Gene Stoel retires from MSR&PC with lasting checkoff impact
B U S I N E S S
Behind the curtain
Young Leaders Raymond DeMars and Rebecca Sip recount their experiences with industry peers and look ahead to their next steps in advocacy.
Petefish out
Past MSGA President Michael Petefish left his stamp on MSGA. Now, the Claremont farmer is passing the torch to the next generation.
Future growth
Sponsoring agronomic research is a primary function of the soy checkoff. This year, the Council is focusing on production basics and welcoming a new research director.
Fashion forward
MSGA Executive Director Joe Smentek receives plenty of mail. In early April, Vivian Evans thrilled Smentek with a package well suited to Smentek’s fashion taste.
MISSION STATEMENT
Tell the compelling stories behind Minnesota’s soybean farmers and their industry, from the field to Capitol Hill to international markets – and everywhere in between.
Minnesota Soybean Growers Association Officers and ASA Directors
OFFICERS
President
Darin Johnson | Faribault County
Vice President
Ryan Mackenthun | McLeod County
Treasurer
Rose Wendinger | Watonwan County
Secretary Kyle Jore | Pennington-Red Lake Counties
ASA Directors
Jamie Beyer | Traverse County
George Goblish | Redwood County
Adam Guetter | Redwood County
Jim Kukowski | Roseau-LOW Counties
Jeff Sorenson | Redwood County
Bob Worth | Lincoln County
County directors Cont.
Paul Mesner | Murray County
Bruce Nelsen | Mower County
Keith Nelsen | Cottonwood County
Robert Nelsen | Murray County
Tim Nelson | Waseca County
Dusty Neugebauer | Nobles County
Lucas Peters | Rock County
Andy Pulk | Roseau-LOW Counties
Matt Purfeerst | Dakota-Rice Counties
Tim Rasmussen | Otter Tail-Grant Counties
Justin Remus |Brown County
Parker Revier | Renville County
Gary Schoenfeld | Waseca County
Rebecca Sip* | Norman County
Joel Schreurs | Lincoln County
Mike Skaug | Polk County
Cal Spronk | Pipestone County
Jamie Seitzer | Nicollet-Sibley Counties
EDITORIAL STAFF
MSGA Executive Director
Joe Smentek | jsmentek@mnsoybean.com
Art Director
Doug Monson | dmonson@agmgmtsolutions.com
Sr. Director of Integrated Marketing Ag Management Solutions
Managing Editor
Drew Lyon | dlyon@agmgmtsolutions.com
Sr. Manager of Communications Ag Management Solutions
Layout Editors
Alex Troska | atroska@agmgmtsolutions.com Katelyn Engquist | kengquist@agmgmtsolutions.com
Gene Stoel has devoted two decades of his farming career to promoting Minnesota’s soybean industry. With an emphasis on market development, new uses, research and communicating the global story of soy, Stoel departs from the Council with an indelible legacy. Learn more about Stoel’s checkoff impact starting on page 18. Photo courtesy of the United Soybean Board.
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Advertisements within this publication contain the opinions and information of the advertisers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Minnesota Soybean organizations or affiliated groups.
CIRCULATION
Soybean Business is published six times a year on behalf of Minnesota Soybean. Comments and suggestions can be submitted to:
Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, 1020 Innovation Lane Mankato, MN 56001
LETTER PRESIDENT FROM THE
Out front, in action
After becoming president of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association in 2024, I was teased (and warned) by my colleagues who served as officers during the 2018-2019 trade war to buckle up; it could be a bumpy ride if another trade war with our largest trading partner – China – reemerged.
Keep your phone nearby , they said. You’re going to need it. Our communications department will be calling you a lot. I had no idea how accurate their prediction would become, although they probably didn’t foresee a larger global trade war.
The deluge of interviews began in late February during Commodity Classic, when President Trump announced a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada – two important markets for U.S. agriculture. Then, in early April, the president announced reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries. Despite lowering those tariffs to 10%, the president also ramped up a trade dispute with China, a market worth that makes up more than 50% of all U.S. soybean exports and is the top buyer of Minnesota soybeans.
My fellow directors were right. MSGA’s communications team had me on speed dial. The fast and furious interview requests ran the gamut, from local TV to hosting a Minnesota Star Tribune reporter to welcoming France’s largest TV station to my farm. Last but certainly not least, Sen. Amy Klobuchar visited my operation in Wells to learn about the set of challenges facing family farms like ours.
The media scramble went well beyond my farm. My friends Ryan Mackenthun, Bob Worth and Jeff Sorenson visited with ABC News, BBC News and Japanese media, to name just a few news outlets. On one hand, participating in media interviews brings its share of potential pitfalls: Staying on message and not getting caught in “gotcha” moments; remaining true to MSGA’s nonpartisan ethos while also delivering our policy priorities; explaining in plain, clear terms how much Minnesota soybean farmers rely on
exports and building trust with our trade partners – despite the many complexities of the situation. In addition, we try to not take personally the critical comments (from all sides of the political spectrum) on social media.
On the other hand, the attention we’re receiving underscores MSGA’s larger role as an advocacy leader. We’ve earned a reputation as a reliable source of soybean information. The media coverage also shows that people across the nation and world appreciate how the U.S. ag economy depends on global trade. We simply produce more than we can consume here. And while we continue to seek out new markets in Uzbekistan and via the Port of Duluth, the hard reality is that one in four rows of Minnesota soybeans are typically destined for China. We can’t build new markets overnight.
It was a huge relief by mid-April to block out the noise and hop into the planter to put the 2025 crop in the ground. Every year, we put our faith in our equipment, our bodies and, of course, Mother Nature to help us harvest a crop that provides high-quality food, fuel and fiber for the world. Daily rumblings in our capital cities and international markets can’t change the determination of the U.S. farmer.
A friend recently asked me – and I’m pretty sure he was only half joking – “Do you always have to be so positive?” Well, you bet I do! Sure, our optimism is tested at times, and it’s being tested right now. But as you’ll read in this issue of Soybean Business, in stories highlighting cutting-edge soy checkoff research, tributes to departing leaders who left their mark on our industry and uplifting profiles of future industry leaders, agriculture always weathers the storm toward a brighter tomorrow.
Darin Johnson President, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association
DEPARTMENT DISPATCH
PROVIDING HELP IN TIMES OF CRISIS
This column is a series in Soybean Business featuring leaders from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
I recognize that many farm families are feeling a great deal of anxiety right now. Between the seasonal weather outlook, tariffs, crop prices, high interest rates, uncertainty about federal grants and federal farm programs, and scarce capital, it can feel like there’s a lot to worry about.
We must also acknowledge how federal worker firings and funding uncertainties are affecting rural people – in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at hospitals and day cares, on construction projects, and elsewhere. Many people who have lost their jobs are our friends and family members who may be feeling rejected, scared, angry, and even desperate.
This is the time to support and be there for your friends, family and co-workers. Even if it feels uncomfortable and you don’t know what to say, just being with them is one of the best things you can do to help.
If they need help beyond what you can provide, I want to recommend a couple of free and confidential services:
Minnesota Farm Advocates can help in times of financial crisis or after a natural disaster. When a farmer calls and tells me he or she is considering mediation or bankruptcy, the first number I
give them is always one of our 12 Farm Advocates. You can find them at www.mda.state.mn.us/ farmadvocates or call 833-600-2670 and ask for the name and number of a farm advocate near you.
Minnesota has two agricultural mental health counselors, Ted and Monica, who work with farmers and farm families dealing with depression, anxiety, relationship issues, problems making decisions, and other mental and emotional challenges. You can call the Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline at 833-600-2670 and ask to be put in touch with either of them. They help hundreds of people each year and can help you or someone you’re concerned about.
I want to end with a topic many people find scary to even think about: suicide. Farmers and rural people are at greater risk of dying this way compared to urban people. Fear, shame, isolation and uncertainty can fuel that risk. If you are worried that someone you know might be considering death by suicide, the most helpful thing you can do to keep them safe is to ask them.
Asking openly and directly, “Are you thinking about suicide?” shows you are willing to discuss suicide in a nonjudgmental way. Listen to the reasons for their emotional pain,
COMMISSIONER THOM PETERSEN
as well as reasons they want to continue to live. Help them focus on their reasons for living, not on the reasons you think they should stay alive.
You can help keep them safe by connecting them to people who are skilled in suicide prevention. You can call 988 or the Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline (833-6002670) to talk to a crisis counselor together or ask for Mobile Crisis Response to come to where you are. You can also go to a hospital emergency room.
The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, including former President Bob Worth, has been a major supporter of the department’s mental health and financial assistance resources. I
Taking care of ‘Business’
MSGA’s magazine wins agri-marketing
honors
By Soybean Business Staff
After several bites at the apple, Soybean Business magazine landed the big prize at the National AgriMarketing Association’s (NAMA) Best of NAMA Awards in April in Kansas City, Mo.
Ag Management Solutions (AMS) earned top honors for the External Company and Association Magazines on behalf of Soybean Business, the official magazine of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. The bimonthly magazine, in circulation since 2002 and highlighting the news from Minnesota soybean farmers and industry stakeholders, earned a merit award in 2024 and had been entered in the Best of NAMA since the late 2010s. The publication won the long-coveted first-place award for three issues in 2024, including a cover profile of current MSGA President Darin Johnson and a cover story on SoyFoam, a soy-based firefighting suppressant funded by the soy checkoff. A third issue from 2024 previewing MN Ag Expo was also submitted for consideration.
