CHS Report

Strengthening Soy Dairy Microenterprises:
Opportunities and Obstacles for the Youth
of Guatemala
Abstract
This paper examines the conditions impacting benefits to Guatemalan youth from the
operation of soy dairy microenterprises in their country. From Guatemala to Ghana,
the World Soy Foundation has assisted multiple organizations that have nourished
thousands of children with the power of soy. Small-scale soy dairy machines offer
enterprises to improve nutrition and health as well as generate income.
In March 2012, the World Soy Foundation released the Soy Dairy Microenterprises: A
Business Plan & Workbook to contribute to the successful operation, including financial
sustainability, of soy dairies in developing countries around the world. This paper
provides an additional resource to individuals and organizations that seek tools and
strategies to
--improve children's diets
--support financially sustainable microenterprises
--use microenterprises to train youth in business and leadership skills
The World Soy Foundation selected Guatemala for this report because:
 Communities are selling soy foods in local stores in addition to using soy dairy
microenterprises to nourish their internal communities,
 Guatemalan youth operate soy dairies as well as market the resulting foods,
 And multiple versions of soy dairy equipment are used in Guatemala.  Guatemalan children experience the third highest rate of chronic malnutrition
(stunting) in the world (54.5 percent), according to UNICEF’s 2009 State of the
World’s Children. Protein is key to the prevention of stunting in kids. Soy is a
complete and cost-effective protein that can nourish children without changing the
taste of foods they know and love. Introduction
Maria is a teenager growing up in the Fundaniñas home for girls in Guatemala City. She
and the more than 30 other girls drink soy milk as well as eat foods enriched with
protein from okara, a byproduct of the SoyCow that the World Soy Foundation, Rotary
organizations and others have installed and supported at Fundaniñas.
Nutritious meals contribute to Maria's ability to learn at school as well as her completion
of the bakery training course that Fundaniñas leadership enrolled her in to support her
love of baking. In 2012, Fundaniñas received its license to sell soy foods in Guatemala.
Maria now works part-time along with adult Fundaniñas employees to produce and
locally market soy milk and soy foods a few times a week.
Fundaniñas sells soy milk to its community through a new window added to the streetside of the home’s complex. Soy milk is also sold in the nearby market a few days a
week. In addition, the production of the soy milk yields okara that Maria and the others
use as an ingredient in champurradas, Guatemalan cookies, giving them more protein
than the traditional cookies. Fundaniñas sells their champurradas to employees in a
couple of businesses.
Because of youth like Maria, the World Soy Foundation, with support from the CHS
Foundation, sent the authors of this report to Guatemala in July 2012. The purpose of
this "Growing Leaders of Tomorrow Globally" mission was to examine the conditions
that exist in Guatemala for youth to benefit from soy dairies in the following areas:
--improved nutrition and health
--removal of obstacles to sustained economic results from soy dairies and whether
cooperative principles can be used to eliminate these issues
--business and leadership training for youth.
Team members are the authors of this report:
 Chiquita Briley, PhD. in Human Sciences with a Specialization in Nutrition and
Health Sciences, with experience in youth development and nutrition education.
Briley is an associate professor at Mississippi State University.
 Gregory McKee, Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics, and Director of
Quentin Burdick Center for Cooperatives at North Dakota State University
 Benjy Mikel, Associate Vice President-International Programs, Mississippi State
University, and Ph.D. in food science and technology
 Liz Hare, World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) Program Manager
for Latin America
 Karen Coble Edwards, World Soy Foundation Senior Advisor
Fundaniñas girls home’s results with its SoyCow prompted Guatemala's First
Lady Rosa Maria Leal de Perez (front row in white jacket) to invite the World Soy
Foundation team to meet with her. First Lady Perez wants SoyCows to help feed
hundreds of children who cannot live with their families and are in care facilities
operated by the Guatemalan government.
Guatemala City Rotary Club member Isabel Gutiérrez de Bosch (above photo, front
row in brown jacket) and other Rotary leaders discussed their goals with the
authors of this report. They seek to establish 150 new soy dairy enterprises in the
country to improve the nutrition for the children of Guatemala. Rotarians and the
World Soy Foundation both want to employ strategies so the SoyCow herd
growth creates financially sustainable operations.
