As a gesture of friendship and goodwill, the Taiwan government reached out twice during the COVID-19 pandemic to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and sent donations of surgical masks.

First in April and again in May, the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago contacted MDA about the donations, according to Jeff Phillips, MDA international trade manager.

“We were happy to work on this,” Phillips says, explaining that the department was helping coordinate mask distribution at the state level. In April, boxes containing 10,000 masks were shipped to Minnesota. Last month, Taiwan sent 100,000 masks.

Why is MDA in the middle of handling masks?

Simply, because of friendships developed over the years thanks to agricultural trade.

For some time, Phillips says various trade missions between the two countries have taken place to promote Minnesota soybeans, corn and beef.

“Taiwan is a growing market for us,” Phillips says. “They are a good buyer of ag products.” Specifically, Taiwan is a big buyer of Minnesota soybeans. In 2018, MDA sent a trade delegate to Taiwan and later that year, the Taiwan government bought $1.5 million in soybeans from Minnesota and Iowa. And in 2019, Taiwanese representatives travelled twice to Minnesota.

“They like our sustainability efforts, too,” he says.

MDA commissioner Thom Petersen says Taiwan’s gesture was helpful.

“These masks will undoubtedly help our state’s medical workforce battle the spread of COVID-19 and protect our critical frontline responders,” Petersen wrote in a letter of appreciation to Eric Huang, director general, based at the Chicago office.

Both the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and the Minnesota Soybean Growers organizations have invested checkoff funds and time into expanding trade with Taiwan.

“A lot of different soybean growers have been to Taiwan and built relationships,” Petersen wrote. “Those relationships are really important, and they pay dividends. Kudos to the soybean growers for helping to create those relationships.”