After seeing other parts of the world, I'm proud to be an American farmer

After seeing other parts of the world, I’m proud to be an American farmer

Keevin Lemenager

Chair, ISA Membership and Policy Committee

Greetings to all of my farmer friends and neighbors from our farm here in rural Morgan County. This is my first column as the Chair of the Indiana Soybean Alliance’s Membership & Policy Committee (M&P). I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts and opinions with all of you during the next year. I am focused on building on the policies that previous leaders have started, plus I want to initiate new ideas to help Hoosier farmers, too.

Many of us are required to wear more than one hat on the farm. Some of us produce both row crops and livestock. Other farmers also work on school boards, church leadership, 4-H or some other service in addition to running a farm. These roles are different, but also fit the unique talents that we all possess.

Those of us who serve as ISA directors also wear two hats. ISA is Indiana’s soybean checkoff program. As checkoff directors, we work to enhance the viability of Indiana soybean farmers through the effective and efficient investment of soybean checkoff funds. ISA assists soybean farmers through its strategic initiatives of market development; environmental, social and economic sustainability; value creation and producer engagement. Checkoff funds, however, cannot be used to advocate for pro-farmer policies in the government halls in Indianapolis or Washington, D.C.

That’s when we put on our advocacy hats. ISA’s Membership & Policy Committee exists for that role. This committee, which is mostly made up of ISA board directors and our staff, tracks and follows bills and proposals that state lawmakers introduce in the Statehouse and federal legislators tout in Congress.

Recently, while on a checkoff mission to Argentina, I recognized how important our checkoff and policy organizations are to Indiana and U.S. farmers. Before going to Argentina, we knew that the South American nation was the third-largest exporter of soybeans in the world. We also knew that most of its exports were shipped to China.

M&P Chair Keevin Lemenager, a farmer from Monrovia, Ind., walks through a soybean research field at Grupo Don Mario Seeds in Argentina in late January.

I expected to see a country with modern agricultural equipment, an infrastructure system that smoothly moved crops from fields to shipping lines, and coordinated strategies to expand their production and place in the world market. Instead, I saw a country with aging farm equipment. I saw a country in which more than 90 percent of its crops were moved to grain terminals by trucks and trailers from the 20th century. And we saw farmers left without much support or resources to survive drought or other major weather events.

And yet, Argentina remains a major player on the world export stage.

I was left with the thought that Indiana and U.S. farmers are blessed to have the support and resources provided by our checkoff system. We are blessed to have national programs such as the United Soybean Board, the U.S. Soy Export Council and the Soy Transportation Coalition to help American farmers maintain a competitive edge.

We are also blessed to have policy organizations like M&P to advocate for the rules and laws that make U.S. agriculture more profitable and secure. And, we’re blessed to have national advocates such as the American Soybean Association to lobby for pro-farmer policies as Congress debates a new farm bill this year.

These organizations exist today because forward-thinking farmers from generations ago recognized a need and mission for them. They have continued to grow and prosper because farmers through the years have volunteered or joined to represent other farmers.

For American agriculture to maintain its competitive edge, we need farmers at the state and federal level to continue to step into service in these groups. Anyone interested in more information about joining M&P should contact ISA Industry Affairs Outreach and Membership Manager Khyla Goodman at kgoodman@indianasoybean.com.