“To be recognized by our peers alongside all the other worthy nominees is humbling and gratifying for our farmer-led board and editorial team,” said Doug Monson, Soybean Business art director and AMS sr. director of integrated marketing. “This award is the culmination of years of hard work, vision, days and nights sweating deadlines – and no shortage of grit and creative instincts. For a plucky ag magazine, a NAMA award is simply as good as it gets.”
As Editor-in-Chief, Monson spearheaded Soybean
Business’ rebrand a decade ago with a new masthead and updated design and storytelling concepts. Drew Lyon has served as the magazine’s managing editor since late 2018, when Joe Smentek became MSGA executive director. Lead Layout Editor Alex Troska has worked with the magazine since 2021.
AMS, a Mankato-based organization, also won firstplace honors on behalf of the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) for its MiniSoyta Golf Course at Farmfest in the Live Exhibits category. The golf course booth at the 2024 event was played on soy-based turf (SYNLawn) and put the many uses of soybeans, along with the miracle bean’s myriad economic and environmental benefits, on the fairway.
“Whether we’re working toward building new markets or designing interactive booths at trade shows, AMS is committed to making meaningful, lasting connections with both the farming and non-farming public,” AMS CEO Tom Slunecka said.
The Best of NAMA awards program recognizes outstanding achievements in agricultural communications. About 1,000 entries from across the nation were submitted for consideration. Since its establishment in 2017, AMS and its clients have won more than a dozen Best of NAMA awards. This year, AMS was also nominated for several other awards, including its Soybean Business advertorial work on behalf of the Conservation Technology Information Center.
“We’re challenging ourselves to raise the bar year after year,” Slunecka said.
A soy glow up Minnesota Soybean website visits the beauty shop
By Kelsey Barchenger
A quick dance of the fingers on your keyboard and a pinky punch of the Enter key takes you to the Minnesota Soybean website, where a user may ponder...Maybe it’s Maybeline. Or maybe it’s all about extracting core beauty and pulling it to the forefront. In this case, soy is the beauty taking center stage on the revamped Minnesota Soybean website.
“We’re excited to launch the newest version of our website,” said Doug Monson, Minnesota Soybean’s sr. director of integrated marketing. “We really made sure the site was clean, easy to use and provided an ample amount of information for our soy community.”
A much-needed trim
The last time the Minnesota website found itself in the barber shop was seven years ago in 2018 as part of the Council’s B20 campaign, which brought Minnesota “Indominus,” a truck built by the DieselSellerz, stars of Discovery’s “Diesel Brothers.” The truck build, and three Council directors, were later featured on two episodes in season 4.
New style, same soy goals
The Minnesota Soybean website may have gotten its ears lowered, but it still dons the same URL and a beautiful bean bob highlighting how soybeans impact everyone and add volume to farmer profitability.
The makeup of MSR&PC
With a simple click, users can brush up on checkoff investments, dabbing into education, research and market development on the face of the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council page.
“Minnesota Soybean farmers have a lot of reasons to be proud of their checkoff investment,” said Glen Groth, a District 9 MSR&PC director.
“Our new website is an excellent tool to provide information on how MSR&PC is working to enhance farmer profitability.”
A pretty look at policy
Do a hair flip over to the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) page to see how the organization is brushing the challenging tangles out for Minnesota soybean farmers and advocating in myriad ways at the local, state and national levels.
“It’s never been easier to join MSGA, learn how we fight for farmers and for our members to stay engaged on our policy activities,” said Joe Smentek, MSGA executive director.
With a fresh coat of ‘soy spritz,’ the site dons an unwavering commitment to the values of Minnesota soybean farmers. The page also features the perfect contour of opportunities to get involved in MSGA and easy access to event registration.
Scan here for a virtual tour of the new site
By Mark Askelson
After graduating from the American Soybean Association (ASA) Corteva Agriscience Young Leader Program, Minnesota’s two participants are now refocusing on their next phase in leadership and farming: sharing their stories and being a strong voice for farmers.
Raymond DeMars, who farms with his wife, Amy, near Swanville in central Minnesota, and Rebecca Sip, who farms alongside her siblings near Ada, both recently completed the second phase held at Commodity Classic in Denver.
The Young Leader Program provides participants with leadership, communications and issues-based training for
the next generation of growers. It also provides insight into how organizations such as ASA, and, at the state level, the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA), help support local farmers through their efforts in D.C.
“Most farmers probably don’t realize all the work that’s going on behind the scenes to help them,” DeMars said. “Going through this, it helps me understand that there are people who really do care about us farmers and they’re doing everything they can to make it better for the future generations.”
DeMars, who has the opportunity to sit on MSGA through an at-large seat for up to three years, also hopes he can take some of the skills he’s learned through the program and become a voice for farming in his community.
“I like helping people, even if it’s something minute like keeping
people informed or talking to kids in a classroom, whatever I can do to educate people about farming and specifically the family farms,” he said.
‘Fun experience’
For Sip, who is also MSGA’s Norman County director, she was immediately called into action to put her leadership skills to the test during the ASA delegate session while in Denver for Commodity Classic. She was thrown into the mix of the voting session as an alternate when MSGA needed delegates to step in. She found herself standing more than she anticipated.
“That was really a fun experience to go through and to see how that process works,” said Sip, who graced the cover of the NovemberDecember 2024 issue of Soybean Business. “A lot of the votes were
MN Young Leaders graduate from renowned program, see advocacy up close
Past Young Leader Brad Hovel (middle) offers advice to DeMars and Sip during a break at MSGA’s December 2024 board meeting.
contentious, too, where we actually had to stand up and count heads, so it was a pretty interesting thing to be a part of.”
Another major element of the Young Leaders Program is the opportunity to network with producers from all the different soybean-growing states across the country.
“Some of the folks were already putting down their first application of pre-emerge, meanwhile at that time I was still weeks away from even considering touching a field,” DeMars said.
Many Young Leaders tend to boast that their class is superior to the rest; Sip said the relationships she’s built as part of the Young Leaders goes well beyond farming. She and her colleagues have stayed connected in their everyday activities, even exchanging recipes on occasion.
“We have an ASA Young Leaders chat where we bounce different farming practices and ideas off of each other, and then we also have an ASA ladies chat, which is where some of the foodie conversations are happening,” Sip said. “Kayla Sennhenn from Wisconsin and I have gotten into sourdough.”
Finding their way
Founded in 1984, the Young Leader program has graduated leaders from various backgrounds, including dozens of Minnesota producers who’ve used the program as a stepping stone to further their careers in agriculture. The program works with the 26 state affiliates and the Grain Farmers of Ontario to identify the top producers to represent their states. The Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, which is dedicated to training industry leaders to create a better future for farmers, is a staunch supporter of the program. Many Council and MSGA directors can trace their leadership growth back to the Young Leader program.
Following MSGA’s April board meeting, President Darin Johnson said that both directors are making an impact.
“I had a chance to visit with Ray and Rebecca at Commodity Classic and they’re both exceptional Young Leaders,” Johnson said. “They’re showing up and making efforts to get to know our farmer leaders and staying engaged on the issues. I’ve been in their shoes, and it can be intimidating when you’re new, but you can tell they want to contribute.”
Even though the program is
complete, Young Leaders have the opportunity as part of a third phase of the program to join ASA in July in Washington D.C., for a day of lobbying congressional leaders.
DeMars said he plans to apply and hopes to accompany MSGA and ASA directors on Capitol Hill. While she plans to remain active with MSGA, Sip said farming and her local activities are requiring more attention this summer.
Still, she hopes to remain engaged in advocacy for the long haul.
“I’ve really enjoyed understanding how our policy making works, and how we as farmers can better advocate for each other,”
Sip said. “I’m very appreciative for the opportunity to be a part of this great group of young leaders.”
A conservation farmer: How Glenn Hjelle excels at production
Enrolling in the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) makes sense for producers, but what one west-central Minnesota farmer noticed is that the certification also made literal cents, too.
“When we started reducing our tillage, it saved us a lot of money and time,” said Glenn Hjelle, who farms near Elbow Lake. “We have limited help on the farm and it’s much easier to get stuff done when you have less tillage to worry about.”
MAWQCP is a voluntary opportunity for farmers and agricultural landowners to take the lead in implementing conservation practices that protect Minnesota’s water, such as cover crops, reduced tillage or no-till and buffer strips. For the already conservation-minded Hjelle, who enrolled in 2021, the certification was seamless.
“The only thing I had to do was put in a couple buffer strips along some ditches, which I was already planning to do anyway,” said Hjelle, a director with the Minnesota Wheat Research & Promotion Council. “For me those headlands were always getting packed down anyways, so I was able to plant some pollinator grasses, still park my vehicles there and get something in return through the CRP program also.”
Since the voluntary program’s statewide launch in 2015, 1,602 farms totaling over 1.17 million acres have been certified across Minnesota. Farms have added over 9,350 new conservation practices, which protect Minnesota’s waters. Those new practices help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 55,000 metric tons each year and have kept more than 57,000 tons of sediment out of Minnesota rivers
while saving 170,000 tons of soil and 73,000 pounds of phosphorous on farms each year. The conservation practices have also reduced nitrogen loss up to 49%.