Observations on the State of Soy Demand
and Use in Guatemala
The team observed the following conditions that impact soy dairy operations in
Guatemala:
 Adults and children have a low level of awareness of the benefits of soy for
nutrition and health as well as its role as a cost-effective ingredient to add protein
to diets.
 Soy is added to diverse prepared foods that are manufactured and sold in
Guatemala. Those foods range from Incaparina, to meats, to Delisoya drinks.
 Healthy food choices must compete with strongly entrenched patterns of
consuming sugary drinks as well as packaged snack foods with little nutritional
content.
 Some of the soy dairy equipment in Guatemala is capable of producing gallons of
nutritious soy milk for 1000 children a day as well as protein-rich okara for
additional foods. However, the systems are not functioning at full capacity.
Nutrition Education
The authors’ interviews found that soy is a major contributor in two ways to
improvements in health and nutrition status:
1) increasing protein stores in children that were malnourished or with children where
quantity and/or quality of food is compromised and,
2) soy milk, flour and soy byproducts, such as okara, are used as meal extenders to
help reduce overall food cost and to meet nutritional requirements of children’s and
possibly family meals.
The overall goal when using soy is to improve optimal health. However many of the
facilities indicated the need for nutrition education to address the importance of soy and
healthy eating behavior to children, youth and families (especially mothers). Child, youth
and adult nutrition education was provided at some sites through different venues such
as nutrition education in the classroom or food demonstrations and food preparation
classes to mothers to increase the use of okara and soy milk. However, all programs
varied and it was difficult to evaluate true knowledge gained and possible behavior
change through the nutrition education contacts.
NUTRITION
EDUCATION
DEMAND FOR
HEALTHY
FOODS
Child and Youth Nutrition Education
The overall goal is to improve knowledge of the importance of healthy eating habits in
order to improve short and long-term health outcomes. This can be accomplished in
three different ways:
For Schools:
1. Development and/or use of existing curriculum that discusses nutrition and its
relationship to health. Curriculum could coincide with current science, math or even
language objectives appropriate for individual grade levels. The curriculum should have
pre and post-testing to determine knowledge gained through the use of the curriculum.
2. One area that could provide an interesting addition is the use of food science by way
of food production and safety as a vehicle to learning about soy. This type of curriculum
could be used with youth groups as a method to look at science in a different way and
could also incorporate business techniques to help with the sustainability of the SoyCow
units.
For Children and Youth in Government/Private Home Facilities
3. Food preparation skills learned by youth are very important to the future of how foods
will be served at home. When youth are involved in the cooking of meals (with
supervision), long-term life skills are gained. Menus served at the facilities need to be
designed or reviewed by a nutritionist to determine that nutrient needs are met to
ensure growth and development. In addition, training on cooking with soy, and
appropriate serving sizes also need to be discussed with current foodservice staff as
well as youth that may participate.
A 4-H-type curriculum can be used in both schools and government/private homes/care
facilities. However, the method and frequency of the use of such a curriculum would
need to be determined so that it can be integrated into the learning objectives and
mission of the schools and home facilities.
Adults
Most of the SoyCow communities indicated that formal or non-formal nutrition education
for parents, especially mothers, is included in their programs. However, key
measurements of acquiring knowledge to determine the effectiveness of the teaching
and the possibility of behavior change in parents were not mentioned.
On the other hand, the measurement of families using soy in home meals can be
quantified through the documentation of purchasing trends of okara, soy milk or other
soy-based products. The dilemma in collecting only that type of data would be knowing
how the soy-based products were used in meal planning and how effective the soy was
in reducing overall food costs to the family and improving nutrition.
For most families that may have issues with quality and quantity of foods for the home
there are three specific “areas of benefit” that may need to be incorporated into the
lessons to ensure that education will be accepted:
1) health benefits - for children and adults - this would be short and long-term;
2) taste benefits - food preparation techniques discussions, food demonstrations and
tastings that integrate soy into foods that are indigenous to the cultural foodways as well
as new food trends that are enjoyed by the family, and
3) financial benefits - indicating how using soy, especially okara, as an addition to
animal protein-based dishes may reduce overall food cost while preserving taste.
