WISHH is training 12 Central American university educators on the use of value-added soy protein in a Northern Crops Institute Baking with Soy workshop held Sept. 15-18 in Fargo. USDA’s Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) is funding WISHH’s training for four educators from each of the Central American Countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
Annually, these university faculty instruct an estimated 1,639 students who are the future of nutrition and food engineering in their countries. These three Central American countries represent a combined population of more than 30 million people, which is approximately the combined populations of Illinois, Ohio and Missouri.
WISHH has leveraged USDA funding with soy checkoff investments from U.S. soybean growers to build a stronger market for U.S. soy protein across Central America. The United States exported approximately 670.7 metric tons of soy protein isolates to Guatemala during July 2024–June 2025, with an estimated export value of approximately US$3.1 million. That one country’s use of isolates alone equated to 125,309 bushels of soybeans.