BONUS: The Soybean Checkoff Story

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the soybean checkoff, we’re bringing you a bonus episode of The Bean Scene!  In this episode, Jerry Slocum shares the story behind how the soybean checkoff began.

Jerry is a fifth-generation farmer from Coldwater, Mississippi, a grain elevator operator and founding director of the United Soybean Board. As the soybean checkoff celebrates its 35th anniversary, Jerry reflects on what it took to build it — from the drought of 1988 that galvanized the movement, to the spring 1989 American Soybean Association delegate meeting in St. Louis that set it in motion, to the national program that launched in 1991 and changed the industry forever.

This episode is about the long game — the people who invested in markets that didn't exist yet, built institutions that outlasted them and showed up even when the answer seemed to be no. 

The Bean Scene is proudly brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and powered by the soybean checkoff. 

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The Iowa Soybean Association was created by Iowa's farmers in 1964 and is driven to deliver increased soybean demand through market development and new uses, farmer-focused research, timely information and know-how and policy initiatives enabling farmers and the industry to flourish.

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Transcript

Maxwell Schaeffer 0:00

Hey, welcome to the Bean Scene. Brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and the Soybean Checkoff. I'm Maxwell Schaeffer, and we've got something a little special for you today. A bonus episode. This year marks 35 years since the National Soybean Checkoff was founded. And we know someone who was in the room when it was created. Aaron Putze, Chief Officer of Brand Management and Engagement for the Iowa Soybean Association, spoke with Jerry Slocum, a fifth-generation farmer, grain elevator operator, and founding director of the United Soybean Board. We're talking about what it took to create a stable, unified funding model for an industry that had been operating in fragments. We're talking about opening markets in China before anyone knew what that would become. We're talking about trade missions, tough calls in France, and what it means to find a passion and dive in headfirst. Jerry doesn't sugarcoat it. He'll tell you about what worked and what didn't, and why even the trips that didn't go as planned taught the industry something it needed to know. Now, this is the kind of institutional knowledge that doesn't show up in a press release. And we think it's worth your time. Here's Aaron's conversation with Jerry.

Why and How the Soybean Checkoff was Created

Aaron Putze 1:21

Jerry, one of the things we hear farmers talk a lot about, and rightly so, is the investment they make in the soybean checkoff. And you know, as farmers are planting here in Iowa right now, obviously every cost is top of mind. Uh you get it. You're a farmer. You also have grain elevators, you move grain, you get it uh better than anyone. You've been on the ground floor of the checkoff, and you made some really interesting and prospective comments. Share your thoughts on the checkoff and why it matters to you and other farmers like you.

Jerry Slocum 1:53

Well, you know, it's the bedrock of our effort to promote the industry we're in. We can do things with the checkoff that collectively that we can't do individually. It's been a just a huge success since we created the national checkoff. It replaced a whole bunch of state checkoffs that were at much lower levels and inconsistent because they were tied to production instead of price received. And uh so the National Soybean Checkoff has given us a real stable base of funding. And then when you couple that with some uh policy changes in Washington, Freedom of the Farm that allowed us to plant the crops that made the most economic sense. I mean, the soybean acreage just exploded in this country during the decade of the 90s. And I think it's been good for soybean farmers. I really think it's been good for soybean farmers, and this checkoff is the model that all others will follow.

Aaron Putze 2:43

And it was born uh because we had gone through a tremendous drought, hadn't we? And and and and the dollars that we had just weren't there. I mean, uh talk a little bit about from that perspective, too, of what took place that really created the checkoff that we have today.

Jerry Slocum 2:58

You know, ASA had talked about a national checkoff in the late 80s, but the drought of 1988, which affected every county in this country, we were in Des Moines at the ASA Expo that August, and it was blazing hot. I really think that drought was a genesis because spring of 89 met and decided to pursue the national soybean checkoff. Took to 1991 to get it in place, but nonetheless, you know, it got in

Does the Soybean Checkoff Create Markets?

Jerry Slocum 3:24

place.

Aaron Putze 3:24

Market development, you know, is on the minds of everybody right now. Jerry, as you know, I mean, you manage rain elevators. You you see uh the grain flow and the importance of having a market for what you're growing. And here we are getting started on another growing season. And obviously, China being in the news with tariffs and all that. But talk a little bit about what built the market uh of China and why is that so important to the U.S. soybean farmer.