One method that may make nutrition education more consistent for families is the
USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Extension Service’s Expanded
Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) model. The EFNEP program started in
1969 and was designed to train the gatekeepers (usually women with children) in the
community in the areas of nutrition and home economics in order to teach homemakers
how to provide healthy foods to the family using their limited budget.
The EFNEP program has been very successful and has documented quantitative and
qualitative data indicating knowledge and behavior change. The skills learned from this
program have assisted women in acquiring work in the food service industry. Trainings
would be a significant part of the program if it was implemented in Central America and
could be coordinated by establishing a relationship with the nutrition department at a
local university and/or with a non-governmental organization (NGO) with connections to
the local university.
Business Strategies
Value Propositions of a Soy Dairy Enterprise
In Guatemala, the value proposition of a corporation managing one or more points in
the soy dairy supply chain should be two-fold:
1. Improve nutrition within a population through production, distribution, and sale of soy
dairy products.
2. Since it is not apparent that a demand for improved nutrition exists in the general
population, the second proposition is to provide instruction on the social and personal
value of improved nutrition within a concentrated group of consumers.
The selection of a business strategy is related to the state of soy demand in Guatemala
and the costs of meeting this demand. Author observations in Guatemala suggest the
strongest source of demand for soy dairy products in the country is among NGOaffiliated educational institutions for children that emphasize nutrition. This creates a
homogeneous group of institutional consumers that would prefer to see the two value
propositions achieved.
Costs of Achieving the Value Propositions
The costs of achieving the value proposition occur along a four-step supply chain. The
supply chain observed for producing soy dairy products and providing nutrition
instruction was as follows:
Link 1: Raw inputs.
1. Soybeans. Donated from the United States at the same time the soy dairy
machine is donated. Soybean market prices per bushel at the end of the week of
July 21, 2012, were $16.48 in Minneapolis. No observations were made of efforts
to establish relationships with soybean vendors.
2. Sugar. Appeared to be purchased by each enterprise direct from a distributor.
Guatemala is a producer of sugar from sugarcane.
3. Filtered water. One observation of a donated filtration system. Water was
obtained from municipal sources in all cases. One observation indicated 1 barrel
of water (16 liters) cost Q10. A batch of soymilk requires 4-5L of water.
4. Electricity. One observation indicated 1 kWh of electricity was 2.06 Guatemalan
quetzals (GTQ). GTQ2 were used in this single observation per 17L batch.
5. Flavoring. Chocolate and vanilla flavoring costs depend on quality. No
observations were made about the source of the flavoring.
6. Salt. No observations were made about salt purchases and their source.
Link 2: Transportation and storage.
1. Soybeans. Transportation costs by container were apparently donated. Storage
was donated at each location visited by the team. Bulk storage was often off site
and was donated.
2. Sugar. No information was obtained about transportation of sugar. Storage
appeared to be done on a just-in-time basis at each production location.
3. Filtered water. Municipal transportation and storage appeared to be used. One
location has constructed a solar heater to reduce water heating costs, associated
with production.
4. Electricity. Municipal electricity distribution systems were used in all cases.
5. Flavoring. One observation of flavoring purchase indicated a retail purchase.
Flavorings were stored in powdered form near production.
6. Salt. No observations were made about salt transportation and storage.
Link 3: Processing, packaging and storage.
1. Processing occurred using a variety of mechanical technologies, with each
visited location having a unique processing technology. Processing occurred in a
physical location on the property where all (in one case) or a portion of the final
product was consumed within a few days. Shelf life was estimated by the
producers to range from 7 to 14 days.
2. All locations making product for retail sake packaged the product in plastic
bottles on site. Labels were applied to denote a brand and production source. No
observations were made about how soy dairy products were packaged. The
absence of filling equipment suggests all steps of this process were done
manually.
