I had the opportunity to attend the 2018 Southeast Asia US Agricultural Cooperators Conference organised by US Grains Council, US Department of Agriculture, and US Soybean Export Council in Kota Kinabalu recently.

Themed “The new normal for global agribusiness”, the conference, aimed at bringing together US agriculture leaders, farmers, USDA officials, subject matter experts and industry thought leaders to share their knowledge and viewpoints on near term market concerns and discuss the far term future prospect and challenges in global food and agriculture.

The conference presented a multitude of topics covering the entire value chain of agriculture. Farmer leaders gave a comprehensive picture of what US farming sector looks like; while researchers spoke about intensifying agricultural production while keeping it sustainable for the future.

While I have