United Soybean Board Farmer-Leaders Set FY24 Budget

The soy checkoff continues a strategic path toward increasing value for U.S. Soy across supply and demand investments.

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (July 19, 2023) — The 77 farmer-leaders serving on the United Soybean Board approved $191.5M for the 2024 fiscal year budget. The budget supports research, promotion and education investment portfolios selected through USB’s Portfolio Development Process. These investments drive demand for U.S. Soy and return value to all U.S. soybean farmers. The total budget figure also includes execution, oversight and program support. 

“I hope U.S. soybean farmers are proud of their checkoff as we pool together our resources to improve our reliability and sustainability in delivering our crop to the global marketplace,” said Meagan Kaiser, USB Chair and farmer from Missouri. “But to make these significant gains and drive return on investment back to our farmers, we need to measure our success and learnings through resilience, differentiation and reputation of U.S. Soy. As we look ahead to 2024, we know that soy delivers solutions, and in many cases, it serves as a drop-in replacement to improve our carbon footprint across thousands of products. The future is bright for U.S. Soy.”

The board’s approval during the organization’s summer meeting July 17-21, hosted by the New York Corn and Soybean Growers Association in Niagara Falls, New York, puts in motion a strategic portfolio that focuses on growing preference and increasing the resiliency of U.S. Soy. Priority areas include Infrastructure & Connectivity, Health & Nutrition, and Innovation & Technology across supply and demand. In addition, the Communication & Education Committee aims to enhance the U.S. Soy and checkoff reputation across key audiences, and USB’s export promotion investments focus on differentiating U.S. soybeans around the globe. 

FY24 investments spanning each of the three priority areas, in addition to communication and education and export promotion, include:

Infrastructure & Connectivity

• Supply: Engage in direct road, rail and river markets outreach to more organizations to continue the momentum for funding research for U.S. infrastructure improvements. 
• Demand: Identify and address infrastructure and logistical constraints limiting market entry and expansion of existing and new soy-based technologies. Efforts will explore innovative soy-based materials recycling and new processing technologies for soybean oil and meal.  

Health & Nutrition

• Supply: Collaborate with leading agronomists and extension and research scientists to deliver real-time updates from fields across soy-growing regions to better inform farmers about emerging pests and diseases, providing recommendations for management and control. 
• Demand: Conduct research illustrating soy’s support across the lifespan: healthy growth, living and aging. In animal diets, continue research in anti-nutritional factors and increase soybean meal inclusion rates across the poultry, pig, dairy and aquaculture sectors.  

Innovation & Technology

• Supply: Develop new biochemicals and biologicals for pest management, including research on natural products as potential herbicides, fungicides and nematicides. Field trials using genomics will also accelerate the development of new soybean varieties.
• Demand: Initiate innovative new uses across multiple sectors as a drop-in replacement to petroleum and petrochemicals. One example includes biobased firefighting foam made from soybean meal/flour.

Communication & Education Committee

• Bring the U.S. Soy brand to life by integrating stories of soy-based products into events and programming, fostering an emotional connection with consumers. This effort aligns with our Reputation Acceleration Strategy, which focuses on building positive influence, reputation and demand for soy. We are also committed to informing farmer stakeholders about our checkoff investments, ensuring a favorable future for U.S. Soy.

Export Promotion 

• Growing exports in more than 80 countries through the U.S. Soybean Export Council’s strategy to differentiate U.S. Soy in the global marketplace. Partnerships with the U.S. Meat Export Federation and the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council promote exports of soy-fed meat. Investment in the American Soybean Association’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health creates long-term demand for U.S. soybeans in developing and emerging markets and improves food security.

“For every dollar we invest in the checkoff, we’re getting $12.34 back in returns,” said Steve Reinhard, USB Vice Chair, Chair of the Value Alignment Committee and farmer from Ohio. “Whether it’s our analysis and design investments to dredge the Mississippi River, cover crop cost-share program through Farmers for Soil Health or increasing soybean meal inclusion in poultry and pig diets, these have been some huge wins for the American farmer. In the year ahead, demand growth for soybean oil in biofuels, adhesives and nonfood uses will continue to grow, opening up doors for checkoff investments.” 

About United Soybean Board: United Soybean Board’s 77 volunteer farmer-leaders work on behalf of all U.S. soybean farmers to achieve maximum value for their soy checkoff investments. These volunteers create value by investing in research, education and promotion with the vision to deliver sustainable soy solutions to every life, every day, across the three priority areas of Infrastructure & Connectivity, Health & Nutrition, and Innovation & Technology. As stipulated in the federal Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight responsibilities for USB and the soy checkoff. For more information on the United Soybean Board, visit unitedsoybean.org.

###

Contact:

Paul Murphy-Spooner at United Soybean Board, 515.975.6584.
Brad Robb at OBP, 901.230.0447.