The Soybean Pod

One of the newest members of the South Dakota Soybean Association Board of Directors is an Edmunds County farmer who also happens to be the assistant chief of the Roscoe, South Dakota Volunteer Fire Department. In this episode of the South Dakota Soybean Pod we hear from Andy Weisser how he began farming and how he became a South Dakota Soybean Association board member. Andy also talks about how his interest in fighting fires resulted in a trip to Georgia to visit a plant that makes a fire suppressant out of soybeans.

The South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest is much more than a friendly competition for yield bragging rights. The contestants are, after all, South Dakotans, so there’s not much outward bragging even for those with the best yields. The real value of the annual contest is in the data collected each year that, with expert analysis, helps improve yields in following years, according to Cheryl Reese, a senior lecturer at South Dakota State University who teaches soybean production. In this edition of The Soybean POD, we’ll hear from Ms. Reese what agronomic traits most contribute to improvements in yield.

As much as there is a strategy for building soybean demand domestically and globally, there is a strategy for filling that demand. We live in a hungry world, a world also in need of environmentally friendly, sustainable products, which take a huge supply of soybeans. In this episode of The Soybean POD, United Soybean Board Supply Action Team Chair Matt Gast, from southeastern North Dakota, gives a clearer picture of the United Soybean Board’s plan for maintaining soybean supply.

U.S.-grown soybeans provide the world with a huge amount of essential protein, from feed for livestock and aquaculture to directly feeding people. The United Soybean Board’s mission is to maintain global demand for soy nutrition as well as demand for sustainable, environmentally friendly industrial products from lubricants to ink to tires to artificial turf and more. In this episode of The Soybean POD, April Hemmes, United Soybean Board Demand Action Team Chair, talks about USB’s strategy for maintaining high demand for U.S.-grown soybeans.

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” The line worked in the movie Cool Hand Luke, but a failure to communicate is what South Dakota soybean growers were trying to avoid a decade ago when a handful of farmers at the core of South Dakota Soybean created Hungry for Truth. That initiative is aimed at reasoned conversation between farmers and people who aren’t farmers. Successful communication is a key part of the South Dakota Soybean Checkoff mission, and in this episode of the Soybean POD, John Horter talks about how Hungry for Truth completes the connection between food, the people who produce it and everyone who enjoys healthy eating.

Soybean growers provide checkoff support for promoting U.S. poultry and egg exports. It makes sense since poultry accounts for more than half the disappearance of U.S.-produced soybean meal. Another way to look at this: What’s good for the export of U.S. poultry and eggs is good for U.S. soybean growers. In this episode of the Soybean POD, Mike McCranie, South Dakota Soybean’s representative on the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, puts into clearer focus the importance of soybean checkoff investment in foreign promotion of U.S. poultry and eggs.

A short course is being offered periodically to potential foreign soybean buyers. The Introduction to Soybean Course, shortened to INTSOY, provides an overview of many aspects of the soybean industry. It explores new ideas for soy-based foods and snack foods, soy as a supplement to fortify foods, soy as animal nutrition, and an overview of soy production in the U.S. Those who attend the week-long course learn from industry professionals about the potential uses of soy in food products, beverages, feeds and more. They also participate in the hands-on processing of soy foods and feeds. Our guest on this episode of The Soybean Pod is Brian Sorenson, the program manager at the Fargo, North Dakota-based Northern Crops Institute, where the course is taught.

There are many incentives for conserving soil and water. Among them, maintaining sustainability for future generations comes immediately to mind. Kurt Stiefvater’s incentives range from getting the best crop to propping up grazing resources to preserving a farm legacy. His interest in improving soil health is made possible for the Salem, South Dakota, farmer partly through the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition and a smartphone and PC application called Growing Connections. Stiefvater often shares with other farmers what conservation methods work for him. The fourth generation to farm the land he stewards, Stiefvater, grows soybeans, corn, oats, winter wheat, and alfalfa, plus he maintains a cow/calf operation.