Infrastructure impacts on soybeans

By Dusty Sonnenberg, CCA, Ohio Field Leader, a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and soybean check-off

Infrastructure and connectivity are important aspects in today’s high tech production agriculture world. They are also things that the United Soybean Board has listed as a major issue and priority areas according to Meagan Kaiser. Kaiser serves as Chairwoman of the United Soybean Board (USB).

“It is important to make better data driven decisions. With the high inputs and prices, it is important when considering sustainability to continue to be the most efficient producers possible. This includes overlaying soil test data, harvest data, variety maps, in season applications, and evaluating from those what received the best returns,” Kaiser said. “Data driven decisions on the farm lead to better sustainability.”

In rural America, infrastructure extends far beyond roads and rails and rivers, to also includes digital technology and connectivity.

“As farmers we are now talking about repeaters on our grain bins, and how we are meshing between cellular and WiFi and where other repeaters may be needed for coverage because of how spread out the farming operations are. There are a lot of unique challenges, and so one of the areas that the United Soybean Board has engaged in that we have listed as a major priority and focus area is infrastructure and connectivity,” Kaiser said. “We are talking about not just the rails and rivers and roads that get our crop to the world marketplace, but also the infrastructure we need to be able to take data from our irrigation equipment and grain dryers and all these things that have a lot of information that is so useful to make us better stewards. We have got to be able to piece it all together in a meaningful way that really encourages efficient production.”  

 “Infrastructure has been a priority for a long time for USB. We struggled with how to engage  in a way that was different and no one else was doing to help the American soybean farmer. We finally found a project that no one was doing. That was the dredging of the lower Mississippi River. When we looked into it, we asked why no one had taken it on, and we learned that no one wanted to pay for the planning, the engineering and the design.”

This is where USB could step in.

“Since USB is a check-off organization, it cannot influence policy or own things,” Kaiser said. “The check-off is meant to invest for the future. USB can help to pay for the plan and design for a dredging project. USB made a $2 million investment that was met with a $200 million investment from the federal government and state of Louisiana because they realized how important this project was to farmers and it became a federal priority.

“This year we saw the low river levels in the fall, and what that does to basis. We know how important that is and what that does to our financial stability. We know that it is the reliability that our customers need from us to be able to get our grain to the global marketplace. USB was able to engage in that project, and has opened the box to other areas that we can make a difference in.”

Having adequate quality infrastructure affects international markets and market opportunities.

“International buyers need to know that when they order soybeans from us, that it will arrive in a timely manner,” Kaiser said. “When we look at the difference it makes when a port cannot get boats in or out, or when the river needs to go down to one lane of traffic because there is not enough depth of water, that completely changes the dynamics and the basis on our farms. Alternatively, looking at it from a buyers perspective, if I am going to buy U.S. Soy, I want to know that it is going to show up on time and that it is going to be the quality that I purchased and not have contaminates in it. Those are some of the things that U.S. Soy is very good at providing and that has been a huge selling point internationally.”

Another infrastructure project and USB priority has been Lock and Dam 25 on the river.

“USB was able to be a part of the planning and design of Lock and Dam 25. Each one of those locks and dams is a critical gateway on the river to the world,” Kaiser said. “Infrastructure is so important, whether it be the right culverts on the road as we head from the field to the elevator and then having that intermodal transportation from the elevator to the rail to the rivers. All of those movements are important to our sustainability and reliability and ultimately to our international customers who want to buy U.S. soybeans.”