Through the MAWQCP, certified producers receive regulatory certainty, recognition and priority for technical assistance. The regulatory certainty was a major selling point for Hjelle when he was considering enlisting in the program. Under the program, certified producers are deemed to be in compliance with any new water quality rules or laws during the period of certification, which is 10 years.
“You’re not bound by future regulations, which is important because you never know how those are going to change,” Hjelle said. “You have some consistency there.”
There are additional benefits to participating in MAWQCP, such as increased presence of wildlife that enjoy foraging on his cover crops, something Hjelle’s neighbors, who hunt his property certainly enjoy, and a bigger net profit at the end of the year.
“We actually were part of a study with the local farm management team, and it showed that our no-till fields were more profitable by 10-15%,” Hjelle said. “You don’t have to have a bumper crop to be profitable because your inputs are down.”
By implementing cover crops, Hjelle also noticed both better water retention and drainage as well.
“Once you get good soil health, your water infiltrates better so you have less ponding in your low spots and it holds moisture better for when it gets dry,” Hjelle said. “Last year when we had the wet spring, I was actually able to get into my fields earlier than most and when the water shut off, the fields held more moisture so my crops could finish up before burning out,”
To enroll in MAWQCP, Glenn worked with his Area Certification Specialist, Jim Lahn, who works out of the East Ottertail Soil & Water Conservation District. The process includes filling out an application, a meeting with your certifying agent and a field visit. MAWQCP also has five potential endorsements that go along with the certification, including Climate Smart Farm, Soil Health, Integrated Pest Management, Irrigation Water Management and Wildlife.
Hjelle has all but one endorsement.
“Glenn was great to work with all throughout the process,” Lahn said. “He is a great example of a conservation farmer. Being productive and protecting natural resources is a central part to his farming operation.”
Minnesota Wheat Research & Promotion Council Director Glenn Hjelle, second from right, receives a MAWQCP plaque to display on his Elbow Lake farm.
PROPER PREPARATION
SDSU students impress MN Soybean leaders at Commodity Classic
By Drew Lyon
Many grower leaders representing Minnesota Soybean are adept at discussing farming practices and answering questions from local, state, national and international journalists. But a group of agriculture students from South Dakota State University peppered growers with inquiries that surprised and impressed even the most mediasavvy directors.
The kids understood the assignment.
“I thought they were very prepared and very well spoken,” said Gail Donkers, vice chair of the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and a staunch supporter of agriculture education.
“I thought that they really put a little bit of time and effort into what they were asking and genuinely wanted to make conversation with us.”
For the second straight year, MSR&PC invested checkoff resources in sponsoring a group of nearly 40 SDSU students, including 14 Minnesota natives, to travel to Commodity Classic to learn the latest in agriculture trends, visit the trade show, build networking skills and attend meetings. The funds, Council Chair Tom Frisch said, help to build a foundation for the next generation of grower leaders. “A lot of these students will be pursuing ag careers in Minnesota, returning to their farms or working in the industry,” Frisch said. “A future Council director could be in this room.”
Luke Gordon, son of former Minnesota Soybean Growers Association Director Bill Gordon, made the initial outreach to MSR&PC for the funding request.
“We really appreciate the Council’s support of the future of agriculture,” said Gordon, an agriculture systems technology major who participated in MSGA’s inaugural Young & Emerging Farmer Workshop in 2024. “It’s great to visit with them here at Classic and pick their brains.”
The students gathered for a 45-minute meeting with Council and MSGA directors, a sea of blue shirts filling the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in Denver. Farmer leaders explained MSR&PC and MSGA shared missions, while SDSU students and faculty asked farmers numerous questions, ranging from the high oleic soybean market to developing new markets via the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System to U.S. Soy’s competitiveness in the global marketplace.
Frisch commended the aspiring agriculture professionals for their stack of questions.
“They were very well prepared and professional. I think we could’ve sat there and talked for another hour,” he said. “They had done their homework, which was really refreshing.”
“We have a long history of supporting universities throughout the region,” Frisch said. “It’s a great use of checkoff resources, both on the research side and through developing leaders.”
Andrew Burns, an agriculture science major, participated in the first visit with Minnesota Soybean at the 2024 Classic. Burns, who farms in Stewart, Minn., and is involved in the Minnesota FFA, said it was a thrill to reconnect with directors. He hopes to continue growing his networking skills through Minnesota Soybean.
“It’s really cool to see how Minnesota Soybean advocates for farmers and the way they’re promoting agriculture and all the uses of soybeans,” Burns said. “It’s just been amazing to soak up all their information and expertise.”
Council CEO Tom Slunecka, an SDSU alum, spoke with a small group of students afterwards, urging them to step outside their comfort zones.
“Don’t be afraid to take chances,” he said. “That attitude can open up lots of possibilities and opportunities.”
Slunecka returned to his alma mater March 27 when he spoke to SDSU’s Agronomy Club in Brookings, S.D. It was the first time Slunecka had formally spoken to students in a class setting since graduating.
“We really appreciate the checkoff partnership we have with SDSU,” Slunecka said. “A lot of these students are from Minnesota. They could be our future leaders.”
One SDSU student, recalling a discussion during a similar meeting at the 2024 Classic, asked how MSGA is continuing its efforts to grow the sustainable aviation fuel market.
“That’s a great question,” Director Bob Worth said. “We’re still working on it, and this session, we’re supporting testifying at the Capitol in support of a SAF tax credit.”
The students also asked about MSGA’s overall advocacy efforts and how the organization represents farmers in St. Paul and Washington, D.C.
“They brought some questions that I thought were above what I would expect from college students,” said Ryan Mackenthun, MSGA vice president. “They were really engaged with the policies going on in the real world today. I was impressed by that.”
‘Future leaders’
The Council has enjoyed a long relationship with SDSU through investing in research projects, including a swine education and research facility, and helping fund the Raven Precision Agriculture Center.
MSR&PC investment in SDSU’s Raven Precision Ag Building helped fund the study wing of the facility. With nearly 130,000 square feet of floor space, the center offers 35,000 square feet of wet laboratories and 26,000 square feet of industrial high bay research and teaching space. In addition, the center supports classrooms and offices.
The 2025 Commodity Classic featured a sea of SDSU blue shirts blazoned with the Council’s logo.
Past MSGA president passes the baton
By Drew Lyon
Michael Petefish was once a 20-something farmer taken under the wing of a skilled mentor. A dozen years ago, the late Bruce Schmoll recruited Petefish to step up and become a director with the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association via his involvement with the American Soybean Association’s Young Leader Program.
“Bruce must have seen something in me at our county board meetings,” Petefish, now in his early 40s, said.
The farmer leader sees a similar spark in his replacement, Blooming Prairie producer Tim Wolf. After more than a decade on MSGA, Petefish the student has become the teacher.
“Tim’s eager to be involved and learn things,” said Petefish, MSGA’s youngest president. “I asked him if he had any interest, and I was glad he said he did.”
After joining the board in 2013, Petefish climbed MSGA’s leadership ranks to serve two years (20172019) as president. In a 2017 cover story in Soybean Business, Petefish spoke of his goals as president and mused that “maybe my success can’t be measured in one year – maybe that’s years down the line – but I hope to put my stamp on MSGA.”
He was right. Six years since his presidency ended, Petefish’s impact is still being felt. As president, Petefish oversaw a smooth transition as Minnesota became the first state to adopt a B20 (20% biodiesel) blend. Internally, he also led MSGA in creating its first governing board, along with improving the organization’s fiscal health.
“MSGA is a wonderful organization and (my presidency) shows what you can do when you collaborate,” Petefish said.
The U.S.-China trade war of 2018-2019 also factored heavily in Petefish’s presidency. The Claremont farmer unexpectedly found himself as one of the nation’s most prominent soybean farmers speaking out against tariffs.
“It felt like for a year there, I was doing three or four interviews a week,” Petefish said. “It was crazy.”
ASA Director Adam Guetter said his friend displayed courage amid difficult circumstances, showing his fellow advocates a roadmap for navigating the current trade war.
“Mike’s seen the whirlwind of the soybean industry,” Guetter said.
Retiring Director Michael Petefish, pictured here during MSGA’s 2019 annual meeting, was honored by colleagues during MSGA’s April 2025 board meeting.
‘Mike’ drop
Petefish, who studied plant biology and plant genetics, became part of MSGA lore during the 2019 Commodity Classic. During an ASA resolution debate on soybean breeding, Petefish approached the microphone in front of hundreds of soybean farmers to correct the scientific record. After he finished speaking, delegates erupted in applause.
“It was a total ‘mic drop’ moment,” MSGA President Darin Johnson said. “It was fantastic.”
After his presidency, Petefish stepped back to enjoy more time with his wife, Jessica, and their son, Henry. The Petefishs now are expecting another child.
“Life takes you in different directions,” he said.
Petefish became an ASA director in 2021, helping to promote MSGA’s federal priorities. He served a threeyear term before stepping down in 2024.
“Going to the Capitol and meeting with legislators is always special,” Petefish said. “You feel like they’re listening to you. “
While he’s still farming full time and involved with the Dodge County Corn & Soybean Growers, Petefish said it’s time for others to speak up for producers. He’s confident he found his heir apparent in Tim Wolf.
“I was glad to be a part of it and I am sad to go, but it’s time to pass the torch to someone new,” he said. “I’ll always be a member of MSGA and support what the organization is doing.”
