Eric Woodie, trade facilitator for the Illinois Soybean Association
Aired: February 2017

As trade facilitator for the Illinois Soybean Association, Eric Woodie spends his days working to generate beneficial partnerships with stakeholders across trade, transportation, infrastructure and other industries to create changes that will positively impact Illinois soybean growers. With more than a decade of experience in export trade, foreign markets, and inland logistics, Woodie’s skillset was a perfect match for ISA.

“I handle the practical stuff,” says Woodie. “Aligning the right people to get projects going that ensure we’re getting soybeans into critical markets and working hard to minimize or remove any challenges for Illinois farmers.”

Key Takeaways:
1. Strengthening internal infrastructure. With our river, rail, and inland container systems, Illinois’ transportation infrastructure is better than most. But we’re always trying to make it better, and taking an aggressive approach to ensuring our soybeans are getting to the right markets through these obvious channels.
2. Pursuing beneficial partnerships. A big focus for us is partnerships – we work hard to get the right projects in front of the right people and negotiate beneficial partnerships to generate the improvements we need.
3. Exploring new markets. Because we export so many products, it’s an easy connection to see how many opportunities there are for Illinois beans globally. We look into every market possible for export potential, with a goal of increasing inclusion rates—especially in emerging and rapidly growing fields such as aquaculture.

This interview was conducted as part of the ILSoyAdvisor.com Profitability Radio series, sponsored in part by your Illinois Soybean Association checkoff program.