3. Packaged product was stored in commercial refrigerators in the same location as
where the processing was done. In no case were refrigerators observed to be at
capacity. Inventories were managed manually.
Link 4. Retailing and marketing.
1. Three of four locations marketed their product directly to the public. A variety of
techniques were used. All used word of mouth to communicate product
availability. All used direct vending, done at the point of processing and
packaging. One vended the product through a retail grocery chain.
2. All advertised nutritional features of their product through periodic educational
events. No direct observations were made about the costs of development or
dissemination for these events or their effect on sales. Indirect observations
suggest these events are effective at increasing sales.
3. All locations distributed soy dairy product to students housed at the schools.
The soy dairy operations observed in Guatemala do not achieve these two value
propositions efficiently – at the lowest possible cost. Each operation visited conducted
their soy dairy operations as an internal function rather than a stand-alone business.
This has implications for soy dairy production costs. Human capital was used to make
decisions about obtaining raw inputs, transportation and storage, processing, and
marketing. Employees charged with duties beyond those of soy dairy production made
these decisions and didn’t specialize in soy dairy production. Furthermore, each
institution acted alone to learn which policies best governed these actions, with each
group investing the time to understand which policies were most appropriate for their
situation. Physical assets were maintained at each institution to store raw inputs,
process them, and market output. In every case these were used at a fraction of their
capacity (e.g. mostly empty refrigerators, SoyCows used once or twice each week,
etc.).
The optimal business structure in a given product market utilizes capital at the lowest
cost for a given quantity of output. A stand-alone soy dairy business organized to utilize
human and physical capital can be superior to one organized as an internal operation
when the physical and human capital are used at or near capacity. In this situation, fixed
costs associated with producing soy dairy products and nutrition programs (acquiring
physical assets, developing knowledge about production practices, developing
entrepreneurial skill, and developing educational programs and selecting dissemination
methods) are spread over a larger amount of output, a condition called economies of
scale.
Also, if human and physical capital can achieve the value propositions more cheaply by
managing many points along the four-step supply chain outlined above than by many
firms managing just one point, one firm should manage as many steps along the supply
chain as possible. For example, this corporation might engage in activities such as
establishing relationships with soybean and sugar providers, developing and
maintaining storage facilities for raw inputs, conducting packaging and processing
activities, and distributing soy dairy products for retail sale or final consumption.
A Cooperative as a Corporate Structure
to Achieve the Value Propositions
A variety of corporate structures could be used to achieve these two value propositions.
The two most relevant structures are partnerships and corporations. Partnerships allow
joint ownership and decision-making. Observations from Guatemala suggest these
owners and decision makers would most likely be comprised of interested
philanthropists, NGO-affiliated schools, self-funded entrepreneurs with interest in
nutritional development, or self-funded entrepreneurs who want to diversify their
business portfolio. Groups like these would supply equity for operations and make
policy and program decisions. They would also receive the financial benefits of the
business. In the United States, laws allow these to pass income through directly to the
partners without tax liability, but all partners jointly bear unlimited legal liability
associated with the business. In the case of a soy dairy business, a group of interested
parties could jointly own soy dairy producing assets, make policies on production and
education programs, and pass the financial benefits of the business through to
themselves.
Alternatively, corporations enjoy limited investor liability, tax advantages related to
expense deductions, unlimited life, transferability of ownership, and the ability to raise
capital. The list of potential investors and decision makers for this type of firm would be
the same as above.
A cooperative is a potentially favorable corporate structure for a soy dairy business. A
cooperative is characterized as a corporation operating based on the seven principles
listed by the International Cooperative Alliance. These include voluntary and open
membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy,
education and information, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for
community.
Each of these principles could be observed in an example cooperative comprised of
NGO-affiliated schools. This cooperative would provide soy dairy products to the
member institutions. Voluntary membership could be maintained if any schools are free
to select membership in the cooperative. Democratic member control would be
exercised through regular votes by NGO-affiliated schools on major policies affecting
the membership and/or delegating some of these decisions to an elected board of
directors. Policies could include asset purchasing agreements and so forth. Member
economic participation would occur as each NGO-affiliated school contributes funds to
purchase assets for operations of the business. Autonomy would occur if the members
are free to make decisions, given government regulatory constraints, about how to
provide soy dairy products among the membership. Education and information would
occur through regular programs to educate final consumers about the nutritional
benefits of soy dairy and related products. Education would also occur as the
membership or the elected board was regularly trained on techniques for successful
entrepreneurship.