By Drew Lyon
When President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs this spring on many of U.S. Soy’s trading partners, media outlets sought the nonpartisan Minnesota Soybean Growers Association for reaction to the turmoil.
Sure, MSGA President Darin Johnson would prefer if news groups called to instead discuss positive industry news – value-added uses for soy, the potential of sustainable aviation fuel or the conservation practices farmers employ on their operations, for example. But he’s seeing the media attention as a sign that MSGA is recognized as a leading voice for soybean producers.
“We’re trying to protect our members, our industry, our livelihoods,” said Johnson, a fourth-generation farmer. “And being out in the media is a way to educate and inform the public on how agriculture affects all of us, not just the 1-2% of us who are active in production agriculture.”
Johnson certainly did his part in the lead up to planting his 2025 crop. To begin April, he visited with multiple Twin Cities TV stations, welcomed France’s largest TV network, hosted a Star Tribune reporter and invited Sen. Amy Klobuchar to his operation. His message was consistent: Soybeans are Minnesota’s No. 1 ag export, valued at over $2 billion each year. Damaging trade relationships, most notably China, jeopardizes the farm economy, creating a ripple effect across greater Minnesota. Johnson also emphasized how trade wars increase input costs while touching on how domestic demand for soy can be boosted.
“We understand that there can be improvements made to these trade deals, but farmers always seem to be collateral damage in trade wars,” Johnson told Sen. Klobuchar. “We also see an opportunity with the administration by promoting biofuels.”
Telling our story
Jeffrey Sorenson, one of six Minnesotans on the American Soybean Association, had never before hosted a news organization on his farm. A second U.S. trade war with China led Japan’s TV Asahi, one of the country’s largest TV networks, to request a visit to a Minnesota farm. Sorenson fit the bill: A knowledgeable family farmer who lives under two hours from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Within 20 hours of speaking with an Asahi producer, Sorenson, prepping for spring planting, was hosting a film crew on a Saturday afternoon.
Despite some language barriers, Sorenson said the Japanese interview offered a unique opportunity to underscore the importance of preserving trade relationships amid a turbulent farm economy.
“It was a really good experience,” Sorenson said. “I’m glad we’re getting a chance to tell our side of the story.”
MSGA Vice President Ryan Mackenthun and Director Bob Worth were also active in sharing policy priorities during interviews with ABC News and the BBC.
MSGA and the American Soybean Association were relieved when the president announced a 90-day tariff pause to allow for trade negotiations with dozens of countries. However, at press time, the president kept a universal 10% tariff in place, and both the U.S. and China raised their tariffs to 145% and 125%.
Johnson is optimistic that a “Phase Two” deal can be reached sooner rather than later. The longer the uncertainty prevails during the growing season, the more China is likely to turn to competitors in South America to meet its demand for soy. Meanwhile, MSGA leaders continues to sing from the same hymnal.
“We are encouraging a de-escalation and want to keep our trade relationships intact,” Johnson said. “We have to work in good faith and negotiate and stay proactive in delivering our message.”
Trade disputes put MSGA in the spotlight
WISHH leverages partnerships for U.S. Soy to help meet the protein needs of 8 billion consumers
The developing and emerging nations of today are the home of tomorrow’s U.S. Soy customers
U.S. soy farmers learned to lean on Gene Stoel
By Bailey Grubish
Imagine a small-town Minnesota farmer finding himself in a restaurant, down a hidden alley in a foreign country once at war with the U.S.
Now picture this farmer working with local organizations to help improve the farm economy through voluntary agricultural work. This was the reality in which Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council Director Gene Stoel found himself.
“I graduated from high school the year the Vietnam War ended,” said Stoel, who lives near Lake Wilson. “My first trip to Vietnam, when I told people I was going there, there was a lot of people in my community saying, ‘Why do you want to go there? We just got done fighting a war there.’ It was 20-30 years later, but still. The people you meet all want to make a better life for the next generation and I don’t see that as being any different than what we do here.”
Stoel’s experience representing District 7 on MSR&PC helping direct soybean checkoff investments made impacts internationally, as well as in his own community.
“Gene Stoel’s dedication to the soybean industry and Minnesota farmers is exemplary,” MSR&PC CEO Tom Slunecka said. “He’s always taken the time necessary to not only volunteer to do things, but to understand the issues that are necessary to make the events effective. Gene has been a consummate provider of not only time but direction to all the staff here at Minnesota Soybean and we thank him so much for his dedication and the hours that he spent making us a better organization.”
Where it began
Before Stoel found himself in that restaurant in Vietnam, he worked at a grain elevator and on his family farm. He never thought his story would involve helping fellow farmers at home by promoting soybeans around the world.
Stoel started when MSR&PC Sr. Director of Product Development Mike Youngerberg and then Minnesota Soybean Growers Association Director Gary Ness walked into the elevator Stoel worked at to talk about the new soybean checkoff program.
This one visit led to Stoel’s involvement with both MSGA and MSR&PC and more than 20 years later, Stoel couldn’t imagine it any other way.
“I didn’t have any idea I would be around this long, but I stayed on because I like working with the people that have the same passions about producing soybeans, moving soybeans, opening new markets, that kind of thing,” Stoel said following his penultimate board meeting as a MSR&PC director. “Being part of this organization has given me
opportunities to see parts of the world I never thought I’d ever see.”
His first role with Minnesota Soybean was on his local Murray County Corn & Soybean Growers Board. Stoel was chosen as the board’s MSGA state representative where he served as a director for a few years before he was encouraged to run for the Council.
“If you’re going to grow it, you need to promote it,” he said.
First elected in 2007 to MSR&PC, Stoel has since worked with dozens of board members and served in myriad capacities at the state and national levels.
“Gene was one of the first board members I got to know really well. He was a great resource for me,” Council Chair Tom Frisch said. “He brought different perspectives and opinions to the board.”
Diligent work
Stoel served as chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, research chair and on various committees for the Council, with two standing out to him: research and communications.
“When I first came on, I always
questioned why we needed to do seed research,” Stoel said. “Why do we have our own soybean breeders? It was explained to me very well by Jim Orf – he was the soybean breeder at the time –who said, ‘We do things that the companies don’t.’ Plus, he said someone has to teach soybean breeding to the next generation so that they can go to work for those companies. That made a lot of sense to me, and since that time, I’ve been a very good advocate of soybean breeding research at the University of Minnesota.”
Checkoff-funded research work through the Council and the North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP) are among Stoel’s proudest accomplishments. Stoel credited his former colleague, the late Rob Hanks, for getting him involved with NCSRP.
MSR&PC-funded research is onethird focused on today, one-third focused on the next five years and one-third focused on five years and beyond in pest management, genetics and other agronomy. In fiscal year 2024, with Stoel as chair
Gene Stoel never strayed from his core mission as a farmer leader. “We’re constantly researching, investing and marketing our product to further the industry.,” he said in 2017.
of the research team, they worked on waterhemp and giant ragweed management, soybean stem diseases, soybean breeding and genetics and many more projects.
To Stoel, research is about improvements for farmers but it’s also about communication between farmers and researchers; how to articulate what farmers are seeing on their farms; what challenges they need addressed and how researchers can share their findings in a clear way.
He will finish his Council term in July as chair of the research action team. During one of his last meetings as chair of the internal committee, Stoel and his colleagues heard proposals from potential researchers and approved 20 proposals for the 2025 fiscal year. Stoel also helped oversee the Council’s internal communications task force, helping to direct award-winning campaigns with the DieselSellerz, Goodyear Tire, and the launch of MSR&PC’s website.
Stoel said it was eye-opening to work on communications to learn consumers perceptions of farming.
National leadership
Stoel’s leadership efforts went well beyond the region: He later served on U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance and the United Soybean Board.
While on USB, he’s worked with directors from all around the
country, gaining new perspectives and production practices.
Through USB, he’s been a part of national research, his passion in the soybean world.
“I’m representing soybean farmers from around the country in the research we do, in the things we’re trying to accomplish,” he said, “so if it’s not good for the majority of the soybean farmers, it’s not something I should be promoting at a real hard level.”
Working on the national level has provided insights to new perspectives, insights and friendships he never thought he would make. And Stoel isn’t entirely done directing checkoff funds: He’ll serve out the remainder of his third and final USB term, which is set to end later in 2025.
Global growth
From Morocco to South America to Southeast Asia, representing soybean farmers on international trade missions was another unexpected way to impact farmers in Minnesota for Stoel.
When he returned to Vietnam around 12 years after his initial trade mission, he said he didn’t recognize the country, which now has a growing middle class, greater tech advancements and high demand for U.S. agriculture products.
“It was fun to see how much they
wanted to talk to people from the U.S. and trying to work with them,” he said. “I do think we make an impact on making sure U.S. Soy is the preferred feedstock around the world.”
Stoel said a universal language he’s heard around the world is an eagerness to improve for the next generation. He saw the strive to get the younger generation involved in the decisions and how hungry they were for the knowledge of what to do next.
“When we’re looking for new markets, I see Uzbekistan now as what Vietnam was back when I first was there,” Stoel said. “They want to adapt the U.S. production system because they see it works great. They also visit Europe. Europe has some great production systems, too, and we don’t do everything correct in the U.S., nobody does, so having that open mind. … They want to evolve, and they want to improve.”
Landing home
That small-town farmer, sitting at that restaurant down the hidden alley wouldn’t believe what he’s accomplished today, as he returns home to Murray County to enjoy his retirement from MSR&PC.
