Checkoff Checking Producer

According to a recent soy checkoff survey, nearly 70 percent of U.S. soybean farmers feel no need to worry about protein and oil content because they have no problem – at present – selling their soybeans. Marc Curtis, immediate past chair for the United Soybean Board and soybean farmer from Leland, Mississippi, says – most farmers see a price per bushel and see soy for the sum of its parts. Curtis says – the value actually is calculated based on the value of meal and oil, minus the processing costs, but we don’t get that sort of transparency.

The survey also helped measure soy farmers’ receptiveness to a component value system, being fairly reimbursed based on the value of protein and oil in their harvested soybeans. Nearly 66 percent of U.S. soybean farmers responded favorably to this idea, and 35 percent believed it would impact their price positively.

The survey also researched farmers’ opinions on profitability and the soy checkoff in general. It found that 78 percent of farmers support the soy checkoff. For the first time ever, the USB survey asked, – do you feel the checkoff program has been a good deal for soybean farmers? Eighty-two percent of the soybean farmers surveyed said “yes.”