The United Soybean Board is off and running in 2025, continuing their pursuit of driving soybean demand through new uses and products.
“For every dollar invested over the past five years, we have seen a $12.30 cent return back to the family farm,” says Don Wyss, a third-generation farmer from Fort Wayne. He was elected to serve on USB’s Executive Committee to help guide the soy checkoff investments.
Innovative investments by USB in recent years include getting soybean oil in the soles of Skechers shoes and in Goodyear tires. Wyss says in his time serving the checkoff in Indiana and at the national level, the investments in high oleic soybeans are easily one of the best.
“Not only does it differentiate our soybean oil and gives us opportunity in new markets, new end users, but we’re also seeing a lot of progress here, quickly, including that high oleic soybean into the dairy rations. The reason for that is that we’re seeing, at the dairy level, that higher milk fat concentration and yield.”
Farmers continue to get premiums for their high oleic soybeans, and many Indiana farmers have been taking advantage of that already.
“Indiana and Ohio were really the starting point of high oleic soybeans in the U.S. So, we continue to be a strong marketplace, the leading marketplace, for high oleic soybeans in the U.S. The premiums have moved a little bit each year, but at the same time, a lot of value is coming back to the farm level by that soybean checkoff dollar that’s been invested into this program.”
Hear the full HAT interview with Wyss below. We discuss how he and other USB board members are dedicated to guiding soy checkoff investments across three strategic priorities: infrastructure and connectivity, health and nutrition, and innovation and technology, to maximize value for soybean growers.
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