“I’m old enough now to walk away, to know better and know it’s time, and I’ve done what I want,” Stoel said, “It’s time for the younger generation to take over.”
Gene Stoel’s market development efforts on behalf of Minnesota farmers were on display during a 2024 trade mission to Rotterdam.
NCSRP: Paving the Way for Better Breeding & Genetics
Gone are the days of hoping for the best when creating soybean crosses that deliver specific traits and higher yields. With the tools and technologies available now and support of the soybean checkoff, the North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP) has created steppingstones to pave the way for new varieties more quickly, more accurately and with better yield potential and composition.
CRITICAL PARTNERSHIPS
NCSRP collaborates with USDA’s Northern Uniform Soybean Tests (NUST) to evaluate yield, disease resistance and quality traits of public breeding lines found in the northern U.S. and Canadian provinces. Since 1941, the goal of NUST has been to assess for further use the best public research experimental soybean lines across 10 maturity groups.
SOYBASE
To meet the goal of increasing genetic gain for yield and composition and more, NCSRP researchers also built a breeding database known as SoyBase that is housed within the community-supported USDA repository for soybean genetics and genomic data. As this platform grows, public breeders will be able to access the data for use in their breeding efforts. The database and workflow of software tools will additionally allow breeders to interact and team up.
SOYGEN
The multi-year, multi-organization Science Optimized Yield Gains across Environments (SOYGEN) project leverages NCSRP partnerships, advancing new and existing checkoff-funded research to increase genetic gain for yield and seed composition. Through the ongoing effort, researchers seek to understand the functions of genes that underlie major traits and will elevate standardized collaborative field trials, create a genomic breeding facilitation suite and maximize use of USDA’s Soybean Germplasm Collection as a foundation for success.
EXPANDING PATHWAYS
A genome-wide analysis for each seed composition trait within the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection has combined multi-year, multi-location phenotype data with existing genotype data for researchers to now access. Environmental data also is being added to NUST and genotypic data is being channeled into NUST and soybean cyst nematode regional trials to facilitate and expand the yield and quality breeding objectives. Down the road, the genomic breeding facilitation suite will feature both genotyping breeding lines and genomic analyses.
BreakingBarriers
By Mark Askelson
MSR&PC, MSGA team up to tackle trade with Uzbekistan
Halfway across the world in Uzbekistan – a little over 6,200 miles, or a roughly 13-hour flight – the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council continues to recognize the potential to build a new market for their soybeans. The country has a lot of appeal to Minnesota soybean producers: a growing population and economy, an expanding tourism industry and a poultry and dairy industry that can thrive on high-quality, U.S.-grown soybeans. However, there’s one major piece of the puzzle standing between it and a shipload of beans: a soybean crush facility.
MSR&PC Director Gene Stoel returned to Uzbekistan in late March 2025, this time accompanied by Minnesota Soybean Growers Association Executive Director Joe Smentek, to meet with potential developers of a crush facility, along with government
officials to evaluate their needs and the steps needed to make it a reality.
“We now have four different groups in Uzbekistan interested in building a crush facility capable of handling 4,000 metric tons (MT) a day,” said Smentek, who made his first in-country visit after establishing relationship with Uzbekistan officials based in Washington, D.C.
To put that into perspective, that’s estimated to be 133,000 bushels a day of demand – specifically new demand.
“Obviously with everything going on with tariffs, new markets are essential,” Smentek said. “This is the type of market that our soybean growers need to be involved in simply because it does have huge potential to have hundreds of thousands of bushels a day going into that area.”
Where Smentek and MSGA can provide assistance is
continued on page 24
Gene Stoel, pictured here in March 2024, was eager to promote high-quality Minnesota soybeans during interviews with Uzbekistan media.
working with Uzbekistan and U.S. government officials to facilitate government credit guarantees and permits that will be involved in the building of the soybean crushing plant.
The latest shipment of U.S. soymeal (300 tons) is currently passing through Iran on its way from the port of Iskenderun, Turkey, to Uzbekistan.
“With that route we can facilitate shipping the soybeans out of the Port of Duluth, through the Mediterranean, and then on to Uzbekistan,” Smentek said.
In addition, MSGA is continuing to meet with the Uzbek government to encourage them to build more hopper cars for transporting soybeans.
Along with meetings with government officials in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, Smentek and Stoel traveled to the ancient city of Bukhara to meet with dairy and poultry producers, who have been using U.S. Soy with the help of Council-supported animal nutritionists.
“They’ve greatly enjoyed having the expert help on the farms to get the most of their dairy and poultry production through our soybean meal and would love to see that continue into the future,” said Stoel, who made his third visit to the Central Asian country before his retirement from the Council later this summer.
Crossing hurdles
The Uzbek dairy and poultry producers who have been using the U.S.-origin soymeal are seeing proof of the power of U.S. protein-packed beans, citing significant increases in production.
“The dairy we visited with is seeing a 40% increase in their milk production with the help they’ve received from Minnesota Soybean and the use of our soy in their cows’ diet,” Smentek said. “They told us they don’t ever want to go back to the old feeds they were using.”
If a crush facility is built, Stoel says it wouldn’t just increase access to high-quality soymeal for existing producers, but also would create opportunity for expanding production and economic development.
“Their government is working on developing poultry clusters, along with feed mills for those clusters, so they’re trying to modernize their operations and they’re going to need a lot of soybeans in the process,” Stoel said. “There’s no doubt that the market is there, but getting the beans there is the biggest hurdle.”
This visit to Uzbekistan was the fourth overall for MSR&PC since the initial trade mission in 2022, though Smentek and MSGA have also had several visits with Uzbek officials in Washington D.C., and right here in Minnesota. Stoel adds that it’s been interesting to see the relationship between the two entities blossom over time.
“I think the skepticism they first had about Americans when we first came over has long disappeared,” said Stoel. “They like what they see, they know we can help them and they’re all happy to see us and welcome us with open arms no matter where we went.”
For Stoel, who has been to Guatemala, Azerbajijan
and Uzbekistan twice in the span of a year, this latest trade mission may have been his last one as part of MSR&PC as the Lake Wilson farmer is retiring from the Council after nearly 20 years directing soy checkoff resources.“I’ve been all over this year and I’m starting to think it might be time to slow down a little,” he said, chuckling.
Next, MSR&PC and MSGA have been invited to meet with Zaman Grain, one of the potential crush facility developers, in the Georgian port city of Poti, which is the site of where the Uzbek company actually plans to build the soybean crush plant. In early April, Smentek returned to the nation’s capital for a business roundtable with Uzbek and American leaders. He’s also exploring a return visit in conjunction with the Uzbek-American Chamber of Commerce for an economic development forum this summer.
“Markets take time to develop, but we’re very excited about the potential in Uzbekistan,” Smentek said. “We’re already seeing that these are investments and relationships worth pursuing.”
MAKING PROGRESS
The Councill began making investments in Uzbekistan in 2021. One year later, the Council helped set a milestone when Uzbek traders imported 700 metric tons of U.S. soymeal for the first time. Soy checkoff investments later led poultry producers in the country to purchase 150 MT of U.S.-origin soymeal, marking the second shipment of soymeal to Uzbekistan since 2022.
In August 2024, MSR&PC Director Patrick O’Leary traveled to the country to witness soymeal arrive inside six cargo containers. In spring 2025, another dozen containers of U.S. soymeal were shipped to Uzbekistan.
HIGHER ROI IS WITHIN REACH
The Soy Checkoff is driving demand for high oleic soybeans across the U.S., and our investment has already delivered $320 million in premiums to farmers at a 3-1 ROI1.
Council approves 20 research projects for 2025 funding
By Deanna Kanne
The Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) invests checkoff funds into research studies each year to address agronomic issues and challenges. These studies are grouped into three key areas: pest management, breeding and genetics and overall agronomy. This year, MSR&PC is sponsoring 20 research projects for the 2025 crop season. The projects went through a months-long review process before the full Council approved funding at its April 2025 board meeting.
MSR&PC Director Corey Hanson sits on the internal research action team and employs his passion for agronomy by voicing his thoughts on which projects should be prioritized for funding.
“There are staple programs that I believe in, and most of the team does,” he said. “We’re also building relationships with different outstate research people.”
Farmer leaders visit at the University of Minnesota’s Soybean Research Center 2023 Field Day.
Pest Management
Soybean cyst nematode virulence genetics, SNP chip development, and survey of field populations – Senyu Chen (Southern Research and Outreach Center)
This study is a continuation that focuses on soybean cyst nematode (SCN), a significant pest in Minnesota that can cut yields by more than 30%. Chen is prioritizing three areas: a continued evaluation of genetic markers that breeders will use to develop new SCN-resistant soybean lines; how SCN develops resistance to these new genetics; and a field survey portion to determine SCN’s current genetic makeup.
“SCN is becoming more of a problem throughout the whole state, and research has always shown that there’s probably some yield drag from it,” said Pat Sullivan, MSR&PC secretary. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to figure out ways to maybe fix our breeding program and our genetics to maybe clear that up.”
Senyu Chen is a professor in the department of plant pathology at the Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca. His research focuses on plant-parasitic nematodes, specifically soybean cyst nematode. Chen has worked closely with MSR&PC and the soy checkoff for the past nine years.
