INVESTING CHECKOFF DOLLARS
Lester Wilson and Jane Hove, Iowa State University
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DOING MORE COLLECTIVELY CHECKOFF-FUNDED RESEARCH PAYS DIVIDENDS TO IOWA FARMERS
BY BETHANY BARATTA
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heckoff-funded research and coordinated efforts with Iowa State University (ISU) have paid dividends for Iowa soybean farmers. Whether it’s research in soybean breeding or soybean cyst nematode or sudden death syndrome, the partnership created with ISU and its researchers has helped Iowa soybean farmers not only overcome challenges on their farm, but stay ahead of emerging issues. ISA and the soybean checkoff have provided more than $61 million in funding for research activities through Iowa State University, says Greg Tylka, a nematology professor in the department
of plant pathology and microbiology, and director of the Iowa Soybean Research Center (ISRC) at ISU. “We wouldn’t be able to do what we do if it wasn’t for ISA,” Tylka says. ISA CEO Kirk Leeds says the partnership helps fund research that supports soybean farmers in Iowa and across the nation. “The partnership with Iowa State is incredibly important because it’s allowed Iowa soybean farmers to direct their checkoff investment and in many ways the overall soybean research program at Iowa State,” Leeds says. One of the first checkoff-supported research programs at ISU was the
soybean breeding program, says Steve Julius, who was on the Iowa Soybean Promotion Board, the state’s checkoff board, in 1987. It merged with the Iowa Soybean Association (non-checkoff) board in 2005. “The Iowa board from day one was supporting [ISU researcher] Walt Fehr and the soybean breeding program at Iowa State,” Julius says. That program flourished on campus and expanded to include a presence in Puerto Rico. It allowed ISU faculty and staff to raise two soybean crops in a single year, which sped up soybean breeding and genetics research, Tylka says.
CE LEBRATING 55 Y E ARS | 17
