Beginning the Journey – 30 years of the Ohio Soybean Check-off

By Dusty Sonnenberg, CCA, Ohio Field Leader: a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and soybean checkoff.

Looking back 30 years can provide perspective on where an organization has come from, and be a springboard in an effort to help shape the future.  Every organization starts at some point. That year was 1991 for the Ohio Soybean Council, said Keith Stimpert, former Executive Director for the Council.

In the late 1980’s the Ohio Soybean Association leadership approached the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and Keith Stimpert about serving as the Executive Director of the Ohio Soybean Association. “The Ohio Soybean Council was not in existence yet at that point,” said Stimpert. “National legislation was being drafted to create a national soybean check-off program to fund soybean research and promotion. We needed to get into position to be able to manage that program here in the State of Ohio.”

Prior to 1991 several states around the country had statewide soybean check-off programs for research and promotion. “Ohio and Indiana were two states at the time that did not,” said Stimpert. “We crated from scratch, the Ohio Soybean Council. It is important to note that we went to all the farm organizations in Ohio and invited them to nominate people to be a part of the first Soybean Council board. We wanted everybody’s perspectives.”

The reason for the creation of the Soybean Council was that the Ohio Soybean Association and other associations across the country saw that there was value of farmers having resources and being at the table when decisions about trade and new uses and all kinds of research were being discussed. “Farmers needed to be able to pool those dollars and be able leverage them with companies and resources to have a hand in the direction that the industry goes,” said Stimpert.

When it comes to evaluating the Ohio Soybean Check-off, farmers look at the impact it has had with the dollars entrusted to it. “I can’t single out just one most impactful thing from the many,” said Amy Sigg Davis, former Soybean Council Board member. “This organization was embryonic from the start. Participating in international markets and finding new uses seemed unbelievable at the time. It started with guys giving samples of biodiesel to farmers in buckets out of the back of their pick-up trucks.”

“The impacts of the soybean check-off have been an investment portfolio,” said John Lumpe, Former Executive Director of the Ohio Soybean Council, and current CEO of the Illinois Soybean Association. “We did not invest in just one specific area or market. We invested our dollars across the board in new uses, production research, new market opportunities, and the list goes on.”

The check-off has been directed by farmers setting the priority of where the dollars should be invested. “This organization has always been good at partnering,” said Lumpe. “States are now partnering together with each other and collectively work together to look toward the future.”

“Looking to the future, soybeans need to remain relevant in the marketplace. We have had more international visits via zoom and meaningful conversations during the pandemic than we could with regular travel before COVID hit,” said Lumpe. “We have had more meaningful conversations with legislators. We have had more relevant conversations looking at what we could and should do.”

“The future belongs to those that show up as one of my mentors once said,” said Stimpert. “It is critical that the organization is engaged and steps forward to develop an agenda to move things forward. People will make decision for you if you are not there.”

“We want to be at the table, and not on the plate,” said Lumpe. “It is important to have input in those things that impact our industry. It will involve a multiple generation moving forward.”

“Communication is really very important,” agreed Sigg Davis. “It is vital that our message gets out.”