The soy checkoff’s mission is to maximize profit opportunities for U.S. soybean farmers. But this is a mission that can’t be accomplished singlehandedly. In order to be truly successful, collaboration with partners is vital.
So every day, the checkoff builds and nurtures partnerships here in the U.S. and all over the world.
By expanding its network of partners, the checkoff can ensure its resources are being used effectively and efficiently to make progress for farmers in as many ways as possible.
Building demand through partnerships
Building demand for U.S. soy means that the acres and acres of soybeans grown across the U.S. every year have somewhere to go. And for many bushels, the final destination isn’t local.
The checkoff’s partnership with the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) allows farmers to focus on their fields while local market experts build a preference for U.S. soybeans and soy products in foreign lands.
USSEC relies on market experts to address cultural differences and show how U.S. soy meets local needs. Partnerships like these drive the use of U.S. soy for feed, aquaculture and human consumption in key markets.
For example, thanks to checkoff-funded marketing efforts, many fish farmers in Vietnam now recognize soy as an excellent feed ingredient.
But soybeans aren’t always exported as soybeans. Often, they’re exported as meat and poultry after they’ve been fed to an animal.
The relationship between soybeans and animal ag has been strong for decades. And the relationships between the checkoff and partners that help improve quality and demand are just as strong.
The checkoff has funded an array of research projects through universities and research facilities with the end goal of improving soybean meal’s nutritional bundle.
The checkoff has also built partnerships with its work through the Animal Nutrition Working Group (ANWG) in order to improve the quality of soybean meal. The ANWG is a group of industry animal nutritionists who volunteer to advise the checkoff on ways to increase soybean meal utilization through improved nutrition. These nutritionists are key customers of U.S. soybean meal and provide the checkoff with valuable industry perspective on what can be done to improve the quality of U.S. soybean meal – and their demand for it.
“It’s important for the checkoff to build relationships, because we get new and diverse ideas from partners, which help us improve the quality of soybean meal,” says Mike Beard, a soy checkoff farmer-leader who leads the board’s strategy development for soybean meal and raises soybeans, corn and hogs on his farm in Indiana.
Partnerships that result in higher-quality meal not only benefit U.S. soybean farmers through better demand, but animal ag as well, through a better feed ration.
“Quality is very important in the feed I give to my animals,” Beard says. “It has an effect on the animal from its rate of gain to its acceptance of the rations to the profitability of the farmer to the quality of the meat.”
To support domestic poultry and livestock producers as well as their demand for U.S. soy, the checkoff partners with the U.S. Meat Export Federation and the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council to help increase demand for meat, milk and eggs abroad.
Exporting meat and poultry adds value for soybean farmers by providing a close and inexpensive source of fertilizer as well as diversifying their local economy. These exports benefit foreign end users by reducing their cost of shipping and providing improved reliability in their food chain.
Innovating partnerships
When industry leaders unite to achieve a common goal, big things happen. Take for example high oleic soybeans, on which suppliers, farmers and buyers have come together to create big opportunities for the whole industry, from farmers to consumers.
“High oleic soy is an exciting innovation,” says Russ Sanders, director of food and industry markets at DuPont Pioneer. “It takes unprecedented teamwork to convert a major part of the industry to this technology.”
High oleic oil gives farmers an opportunity to reclaim major food-industry demand because it offers a high-stability, trans-fat-free oil.
Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer – companies often in competition – work with the soy checkoff to make high oleic varieties available in more maturity groups so that more farmers have the opportunity to reap the benefits.
These groups also partner with other members of the value chain to strengthen the market for high oleic soybeans. As a result, farmers continue to see strong performance from these varieties in their fields and more customers are choosing high oleic soybean oil for its performance in their kitchens, packaged foods and industrial applications.
“It’s so valuable to have a partner like the United Soybean Board,” says Sanders. “Developing a new market category for high oleic soy has been a daunting task, but we’re well on our way to success because of the powerful combination of the checkoff investment and seed company resources.”
Monsanto Soybean Industry Affairs Lead Mindy Whittle says this partnership – a first of its kind for Monsanto – puts new, valuable technology into farmers’ hands much faster.
“This is our first opportunity to collaborate directly with farmers,” says Whittle. “The checkoff’s investments allow us to develop a wider range of high oleic soybean varieties. Then it’s a cycle of getting feedback from farmers and developing even more options to fit their needs.”
Even with the market for high oleic soy expanding, demand for commodity soybean oil from other markets, like biodiesel, continues to grow. Through work by another checkoff partner: the National Biodiesel Board, biodiesel is now a major part of California’s effort to decrease carbon emissions, which will increase biodiesel demand in the biggest diesel-using state in the country.
Of course, industrial uses for soybeans aren’t limited to the engines of semi-trucks cruising the West Coast.
The checkoff also works with companies throughout the industrial sector on new uses for soy. These partnerships stretch investment dollars and result in the new demand that the checkoff would be unable to accomplish alone.
Over the past 25 years, soy-checkoff-supported partnerships have produced hundreds of new soy-based products and ingredients. These technologies increased industrial demand for U.S. soy from 14 million bushels in 2003 to more than 111 million bushels a decade later.
Now soy can be found in the foam seats of Ford vehicles, certain varieties of Sherwin-Williams paint and the ink covering the pages of your local newspaper.
Public-private partnerships keep soybeans moving
The U.S. transportation infrastructure requires investment to repair, maintain and improve the system. One mode of transportation that is in critical need of funding is inland waterways; specifically, aging locks and dams.
On the American Society of Civil Engineers’ most recent report card on America’s infrastructure, inland waterways received the lowest grade of all transportation types. Without major investment, shipping soybeans and other commodities will become much more expensive for farmers.
With an issue as large and far-reaching as national transportation system improvements, it is going to take partnerships at all levels to pool the resources needed to affect change. The soy checkoff is prioritizing this issue in its Long-Range Strategic Plan by focusing on building partnerships both inside and outside the soy family to communicate with transportation influencers about why improvements to the infrastructure are needed.
As Jeff Lynn, soybean farmer from Oakford, Illinois, and Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) board member puts it, “America was built on working together to achieve our goals. Working together in times of crisis is what defines us as Americans, and right now our outdated locks and dams are a crisis.”
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