avenues and promote value-added uses for soybeans. The SFY tour will also take farmer leaders to Quality Roasting’s headquarters, where soybeans are roasted for local dairy feed.  

“I’m looking forward to visiting with the folks who process our soybeans or use them or ship them to see if we can do anything to increase demand for our soybeans,” said Stelter, who also serves as president of the Wisconsin Soybean Association. 

WSMB hopes the SFY tour becomes a yearly tradition. 

“We want to try to get more farmers interested in what we’re doing,” Stelter said. “After we do this, we’d like to encourage farmers outside of our boards to get involved.”