Developing resistance management guidelines and evaluating quantitative resistance to Phytophthora sojae in Minnesota – Megan McCaghey (University of Minnesota)
Phytophthora sojae is a soil-borne pathogen, causing stem and root rot in soybeans in wet and warm soil conditions, resulting in decreased yields. McCaghey’s study, in its third year, seeks to uncover how widespread this pathogen is in Minnesota farm fields, enhance efficacy of current resistant varieties and develop improved management recommendations for Phytophthora species affecting soybeans in Minnesota.
Phytophthora sojae can survive in soil in the form of oospores for up to 10 years. Photo courtesy of Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org
Megan McCaghey is an assistant professor in the department of plant pathology at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Her research focuses on soilborne fungi. She has worked with MSR&PC for the past few years.
Breeding and Genetics
The University of Minnesota Soybean Research Center –Aaron Lorenz
The University of Minnesota Soybean Research Center was established in 2020 to bring together researchers across the university system to improve collaboration. They have been increasing the mission of enhancing communication within the university community and are making efforts to move the communication beyond the university gates. This funding provides support to hire a communication specialist to help with those efforts.
“The Soybean Research Center is another tool in our
toolbox and partnering with them is another way that our checkoff dollars are working for us,” MSR&PC Director Ron Obermoller said. “With wise checkoff investments like this, we are setting up future Minnesota soybean growers for success.”
The Soybean Research Center is hosting its 2025 Field Day Aug. 28, 2025, on the UMN’s St. Paul Campus. The agenda includes a tour of the experimental fields on campus; an in-depth look at the university’s soybean research and networking opportunities with industry colleagues. If interested in attending, contact soybeanresearch@umn.edu
continued on page 28
Soybean breeding and genetics
UMN Professor Aaron Lorenz cited multiple objectives for the next season of his soybean breeding program:
1. Develop varieties adapted to Minnesota with new sources of pest resistance and seed quality of Minnesota-adapted varieties;
2. Continue testing public and private soybean varieties available to Minnesota soybean producers;
3. Reevaluate role of UMN Commercial Variety Test and investigate other models that may be more complementary to similar trials available in the private sector (e.g., FIRST trials);
4. Adapt new technologies such as the VIBE seed imaging unit and unmanned aerial vehicles for measuring seed quality and canopy traits of potential importance to specialty soybeans and new cropping systems;
5. Discover and develop new sources of resistance to soybean pests and diseases.
Aaron Lorenz is a professor in the department of agronomy and plant genetics at the University of Minnesota. His focus is soybean breeding and genetics.
Other Agronomy
Increasing returns with reduced risk: Selecting soybean cultivars for drought-prone fields – Seth Naeve (UMN)
Most typical variety trials are conducted on relatively high production potential sites. This study proposes to evaluate eight different, currently elite varieties on drought-sensitive sites. Farmers will primarily select varieties based on yield potential and will overlook drought tolerance. This study seeks to help optimize variety selection, which will help to increase both yield and stability in challenging environments.
Seth Naeve is a professor and Extension agronomist through the University of Minnesota. His focus is on soybean management. Naeve also works with checkoff funding through his work with Northern Soy Marketing
The impact of row spacing on season long metrics of soybean crop health: a “hands-on” learning plot –Adam Alford (Southwest Minnesota State University)
This project is both educational and research-related by affording non-agriculture students a chance to get hands-on experience with soybeans. Dr. Alford will host a demonstration project evaluating different factors that impact canopy closure via NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) measurements. The project will allow hands-on experience to four separate classes, including a class for non-agriculture majors, regarding the use of
CHECKOFF SUCCESSES
Minnesota Soybean’s support of UMN’s breeding program began in the late 1960s. Lorenz’s university soybean variety development program is the state’s longest running checkoff-funded project and has conducted research on food-grade soybeans in Minnesota and released multiple soybean aphid-resistant varieties.
NDVI technology and crop management.
Dr. Adam Alford is an assistant professor of agronomy at Southwest Minnesota State University.
Nutrient management for profitable soybean production – Daniel Kaiser (UMN)
As nutrient (primarily nitrogen and sulfur) applications continue to acidify the soil, this study would re-evaluate the soil liming recommendation for regional soil testing labs, as well as examine the impact of nutrient additions to soils.
Past studies have shown the acid soil border is moving westward. The addition of lime to those acidic surface soils that overlay alkaline subsoils does not provide the same increase in yield that lime applications do on acidic surface soils overlaying acidic subsoils. This study proposes to continue quantifying the impact of sulfur additions on a corn/soybean rotation, continuing to determine whether in-furrow NPK starter can increase soybean yield in medium-high testing soils and adds a new project: determining how nitrogen may impact nonexchangeable ammonium pools in the soil following three years of corn.
Daniel Kaiser is an associate professor in the department of soil, water, and climate at the University of Minnesota. His area of expertise is crops and nutrient management.
Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance –SSGA Agronomy Program
The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) is the business alliance of identity preserved agriculture in the United States and the leading voice for the industry that delivers traceable, high-quality, variety-specific field crops to food markets worldwide. Its members include producers, processors, suppliers, transportation allies and qualified state soybean boards, including MSR&PC. Checkoff support of this program assists in collecting information and developing resources for management of identity preserved farming, including non-GMO, foodgrade soybeans. This includes work with crop consultants, Extension personnel and other experts.
In January 2025, SSGA named Randy Duckworth as executive director. MSR&PC Vice Chair Gail Donkers represents Minnesota on SSGA.
Leveraging resources
Illinois soybean farmer Bryan Severs is the newest chair of the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance, a national group promoting identity preserved agriculture.
The Council is also a member of the 13-state North Central Soybean Research Program. The collaborative focus of NCSRP promotes soybean production research and extension outreach through soybean checkoff investments in university research and extension programs to further understand and manage plant stressors that limit soybean yield and farmer profitability.
NCSRP’s emphasis on enhancing and protecting soybean yield through genetics and agronomic practices contributes to improving farmer profitability. From addressing white mold to cover crops to working with breeders, NCSRP tackles soybean production, profitability and environmental sustainability.
In FY24, NCSRP approved nine projects for funding, including a soybean genetic project overseen by Aaron Lorenz to develop soybean varieties for improved yield and composition. Outgoing MSR&PC Director Gene Stoel, who previously chaired NCSRP, will be replaced on NCSRP by McLeod County farmer Bob Lindeman. Stoel said he’s been proud to help work with NCSRP to advance checkoff research, including a recent project on waterhemp.
“Hopefully that will figure out how to kill waterhemp a little easier,” Stoel said. “North Central has done some really good things over the years, and I’m sure that will continue.”
NCSRP is holding its summer meeting in August in St. Paul.
Council names new research director
In April 2025, MSR&PC announced that Sergio Cabello Leiva will become the organization’s new research director. A native of central Chile, Leiva holds a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and later attended North Dakota State University, earning his Ph.D. in Plant Sciences. He worked at NDSU as a principal investigator in the Soil & Crop Nutrition Research Program, conducting research on sustainable agriculture, cover crops and nutrient cycling. In his role with MSR&PC, Leiva will help oversee checkoffsupported research.
“Sergio is going to bring new expertise and energy to the Council’s research program,” MSR&PC CEO Tom Sluneck said. “We’re thrilled to welcome him to our team.”
There is a relentless spirit that unites us all in agriculture - a conviction we can dream big and that together, we become unstoppable.
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17 NIV
KEEPING TRADITION WITH
Generations of Lindemans serve community, raise crops
By Bailey Grubish
It’s a family tradition. The family farmers who fight fire together, stay together.
For the Lindeman family, serving on the Brownton Fire Department while farming, as the Hank Williams Jr. song goes, means “carrying on the ole family tradition.”
Five generations of Lindemans have farmed near Brownton, Minn., and three of those men have served with the area fire department. The Lindeman farm is almost 140 years old; the family has decades of fire service and a lifetime of giving back to the community.
“It’s all a big balancing act, and that’s where it’s nice to be able to just work together on it,” Bryce Lindeman said of farming and volunteering. “Everybody pitches in and does what they can where it’s needed, when it’s needed.”
Bryce is the son of Minnesota Soybean Growers Association Director Bob Lindeman and the grandson of Jim Lindeman, three generations of Lindemans farming the same land and volunteering with the same fire department.
Family of firefighters
Sometimes going along for the ride inspires a person; sometimes a family tragedy drives them and sometimes it’s just keeping the family tradition going.
In the 1960s, Jim often rode along with his brother-in-law on fire calls due to working together, which drew him to volunteer with the department. He figured he was better off learning how to do things himself if he was going along. He served in the department for a few years before he moved to the farm.
“It takes a lot of training and a lot of time to be on a volunteer fire department,” Jim said. “You have to take your hat off to these young people that are willing to take the time away from their families and other things to be on a volunteer fire department and help out the whole community. I think it’s great that we have young people that will step up and do that.”
continued on page 34
Bob stepped into action after his grandfather suffered a heart attack in the farm shop. He took that as a lesson to become trained in helping in future emergencies.
“At that time, I decided – and we had moved to town – now it’s time,” Bob said of joining the department. “I want to be a first responder, a firefighter, and it’s always good to help out in a small community.”
Bob volunteered on the fire department for 25 years before retiring, but not before serving
alongside Bryce. He still helps with various tasks when he can for the fire department. Bob’s maternal grandfather is another generation that also served on the Brownton Fire Department.