If more than one soy dairy cooperative were established, these could cooperate with
each other through regular exchanges of information on best operational practices or
exchanges of physical assets in time of need.
Finally, initial soy dairy cooperatives would be established for the humanitarian/social
purpose of improving nutrition in the community. An ideal cooperative corporation would
deliberately operate using the principles described above and strive to maintain an
identity based on the application of these principles over time. Author McKee concludes
this feature makes a cooperative superior to a partnership since that business structure
may operate under one or more of these principles based simply on the disposition of its
ownership.
A cooperative is more likely to be successful when human capital costs of member
participation and opportunity costs of member ownership are relatively low, and when
the benefits of participation and ownership are concentrated within a small group.
Circumstances in Guatemala favor these conditions. The costs of decision making
within a cooperative include monitoring management and establishing overall policies
and programs. These costs increase when the members transact in a variety of ways
with the firm and when they have a variety of preferences arising from individual
circumstances.
Based on observations in Guatemala, a cooperative established to manage the one or
more parts of the supply chain described above would focus on producing soy dairy
products and on generating demand for soy dairy products through education and
marketing. Although the characteristics of any given product and the content of any
particular education program may vary, limiting the scope of decisions to these two
activities for a single family of products should increase the chances of members being
able to agree on general corporate policies. A simple product family and focused
educational programs should enable the mechanisms for making decisions to be
straightforward. If the number of members is kept relatively small, this may encourage
participation, whereas a large membership within a cooperative will tend to promote one
member free-riding on the efforts of another to oversee the policies and programs of the
cooperative. Also, if a cooperative’s membership were encouraged only among similar
types of institutions, such as NGO-affiliated schools for children, each would transact
with the cooperative in a similar way – bulk purchases of similar soy dairy products for
consumption within a short period of time.
On the other hand, there are fixed human capital costs of member participation. If not
already present within the membership, regular training on entrepreneurial skills must
occur. This training, however, can have a permanent benefit for selected members.
According to Van der Sluis et al. (2005)1, one year of schooling on entrepreneurship
increases firm income by 5%, on average, in less developed countries. According to this
study, returns to education are relatively greater for females. No observations were
made about whether this education could be provided by existing universities in
Guatemala.
Junior Achievement operates in Guatemala and provides entrepreneurial education to
youth, but does not provide instruction on operating under cooperative business
principles. The Quentin Burdick Center for Cooperatives could develop Spanish-based
educational resources for the secondary school level or experienced entrepreneur.
These could be provided to Junior Achievement or other youth-focused
entrepreneurship education programs or to a university willing to provide a program of
technical entrepreneurship education to cooperative members.
A second cost of cooperative ownership is related to right to the returns from the
cooperative. When a member joins a cooperative, they are entitled to a fraction of the
financial and non-financial output of the firm in proportion to their use of it. Since the
volume of these returns is likely to vary over time (e.g. profits may increase or decrease
in a given year), only members who can tolerate the risks associated with variations in
cooperative benefits should own the cooperative. In the case of a soy dairy co-op
owned by NGO-affiliated schools, soy dairy product expenses are a small fraction of the
budget of any member, making the risk of harm small for any one member.
Finally, the benefits of the cooperative’s production are concentrated within a small
group. If soy dairy products are considered the only output, and these are sold only to
members, then the benefits of production are clearly concentrated. If a minority of sales
are made directly to non-member consumers or to other distributors, the benefits of the
cooperative begin to be dissipated among those not involved with the ownership or
governance of the co-op. When one considers the nutrition education programs
conducted by the cooperative as an input (e.g. an advertising expense), then sales
made to members and non-member consumers may increase the total level of benefits
generated by the cooperative. Note, however, that another firm can take advantage of
the education program of a cooperative and market soy dairy products to customers
without incurring the expense of the education program. If this is a serious concern, this
component of the cooperative’s activities should be subsidized somehow.
