Letter from the Chair

2021

The Driver’s Seat

2020 was a year littered with pit stops, potholes, speed bumps and roadblocks at every turn. But in 2021, we did our best to leave the past in the dust. The Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, guided by a roadmap of checko -funded projects, turned the key and hit the pod highway with our eyes set on the road ahead.

All the while, we were fueled by homegrown biodiesel that kept us rolling throughout 2021.

Our farmer-led team and sta began the year working in a hybrid virtual/in-person mode, but our work on behalf of our state’s nearly 28,000 soybean farmers went undeterred. Each of our directors has embraced the responsibilities and privilege of directing soybean checko funds with the utmost care. These duties include sponsoring unbiased agronomic research that improves farmer pro tability. To jumpstart 2021, we unveiled our rst Grower-Input Survey to help farmer-leaders and researchers better address the diverse production challenges facing growers across our state. In the summer, we held a second survey to further identify emerging agronomic and production issues.

Throughout the spring, our team laid the groundwork for the May launch of our Driving Soy promotion, putting soybean checko investments on the road once again. Minnesota is proud to be the only state that supports a statewide county soybean program. In 2020, many of the county promotional events – parades, fairs, Breakfast on the Farm, etc. – were cancelled due to the pandemic. Throughout summer 2021, we helped our 44 organized soybean counties reconnect with their communities by donating sets of Goodyear’s soy-based tires to each county’s respective sheri ’s departments and to help promote value-added uses of soybeans. Now that’s what I call treading new ground! This campaign exceeded all expectations. Our team and award-winning communications sta went into next gear, positioning the soybean checko in the driver’s seat by spotlighting how those investments go the extra mile toward boosting the bottom lines of our producers.

In June, we safely held our rst in-person event of the year by hosting Sen. Tina Smith at the Council’s Mankato headquarters. We were honored to meet with the senator and highlight two promising Council initiatives: Plasma Blue, which is primed to revolutionize the biodiesel industry, and the Ag Innovation Campus in Crookston, a cutting-edge soybean crush and research facility that will enhance ways for our industry to supply the basics for new sustainable feeds, foods, fuels and bers. These two projects underscore our forward-thinking vision. As an organization, we don’t look in the rearview mirror, and we continue to drive the soybean checko forward, into the fast lane.

During our year back on the road, we celebrated the return of Farmfest and Big Iron. These events a ord the Council a unique opportunity to meet directly with growers, learn more about their concerns and priorities and showcase checko projects – highlighted by Driving Soy.

2021 nally brought our 15-person board back together in-person. We also embraced the return of face-to-face engagement while also taking full advantage of the virtual resources at our disposal. Always evolving, the Council’s communications team left Greater Minnesota’s gravel roads and traveled on the information superhighway with a social media campaign directed at Northern and Southeast Asia buyers to highlight the low foreign material in northern-grown soybeans.

Despite the many obstacles we faced this past year, the Council put the pedal to the metal all year long, and never veered from our path. We stayed the course, and on behalf of the Council, I thank you for sharing the ride with us.

Joe Serbus

Chair, Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council