Soybean growers capitalize on sustainability

The United Soybean Board (USB) is seeking to increase the profitability of soybean growers by promoting the fact that U.S. soybeans are grown sustainably. In 2022, the USDA through its Climate Smart Agriculture initiative awarded Farmers for Soil Health $95 million, according to Jack Cornell, the director of sustainable supply for the USB.

“What we’re doing with that $95 million is that $70 million of it is going for cost share for cover crops, but it’s not just a cover crop program. Another $20 million is for technical assistance, so [it’s] helping farmers to understand not only cover crops on their farm but other conservation practices as well,” Cornell told the South Dakota Soybean Network. “And that technical assistance is being delivered by what the state commodity groups have said that they wanted, leveraging our state partners to help us figure out what does that technical assistance look like.” Along with the USB, Farmers for Soil Health is made up of the National Pork Board and the National Corn Growers Association.

The other part of the project to enhance on-farm profitability for soybean farmers is to determine how the farm itself can be a potential market disruptor.

“What it’s doing is it’s putting farmers in the driver’s seat of negotiating prices with different companies that are seeking environmental outcomes from the farm,” he said.

It's a disruption that is hoped will benefit grower profitability. Cornell paints a picture of what such a scenario would look like.

“A company comes in [and says], ‘Hey, I’m going to give you $10 per acre for carbon, or I’ll give you $10 an acre because you’re doing cover crops and no-till.’ Then the farmer gets alerted, and they say, ‘No, I want $25 an acre,’” said Cornell. “And so, it kind of is a game changer in a way that companies haven’t operated like this, farmers haven’t operated like this; it’s a unique opportunity that really kind of is a market disrupter that puts farmers in a more profitable situation.”

Implications of the program extend beyond the farm, according to Cornell, adding that the implications will be global.

“Now we’ll have more transparency about what is happening in the U.S. around how commodities are grown, which then we can help sell utilizing our export partners to kind of say, ‘hey, farmers are stewards of the land and they’re keeping track of all these different things,’” said Cornell. “Because we want to increase that demand for U.S. commodities.”