The world’s population, now hovering at eight billion, needs a hefty amount of protein. United Soybean Board Market Intelligence Vice-President Mac Marshall, referring to the agriculture supply balance sheets from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, puts that in weighty terms.

“Turning the lens back to the U.S. where we’re an incredibly fortunate and prosperous nation, we have, I would say, the best farmers on earth, a very resilient food supply system, one that has for a long time enabled us to produce an exportable surplus and supply our partners and customers around the globe,” said Marshall, “the importance of that really comes back into plain view.”

Marshall says he’s optimistic a tendency toward global collaboration will lead those areas with surplus to help supply those areas of deficit. “If we take that approach and scan back out, I think we’ll be in a good place for the years to come,” he said. “But I never want us to get to a place where we become complacent and start thinking that food just happens without a whole lot of gears turning.”