St. Louis, Missouri
May 19, 2009
Checkoff dollars are moving the
needle in the right direction
Despite government predictions hinting at soybean acreage
only slightly above that planted in 2008, there’s still a lot of
elasticity left in landing on the final planted acreage numbers
for the new crop year.
The missing piece of the puzzle here is 7.64 million acres not
yet accounted for compared with 2008’s total planted area.
“It’s quite possible that a large share of this 7.64 million
acres will be planted to soybeans,” said Rick Stern,
United Soybean Board
(USB) Production Chair and a soybean producer from Cream Ridge,
New Jersey.
“The economics favor soybeans – world demand is very strong, and
there’s an overall upward trend for soybeans,” added Stern, who
farms 1,250 acres of soybeans, corn, wheat, barley, alfalfa and
fresh-market vegetables.
Stern stressed that efforts put forth by the United Soybean
Board (USB) and soybean checkoff have protected yields from
biological and environmental stresses and demonstrate great
promise to continue to move U.S. soybean yields upward. “The
research coordination program funded by soybean checkoff dollars
has given us a big bang for our buck,” he said. “It has allowed
scientists to coordinate their work, avoid duplication of
efforts and increased the overall efficiency of our
researchers.”
Ken Dalenberg, USB Director and a soybean/corn producer in
Mansfield, Illinois, also believes that more soybeans will be
planted in 2009 than what is formally estimated by USDA.
“Corn-soybean price ratios currently favor soybeans,” he said.
Dalenberg credits checkoff dollars spent on soybean research
with quantum leaps in the science of growing soybeans. “The
advances in mapping the soybean genome have generated more
government investment that could open the door to significant
developments,” the Illinois soybean farmer said.
USB is made up of 68 farmer-directors who oversee the
investments of the soybean checkoff on behalf of all U.S.
soybean farmers. Checkoff funds are invested in the areas of
animal utilization, human utilization, industrial utilization,
industry relations, market access and supply. As stipulated in
the Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act,
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight
responsibilities for USB and the soybean checkoff. |
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