Law school, JAG Corps prepared Beaner for board service

There are certain skills that come in handy for commodity group leaders. Heather Beaner’s career prior to farming prepared her well for her leadership role. The now-retired South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council board member was featured on The Soybean Pod to reflect on her time as a member of that governing body. In an interview for the podcast following her retirement from the board, she made clear her feelings about having served.

“I really, desperately enjoyed my time on the South Dakota Checkoff board,” she said.

Beaner, who farms with her husband at Mellette, in northeastern South Dakota, marveled at the people she got to know while she was a part of the board.

“Through my service on that board, I served on several other boards, some national ones; getting to know farmers and passionate soybean people across the country’s been great, but I’m also looking forward to moving on and doing some other work and having some more time for the farm and the family,” she said, adding, “I will miss the South Dakota Soybean Checkoff.”

After serving five years on the checkoff board, Beaner concludes that the checkoff is important to soybean farmers because of its effectiveness in expanding markets both domestically and overseas, building bridges and funding research.

“The volume of research that is out there looking to make beans more profitable, to make costs less, to help control weeds,” said Beaner. “The myriad of places that we look to apply our checkoff is mind-blowing.”

Heather Beaner’s own self-assessment of coming back to the farm and being part of the checkoff board is that there aren’t many with circumstances similar to hers.

“I’m a female in production agriculture,” Beaner pointed out, “which makes me a little bit a unicorn sometimes.”

Law school followed by two decades of Air Force service as a judge advocate general prepared Beaner well for service such as on the Soybean Checkoff Board.

“Coming from the military – I retired as a lieutenant colonel – I’m actually good at telling people what to do,” she added with a laugh, “and sometimes you end up in charge of things when you have that kind of personality, I think.”

There is more conversation with Heather Beaner on The Soybean Pod. The podcast is available on most platforms and is brought to you by South Dakota soybean farmers and their checkoff.