Food Safety
Like all food enterprises, soy dairy operations need ongoing food safety programs,
including the testing of products. A reputation for a consistent and safe product is
required to increase consumer acceptance of soy dairy.
1
Van der Sluis, J., Van Praag, M., Vijverberg, W., 2005. Entrepreneurship selection and performance: A
meta-analysis of the impact of education in developing economies. The World Bank Economic Review
19, 225-261.
Workshops on proper food handling and sanitation would be critical to ensure that food
safety and shelf life are maximized with all soy dairy products. These could be tailored
to meet the needs and size of the entities trained. Train-the-trainer workshops could
also be conducted for government officials.
Appropriate and Safe Technology
Evaluations should be made to determine the appropriate technology for the use and
the size of the operation. Most current soy dairy technology in Guatemala was
underutilized. In addition, training for all technology including sanitation is a must.
Safety varied among the current soy dairy operations. To ensure worker safety,
especially for young children, intensive training should be conducted concerning the
dangers of pressure and ultra-high temperatures/ steam. Also, efforts should be made
to ensure that pulley guards are in place to avoid possible injuries.
The option of a mobile soy dairy processing unit (such as a built-in a cargo trailer or
“food truck” approach) is a possible way to provide soy dairy to multiple communities,
and thereby spread the allocation of resources, ranging from human capital to
refrigeration. A mobile unit could also serve as a literal and figurative vehicle for
education programs on nutrition, business and food safety.
Distance Learning
Opportunity exists to conduct some training sessions/updates by distant technology to
reduce education cost for areas cited in this report, ranging from nutrition to cooperative
education. Collaboration with a local university is would be ideal ensure sustainability.
Opportunity also exists to enhance products through research and development of new
okara uses in a variety of new products.
Women’s Opportunities
Guatemalan women can and are filling key roles in soy dairies as shown in the case
studies photographed in this report. Multiple soy dairy communities reported women-led
businesses are making profits after women were trained on the use of okara. Business
training in addition to the baking training was cited as valuable to many of the women.
As previously referenced in this report, Van der Sluis et al. (2005) found one year of
schooling on entrepreneurship increases firm income by 5%, on average, in less
developed countries. Returns to education are relatively greater for females.
Women are also strategic to improving nutrition for the entire family. Therefore,
expansion of soy dairies in Guatemala should consider women as both beneficiaries as
well as leaders.
Youth Development
As a result of their Guatemalan site visits and own backgrounds, the authors concluded
that utilization of the 4-H concept should be employed as a means to provide possible
future technical employment skills, transfer technology/ knowledge to parents, and
develop both business and leadership skills.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service representatives in
Guatemala met with the authors of this report and provided insight into the history of 4H programs in Guatemala. In the 1950s and 1960s, they estimate 50,000 to 60,000
youth participated in programs in Guatemala similar to 4-H known as 4-S. These 4-S
programs essentially ceased to exist with the elimination of Guatemalan agricultural
extension in 1986.
Authors also met with Empresarios Juveniles (Junior Achievement) Guatemala
executives who reported that Guatemala’s Junior Achievement program trains 10 million
students annually. These students are ages six to 22-years old and live in 17
Guatemalan provinces. Local business managers as well as partner organizations, like
World Vision, support these training programs, including one focused on agricultural
entrepreneurship. Junior Achievement in Guatemala has also worked with communities
involved in coffee cooperatives. The Junior Achievement representatives reported that it
would be beneficial to integrate healthy foods demand building into their training
programs and their work with women ages 18-25.
Guatemalan cooperative organization MICOOPE representatives also met with report
authors. They are enthusiastic about the role of cooperative savings and loan as well as
agricultural programs in Guatemala. MICOOPE reported that 800 cooperatives exist in
Guatemala, and MICOOPE is active in the World Council of Credit Unions. This
organization also provides technical training to its member credit unions.
