Winter Soy Series to break down global soybean trade
November 26, 2025 | Kriss Nelson
The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) is launching its new Winter Soy Series to provide farmers with the information they need during the winter planning season. This is in response to issues that farmers say are top of mind, states Katie Hall, ISA’s senior director of advocacy.
Save Me A Seat
“We overwhelmingly hear from farmers that they want more unique insights on what’s happening,” Hall says. “The Winter Soy Series is our way of delivering that value back to our members.”
Farmers are facing a marketplace that looks different from what it did even a few years ago. Global trade shifts, competitive pressures, new policies and rapidly changing economic signals all add to the uncertainty. Hall says these realities make it essential to think beyond the traditional season-to-season outlook.
“Agriculture is changing fast, and farmers need more than a season-to-season outlook,” she says. “This series will help connect those bigger dots.”
Part of that mission includes bringing in fresh voices.
“We’re intentionally bringing in fresh perspectives and voices they may not have heard from in a while,” Hall says.
That includes the series’ first featured speaker, Dr. Wendong Zhang, associate professor at Cornell University and a leading expert in U.S. farmland markets and Chinese agriculture. Hall recalls hearing Zhang speak several years ago about China’s Belt and Road Initiative and how that conversation shifted her understanding of global strategy.
“Dr. Zhang helped me understand how China thinks in centuries and decades, not seasons,” she says. “His perspective connects global strategy to what we’re seeing on Midwestern farms.”
Zhang’s upcoming presentation will unpack the complex dynamics shaping global soybean trade. From tariff ripple effects to China’s evolving demand and sustainability priorities, he will explore how global forces shape opportunities and risk for U.S. farmers. With a background in farmland markets, Chinese agriculture and environmental economics, Zhang brings research-based insight rooted in years of policy engagement.
Winter Soy Series
ISA is structuring the Winter Soy Series as four separate online events: one each in December, January, February and March.
For ISA farmer-members, the series is free.
“If you’re a farmer-member, this is free to you,” she says. “It’s part of the value ISA delivers — unique insights you can’t easily find anywhere else.”
Registration closes Dec. 16. For more information, contact Hall at khall@iasoybeans.com or Bre Wagner, ISA’s producer services manager at bwagner@iasoybeans.com.
Written by Kriss Nelson
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