The Next Big Mission

The Next Big Mission

JOHN LUMPE | CEO | ILLINOIS SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION

I grew up in a space-centric time of history, a decade when President John F. Kennedy declared that by the end of the 60s, man would walk on the moon and return safely. With the natural curiosity I had as a boy who grew up watching astronauts on my television set and hearing about deep space exploration, it’s no wonder that there’s a part of space exploration that still remains special to me.

A few weeks ago, I stood with ISA farmer leaders underneath the wings of Atlantis, one of three of NASA’s space-flown shuttles. We were at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for leadership training and goal planning. Soybeans or space, I can tell you that there’s no better ground for thinking big and planning for the future than NASA’s expansive campus.

We talked about design thinking, and making better plans in order to better deliver on our goals. We talked about the importance of productive brainstorming, and the roles we need our farmer board members to play in getting new ideas on the table, and vetted as possible solutions to soybean industry challenges. We talked about productive change management, goal setting, and learning from not only our successes but more importantly, our mistakes.

It was time well spent thinking about the possibilities of what’s next for Illinois soybean farmers. And though our feet were planted in a place where they were dreaming about exploring Mars, our minds were encouraged to dream just as big about the explorations our soy industry has yet to make.

We journeyed home inspired by our week at NASA, and ready to start thinking bigger for what I like to call “ISA’s Next Big Mission.”

What does the Next Big Mission entail? That story has yet to be written. It’s being designed by our Board of Directors who volunteer their time, resources, and voices to champion the most profitable return for Illinois farmers. It’s being contoured by the ISA staff who work every day to move our industry forward in accessible and meaningful ways. And it’s being defined by Illinois soybean farmers who raise the agricultural bar year after year, showing the world that Illinois doesn’t wait for solutions to global challenges: we create them.

We find ourselves at an unprecedented time in the soybean checkoff. There’s never been a better time than now to address the Next Big Mission for our industry. We’re talking about new uses, new markets, new programs, new standards, new policies, and plenty of other ideas in-between.

We might not be going to Mars, but the Illinois Soybean Association is preparing for blast-off. So buckle up and join our mission; we promise it’s going to be big.