Soybean growers from six countries, including the United States and South America, just returned from a trip to China designed to convince the government to speed up biotech approvals. Nebraska farmer and U.S. Soybean Export Council Chair Jim Miller says the group known as the International Soy Growers Alliance represents 95-percent of the world’s soybean production and wanted to use this leverage to move the approval process.

He says there are a handful of U.S. biotech traits that have been awaiting approval in China for several years now.

Miller says the reason China has slowed down the approval of new biotech products is the increasing apprehension of the Chinese consumers to this technology.

As far as discussions about trade relations between the U.S. and China, Miller says they left with a sense that soybean trade will be protected in the event of trade re-negotiations or a trade war.

The group also traveled to India to talk about biotech approvals. That country is an emerging market for U.S. soybeans.