For Bryce, it wasn’t a matter of whether he was joining the tradition of serving on the fire department; it was only a matter of when and a pursuit he never second guessed. Bryce, a member of MSGA, joined in 2019 after he and his family moved to Brownton.
“Bryce joined the fire
department before I retired, and I wanted to make sure he felt comfortable just in different situations and scenes,” said Bob, who sits on MSGA’s governing board. “I’m just glad to see that he’s carrying on that tradition as well, because small communities, they need people that can do that sort of thing and people who care.”
They now call him Lt. Lindeman, and in 2016, the University of Minnesota called the Lindemans McLeod County’s Farm Family of the Year.
SoyFoam impacts
As farmers and firefighters, the Lindemans have a unique connection to SoyFoam TF 1122, a soy checkoffsupported fire suppressant made with soy flour. Soy Foam is free of PFAS, aka forever chemicals, environmentally friendly and healthier for firefighters, who face a 9% greater chance of being diagnosed with cancer
For Bob, SoyFoam’s health benefits are personal.
“Through my years on the fire department, and who knows where it came from, 20 years into it, I found out I had some cancer,” Bob said. “Well, did it come from some of the things we were doing in the fire service? Did it come from farming? ... This fire foam is the way to go. It’s a great thing.”
Developed by Cross Plains Solutions, extensive testing is being done on SoyFoam and to promote the safer option for fire departments across Minnesota and the country.
The Lindemans agree that it’s the right time to make a change to improve firefighter safety and the environment. SoyFoam accomplishes both, while also supporting the local farmers by utilizing the soybeans they grow.
“I think it’s a good thing to show people that some of our checkoff dollars are doing something really good for you, for everyone,” Bob said.
Along with changing out the foam, the department has washing machines for turnout gear and other precautions to make a safer environment for firefighters.
Farming, firefighting and volunteering are family affairs in the Lindeman family. Bob Lindeman (middle) farms with his son, Bryce (right), and father, Jim, and represents McLeod County on MSGA.
Photos by Mikayla Lindeman
“It’s a complete world of difference,” Jim said on the safety improvements since his time on the department. “In the early ’60s, if you wanted to drive a truck and you knew how to get water out of it, that was basically what you did as a fireman. There was really very little training at that time besides what your older chief and your assistant chief would do. There was no regional training or no district training, and so it’s come a long way for safety. We didn’t have any of that in the early ’60s, you just went out and flew by the seat of your pants trying to put a fire out.”
Bryce is one of the training officers in the Brownton Fire Department and he’s always looking for ways to incorporate safer practices despite the job’s inherent dangers.
“Anytime you can adopt a new product that can protect the life of the firefighter is important,” Bryce said. “When people see fire, they run away, and a lot of us are jumping in front of it and into it.”
Bryce said it’s a full-circle moment to see a farm-friendly product like SoyFoam become commercialized so firefighters (and farmers) can help protect others. With the health risks associated with farming and firefighting, there is a peace of mind that comes with improved technology for the safety of the firefighters.
“I saw my dad on the fire department for years, and I see him farming for years, and it’s all I’ve known growing up,” Bryce said. “Then to watch him go through the cancer stuff, too, it kind of makes you pay attention to some of the safety a little bit more. You just look at it and go, ‘How can I learn from everything that I’ve seen, right?’ And like Dad said, you never know where some of that comes from, but you do what you can to mitigate risk on yourself. It should be part of everybody’s everyday life.”
Adapting with the times
Giving back to the community is a Lindeman family tradition that goes beyond the fire station. They’ve also been serving the area for over a century through the Lion’s Club and other volunteer services, including the McLeod County Corn & Soybean Growers Board
Working on the farm, the Lindemans know the familiar sound of the pager means they have to pause to respond, even if that means taking the farm equipment to the scene.
“When you’re farming and the pager goes off, you quit for a little while and go help, help another person,” Bob said. “It might be we’re in the middle of planting, but somebody else is having their worst day and you feel the need to go.”
Planting to Protect
This spring, the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council launched its statewide, checkoff-supported SoyFoam campaign, “Planting to Protect: From Farm to Flame.”
“For our soybean farmers, your checkoff investment is helping out the environment and the firefighters who use it,” said Council Chair Tom Frisch, who has served on the Dumont Fire Department since 2000. “It’s a checkoff investment that is coming to fruition and helping build demand.”
MSR&PC will provide checkoff funding and communications support to encourage more than 40 organized soybean counties to donate five pails of SoyFoam to their respective fire departments.
“It’s extremely important that this new product gets into the hands of firefighters across the state,” said Mike Youngerberg, Minnesota Soybean’s sr. director of product development and commercialization. “While our distribution campaign will first focus on rural fire departments, we will also be working to touch as many Minnesota fire departments as possible to get the product in their hands as well.”
Visit mnsoybean.org/soyfoam/ to learn more about the Planting to Protect promotion.
They know it takes a team to make things happen on or off the farm. With decades of experience present on the Lindemans’ family farm, there are a lot of changes that have happened since it was founded in the 1880s.
“You learn and you adapt,” Bryce said. “Whether it be the fire industry or the farming operation, with each generation, you learn and you adapt.”
Jim joined his father full time in farming around 1963. Bob joined the operation about 20 years later and Bryce continues to become more involved. Bob’s brother-in-law, Jeff Messner, helps on the farm, too. Although Jim is technically retired, he still helps out on the farm, where the family raises soybeans, corn and other small grains, as well as running Lindeman Seeds and custom planting.
“I’m sitting out at the farm right now,” Jim said.
Today, the three generations of Lindemans share experiences in farming and firefighting with the hope to continue the tradition to the sixth generation.
“It’s kind of neat (to think about),” Jim said, pondering the possibility of his five-year-old great-grandson managing the farm. “Bob and Bryce have both been really good assets, and it’s awesome.”
By Drew Lyon
The clothes, they say, make the man.
In that case, Joe Smentek, executive director of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, is an advocate wrapped in soybeans – a jacket honoring soymeal and soybean oil, to be more specific.
It wasn’t an early April Fools’ joke when Vivian Evans, widow of past Minnesota Soybean leader John S. Evans, mailed her homemade soymeal sport coat this spring to MSGA’s office before moving from her home in Montevideo.
“Do anything you want with it,” Evans said when reached by phone. “Whether it’s on display or you give it away or if you just throw it away.”
Throw it away?!? No way, Vivian! This is soybean fashion history. And when Smentek donned the jacket on a Monday morning after returning from a trade mission to Uzbekistan, it fit over his shoulders like it was tailored especially for him. Realizing it was adorned with soybeanbranded script from limb to limb, Smentek wore his new favorite jacket a few days later at MSGA’s April board meeting.
“This is amazing,” Smentek said. “I’m very proud to wear it.”
Vivian, who’s in her 90s, is a longtime seamstress and quilter. She made the jacket in the 1970s, possibly from material from JOANN Fabrics, for her husband over the course of several months.
“It was a challenge to make it, but I did it,” Vivian said. “John was so proud to wear it.”
Former MSGA Executive Director Al Kluis worked with John S. Evans in the mid-1970s and later spoke at his memorial service after Evans died in 1988. He remembered Vivian’s jacket well.
“Yes, that brings back memories,” Kluis said after receiving a text photo
Homemade soybean jacket has many threads
Joe Smentek feels at ease in his vintage soy jacket.
of the jacket. “Vivian’s a strong woman. They had to be strong to survive the times back then.”
The Founding Father
The Evans family farm in Chippewa County carries a lot of weight within Minnesota Soybean and the greater soybean industry. John W. Evans, Vivian’s father-in-law, had a storied ag leadership career. From 1926-1934, Evans, a seed producer operating 500 acres of farmland that specialized in soybean and hybrid corn, was president of the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association.
Fifteen years later, after testifying at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., John W. Evans was elected the first Minnesotan to serve as president of the American Soybean Association (1949-1951). The same year Evans became president, ASA embarked on its first-ever international marketing mission to survey growing exports in post-World War II Europe. Today, more than half of the nation’s soybean crop is exported to international markets, valuing nearly $40 billion annually.
The following year, ASA notched a longsought policy win when President Harry
Truman repealed a tax on margarine, which largely used soybean oil as its primary ingredient. A decade later, John W. Evans joined two dozen farmers from across the state in Sleepy Eye for the inaugural meeting of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. Evans was named temporary secretary, drafting MSGA’s first articles of incorporation, and later became MSGA’s first president, serving from 1962-1967. During his tenure, Evans served on MSGA’s first Legislative Committee and supported passing a half-cent checkoff resolution, earning the title of MSGA’s “founding father.” He also led MSGA on advocating the Legislature on its first efforts toward securing research funding.
His vision sent MSGA on a path toward success.
“There never was a time in the (history of the world) when so many people are raising their eyes and hoping for a better life,” he said in 1965.
Vivian was more matter of fact when describing her father-in-law’s contributions.
“My father-in-law was one of the initial leaders of (MSGA),” she said.
In 1969, a checkoff referendum fell just short of the required two-thirds majority. John W. Evans died that same year, but his son and Vivian’s husband, John S. Evans, continued his father’s passion for agriculture. Minnesota’s first checkoff referendum eventually passed in 1973. From 1974-1978, John S. Evans chaired the newly formed Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council to oversee the new checkoff program.