In addition, MICOOPE has started a program to help children learn to save money. The
children receive small banks to take home to store their savings as well as instructional
materials on spending and savings. MICOOPE representatives go to schools once a
month so the children may bring their savings and make a deposit into their accounts.
Observations from many of the soy dairy interviews identified significant value in
teaching basic business skills to children, and frequently their parents. The elementary
school “economics fair” used in U.S. schools could be a helpful resource. Strong pre
and post-assessments are needed in pilots before widespread implementation.
Concluding Recommendations
1. SoyCow operations should use nutrition education as a primary driver to increase
the demand to fully utilize SoyCow equipment, electricity, staff and other
resources.
2. Nutrition education must be targeted toward two distinct audiences that have
similar nutritional concerns but at different gradients on the scale of the
importance of incorporating soy into the diet. For children, soy can be used for
growth and development. But for women of child-bearing years, the need for
keeping adequate iron, zinc and protein stores along with fiber and other
appropriate food grouping recommendations are important to ensure healthy
future pregnancies and lactation.
3. USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Extension Service’s
Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) could be evaluated
as a model for Guatemalan nutrition education.
4. Youth could benefit from food science by way of food production and safety as a
vehicle to learning about soy. Instruction could be provided to youth groups as a
method to look at science in a different way and also incorporate business
techniques to help in the sustainability of the SoyCow units. Youth could also
benefit from training on healthy meal preparation with soy to promote long-term
healthy food consumption and life skills.
5. A cooperative is a potentially favorable corporate structure for a soy dairy
business. A cooperative established to manage the one or more parts of the
supply chain described in this report would focus on producing soy dairy products
and on generating demand for soy dairy products through education and
marketing. If not already present within the cooperative membership, regular
training on entrepreneurial skills must occur.
Other potential cooperative options include a worker cooperative owned and
staffed by alumni of NGO-affiliated schools, or a supply cooperative owned by
NGO-affiliated schools. Cooperative education for youth could be combined with
entrepreneurial mentorship to provide youth with business, including cooperativespecific, training.
6. Workshops on proper food handling and sanitation would be critical to ensure
that food safety and shelf life are maximized with all soy dairy products. These
could be tailored to meet the needs and size of the entities trained. Train-thetrainer workshops could also be conducted for government officials.
7. The option of a mobile soy dairy processing unit (such as a built-in a cargo trailer
or “food truck” approach) is a possible way to provide soy dairy to multiple
communities, and thereby spread the allocation of the resources, ranging from
human capital to refrigeration. A mobile unit could also serve as a literal and
figurative vehicle for education programs on nutrition, business and food safety.
8. Utilization of the 4-H concept should be employed as a means to provide
possible future technical employment skills, transfer technology/ knowledge to
parents, and develop both business and leadership skills.
9. Expansion of soy programs in Guatemala should consider women and youth as
both beneficiaries as well as leaders.
10. The establishment of a partnership between the community organizations that
have soy dairies and a university's research and outreach (extension) system
would be particularly beneficial in executing the above-mentioned
recommendations.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the CHS Foundation for contributing to the World Soy Foundation’s
work on this mission and report. The CHS Foundation is the major giving entity of CHS,
an energy, grains and foods company with a stewardship focus of building vibrant
communities.
Thanks to Mississippi State University for its support of Benjy Mikel and Chiquita
Briley’s extensive and valuable contributions. Likewise, thanks to North Dakota State
University for sharing Gregory McKee’s time and economic insight.
This report also recognizes the leadership and initiative of the Guatemalan and U.S.
Rotary Clubs as well as all the schools and homes featured in this report. We thank our
partners, like Cargill and Food For The Poor, for facilitating important meetings. The
World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) introduced the team to MICOOPE.
The National Soybean Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign has provided significant support and training for SoyCow communities in
Central America as well as prepared the Soy Dairy Microenterprises: A Business Plan &
Workbook.
Julia Shuck creatively designed the photo section of this report to share the lessons
learned by the Guatemalan soy dairy communities.
Most of all, we applaud the inspiring youth
of Guatemala’s soy dairy communities.

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