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USB board finalizes 2025 budget

A United Soybean Board farmer director says she’s excited to fund projects in the upcoming year that solve real time issues.

Michigan’s Laurie Isley tells Brownfield she joined farmer leaders in Baltimore this week to approve nearly $174 million for the board’s 2025 budget.

“We talked a lot about sustainability and putting some economic measurements on those sustainability choices that farmers are making, and how do we translate that to our consumer and to the industry that’s buying from us,” she explains.

Isley chairs a committee focused on plant health and nutrition and says research projects next year will study crop stress resilience, soybean cyst nematodes, slugs, and deer damage mitigation efforts.

Isley says other focus areas for the checkoff support innovation and technology, infrastructure and connectivity, and demand growth.

“There are just so many different options out there for uses for soy, both soymeal and soy oil, that we’re pretty excited about what the future will bring,” she shares.

She says even with the tight market environment, the checkoff returns $12.34 for every dollar soybean farmers invest.

AUDIO: Laurie Isley