The senior Evans continued to influence the industry posthumously. In 1974, Jean Lambert, the renowned University of Minnesota soybean breeder, developed a public variety, Evans Soybean, in honor of John W. Evans. It was a popular variety
for decades; by the 1990s, Evans Soybean occupied nearly 60% of the soybean acres in north and west-central Minnesota.
“That was before the private companies started selling seed. The vast majority were guys that would buy the beans from some local seed dealer,” Kluis said. “There was a lot of people that were directors in MSGA that were also in the seed business.”
Vivian Evans was recognized nationally for her volunteer efforts as part of the Volunteer Soy Promoters (VSP), which promoted the many uses of soybean oil. She also traveled across the country to advocate for MSGA’s mission. Evans was later awarded a lifetime MSGA membership, and she said she still pays her dues every year.
“I’ve been volunteering with (MSGA) forever, heavens yes,” she said. “I’m still a member and keep track of everything that’s going on. I’m going into a nursing home, so I won’t be able to be active, but I’ll still keep my membership. I have a great respect for the association.”
Tie-ing it together
The plot thickened following MSGA receiving Evans’ package. MSGA shared a photo of the jacket on its Facebook page, and Brad Doyle, an Arkansas farmer and past president of the American Soybean Association, commented by sharing a photo of a tie that appeared to match with the jacket. Doyle, a collector of vintage soybean fashion, said he bought the tie in 2021 on eBay, but further details weren’t included with the purchase.
The tie was news to Vivian, too.
“I have no clue who made that,” she said.
John S. Evans (back row, third to left) joins farmer colleagues in casting the first checkoff vote in September 1969. The referendum finally passed in 1973.
Taking control of your HEALTH AND FINANCES
In a challenging farm economy, farmers can better weather the storm by taking full advantage of the financial tools at their disposal.
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) through Profinium are helping farmers manage economic downturns by allowing individuals and families to save for medical expenses and maximize tax savings* – just more ways that Profinium supports farmers and Minnesota communities through thick and thin.
“Not every community bank offers HSAs, but Profinium does,” says Christian Rank, an Ag/Business Banker with Profinium. “With everything going on in farming, Health Savings Accounts are one extra tax-saving strategy farmers can use if they qualify. It’s the only triple tax advantaged type of account, meaning it offers pre-tax contributions, tax-free growth and tax-free withdrawals.”
Farmers are advised to consult with their tax advisor before enrolling, but because many farm families don’t have off-farm income and thus aren’t supported by employer-paid health care accounts, HSAs offer pre-tax contributions, making them a viable option for many farm businesses.
“Coming off of tax season, you can start contributing today and put it towards health expenses or keep it as a savings account for future health expenses,” says Veronica Bruckhoff, Profinium’s Vice President of Business Development. “Those are big benefits. Plus, HSAs are not a ‘use it or lose it account.’”
SAVINGS OVER THE LONG HAUL
HSAs offer long-term savings: Unlike Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), HSA funds roll over year to year. HSAs can be used similar to a checking account; plus, farmers can use
their HSAs to save for future health care costs, including retirement health care expenses. Profinium is also proud to offer HSA accounts with no monthly or annual service fees.
“Start contributing today, and during your next visit to the doctor, dentist, optometrist, pharmacy, etc., you can pay directly from your HSA account.” Bruckhoff says. “HSAs are their own standalone account. … I talked with a farmer recently and he said, ‘I wish I had known about this before I paid my taxes.’”
In addition to individual accounts, Profinium also now offers HSAs to businesses to offer employees. In addition, Profinium’s user-friendly app and HSA specific debit cards makes maintaining and using your HSA even simpler.
Annual Contribution Limits** for HSAs range from $4,300 for Individual Plans to $8,550 for Family Plans. Catch-Up Contributions for clients 55 and older are capped at $1,000. Contributions can be made at any point throughout the year, either in lump sums or in portions. Previously existing HSAs can also be rolled over to Profinium to keep all your accounts in one place.
To learn more about opening an HSA today, visit Profinium.com/
This is for informational purposes only.
Eligibility
Most adults under 65 who are not enrolled in Medicare and are covered under a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) can qualify for an HSA, but it is up to the account holders to determine their own eligibility.
*Consult a tax advisor.
**Contribution limits may change each year.
Third party fees for internet, messaging, or data plans may apply.
You can withdraw funds at any time for any purpose. However, if funds are withdrawn for reasons other than qualified medical expenses, the amount withdrawn will be included as taxable income, and may be subject to a 20% penalty. No minimum balance requirements after $100 minimum deposit to open the account. Fees may reduce earnings. The minimum balance required to obtain the APY is $0.01. Rates may change after the account is opened without notice. Additional terms and conditions may apply.
Veronica Bruckhoff VP - Business Development
Christian Rank Ag/Business Banker
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the department is issuing up to $10 billion for the 2024 crop year to assist agricultural producers in mitigating the impacts of
Economic relief payments are based on planted and prevented planted crop acres for eligible commodities for the 2024 crop year. FSA sent pre-filled applications to producers who submitted acreage reports to FSA for 2024 eligible ECAP commodities. Farmers can visit fsa.usda.gov/ecap to apply using a login.gov account or contact their local FSA office to request an application.
The payment rates include $29.76 per acre for soybeans.
Eligible producers must report 2024 crop year planted and prevented planted acres to FSA on an FSA-578, Report of Acreage form. Producers who have not previously reported 2024 crop year acreage or filed a notice of loss for prevented planted crops must submit an acreage report by the Aug. 15, 2025, deadline.
MSR&PC directors appointed to Soy Excellence Center
The Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council supports programs that grow global demand for U.S. Soy. Directors Joel Schreurs and Gail Donkers are doing their part by serving on the Soy Excellence Center (SEC) Global Advisory Panel
Schreurs will represent the U.S Soybean Export Council on SEC’s Global Advisory Panel and serve as SEC treasurer. Donkers, MSR&PC vice chair, was also appointed to serve on the Global Advisory Panel.
“We’re helping people by providing tools and education,” Donkers said.
Founded in 2019 with checkoff support from state and national groups including MSR&PC, the SEC builds emerging markets into examples of economic success by building the capacity and market potential of international food and agribusinesses.
“I think (SEC) is one of the best checkoff programs we’ve ever come up with,” Schreurs said.
Council director to serve on Soy Nutrition Institute Global
Patrick O’Leary, a director with MSR&PC and the United Soybean Board (USB), was appointed to serve on the Soy Nutrition Institute (SNI) Global.
“When we look at soy nutrition on the human side, it’s very much an understanding that there’s benefits to using soy in diets from a protein standpoint,” O’Leary said.
SNI Global works to identify, develop and fund soy-related research priorities and provide evidence of the impact of soy on human health.
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FACES OF MSGA
DAVE GARRY
Dave Garry has been farming ever since he can remember. He farmed with his father, now in his 68th season, but has been farming independently for the past 10 years in both Pennington and Polk counties.
“Up until some of the newer genetics of the soybeans nowadays, we struggled to get good yields,” he said. “We were trying some other commodities for crop rotation purposes.”
Besides soybeans, Garry grows specialty crops, including winter rye, yellow field peas, barley, black oil sunflowers and hard red spring wheat.
Garry is very involved in his community and charity work with his wife, Heidi. They cook breakfast for the Ronald McDonald House and participate in fundraisers to raise money for North Country Horsemen Trails to Treatment. This organization assists people in need of funding during cancer treatment. For the past 11 years, the Garrys hold Trash the Dress for MDS.
Garry joined the county board to try to make a difference and is now secretary of the Pennington-Red Lake County Corn & Soybean Growers. For local leaders like him, agriculture advocacy starts at the county level.
“Our local board wants to try to get more involved with the youth through both the FFA program and in the 4-H program,” Garry said. “Even in a very rural farm area, many people don’t know the difference between corn or soybeans.”
Jeff Rheingans
It has often been said that farmers wear many hats. When Jeff Rheingans started farming, one of those hats was being a Certified Public Accountant. In fact, he worked as a CPA in Minneapolis before he moved back to his home county of Lac qui Parle to farm.
Rheingans began farming in 1981, growing corn, wheat, soybeans and hogs, with an income tax operation on the side. After about 15 years, when his dad retired from farming, he dropped the extras and focused his attention on grain farming.
Rheingans is now president of the Lac qui Parle Corn & Soybean Board. He sees the value on how the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association has advocated for more than 60 years for new uses, markets and varieties for his soybeans.
“You look at the markets that I think the soybean association has worked to develop just in my farming career – it’s just amazing,” he said. “And the new products, like soy diesel, I mean, there’s all kinds of uses.”
Beyond farming, Rheingans is actively involved in his church and the Christian radio ministry PraiseLive of Osakis.
“I think we need to one, represent ag to the public well,” he said. “The other thing is we just need to fight for ag, whether it be regulatory or trade.”
Grateful to Growers!
There’s never been a more important time to support farm advocacy groups like the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association.
MSGA extends appreciation to the over 250 members who recently joined MSGA or renewed their memberships from February-April 2025. We thank you!
Our policy efforts are accelerating throughout 2025. We’re defending and promoting our federal priorities alongside our national partners in Washington, D.C., on critical issues ranging from trade to biofuels. On the home
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We’re representing farmers in the legislative arena during a pivotal time in agriculture and need greater support from Minnesota farm families and industry stakeholders. To join the nation’s premier state soybean advocacy association, visit mnsoybean.org/msga/invest.
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