Each year soybean farmers across the country contribute a small, but significant, .5% of their crop sales to soybean research, development and promotion, reports The Southern Illinoisan.
In the past, the checkoff money supported researchers like Khalid Meksem, of Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Department of Plant, Soil Science and Agricultural Systems.
In Illinois, the Illinois Soybean Association is governed by 24 elected volunteer farmers from across the state, who allocate the checkoff dollars, about $12 million last year, according to Chairwoman Lynn Rohrscheib.
In recent years, the ISA has cut university research funding, to focus on other priorities.
But as the ISA turns to other priorities, like opening new foreign markets to Illinois soybeans, and advocating for improvements to Illinois roads and waterways, researchers like Meksem face a funding shortage that undermines their work.
Read the full report here.
