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USB directors approve programs for FY2020

The United Soybean Board (USB), which administers the soy checkoff, approved promotion, marketing and research programs for fiscal year 2020 at its summer meeting this week in Fargo, North Dakota.

Iowa farmer Tom Oswald chairs USB’s Supply Action Team, which is charged with improving the nutritive value of U.S. soybeans and soybean meal.

“We’re in a precision ag world anymore,” Oswald says “So is there a way we can feed the plant differently that results in higher protein? If you look at plant breeding, you can breed for maybe higher protein or components that are important for industry. You could, obviously, go with the high oleic, which is something we’ve been working on for quite a while. There’s a lot of things we’re doing in that space.

“It’s about growing beans better and growing better beans—so that, down the road, these beans that feed into the chain have better demand.”

Oswald says sustainability is a big part of the discussion when programs are considered.

“Everywhere around the world, we keep hearing that people want to know, ‘Is that soybean grown sustainably?’,” he says. “Because in the products they market to the end user, that end user wants to know. If people don’t think your product is sustainable, they may not want to buy it.”

Oswald is one of 73 farmers who serve as USB directors.