Jerry Slocum 3:50

International market development for soybeans has been the baby, the ASA International Marketing Committee since the 50s. Started in 1956 in Japan, opened that office in China in 1985 when they were growing 10 million metric tons of soybeans and actually exporting soybean meal. So the thought was if we can go in there and get them to use their own soybean meal, feed their hog herd a little bit better, you you know, we may create demand for us as American soybean farmers. So it was kind of a risky thing to do at the at the beginning, but uh you can see what's what's evolved from there. I mean, today they grow about 20 million tons, about twice what they did, and they export import 112 million metric tons. I mean, an appetite for 132 million tons in 40 years. I mean, it's outrageous.

Aaron Putze 4:37

It's absolutely outrageous. And we hear um a lot about India in the news as well. And I know people run hot and cold on that market and what the potential is for the U.S. soybean farmer. What's your take on it?

Jerry Slocum 4:50

Well, you know, we opened that office in India in 96 when I was chairman of USB, and it had the same philosophy there we had in China. And we thought it would be the next China in 40 years like China became in 40 years, but that hadn't happened because you think about India, it's a very different place in China. The China Chinese are big meat eaters. Indians, largely a vegetarian. Or if they're not a vegetarian, they eat just a handful of meat a week. So it's a different marketplace. We're making some headways there. ASA with AIM and then USEC went in there and created as a poultry industry, and it's growing at seven or eight, nine percent a year. And what you hope there is you get to a day where they have to start importing soybean meal and some corn from the world to feed that chicken herd, and you hope there that the demand for it grows so fast that it lets the U.S. poultry grower ship some p poultry into there. And we still have hope for India. You know, it's just not going, it hadn't evolved as quickly as we'd like. But I think it will, and I think it'll become a pretty good market for soy protein and and feed grains. Uh it won't happen overnight. Hadn't happened overnight. But we're not gonna quit trying, I can promise you

The Importance of Farmer Leaders

Jerry Slocum 6:01

that.

Aaron Putze 6:02

Well, I know, Jerry, that uh you've got other things that you could be doing other than serving on the United Soybean Board. But I gotta ask you, what makes you want to get up every morning and roll up your sleeves and go to work for this industry? What makes you care so much about it and what gives you that drive to want to promote it?

Jerry Slocum 6:25

Well, Aaron, it's you know, agriculture's my livelihood. Fifth generation farmer have grown up in it, uh, got a degree in agricultural engineering. I mean, it's it's the bedrock of my life. And soybeans are important to a lot of people in this country. They're important to me personally. I grow them. They're important to our our elevator business, we handle them. They're important to farmers that we buy from. And that's what really drives me to do it. And I also believe that people need to find a passion in life to volunteer. That's how we pay our debt to society, is that we volunteer. So find something that I'm passionate about and dive head over heels into it.

Aaron Putze 7:04

What's a trade mission that you were on that really stood out to you? That obviously you've been to how many countries have you kept track? No, probably three or four dozen. Talk uh about a a trade mission that stands out to you and why is that kind of work so important?

Jerry Slocum 7:19

Well, I think there are two things that that stand out in my mind. Uh one would have been the first biotech conference in China. And to see the energy in that room, and it was a room of about 400 Chinese, the energy in that room, when we introduced that topic, there was fear because, you know, the U.S. was growing it, Brazil was growing it, Argentines were growing it, but there was a hope in that room that day. And that was an exciting thing. Now, that's not a trade mission in the sense of a trade mission, but a lot of the work that I did for USB, a lot of traveling I did was that kind of work. One of the other things was when we struggled in Europe to decide what to do, as China was growing and we had a huge investment in Europe that really wasn't paying off very well. Going to Europe and deciding to, hey, we need to shutter some of these efforts and shift these dollars, you know, that was really telling. When we're in the France trying to sell soybean meal into at that time, the largest you know, poultry exporter in the world was France, and they had no interest in it. And that's not the best trade mission you can go on. But it it it lets you make some definitive decisions about where you don't need to be and where you do need to be.

Jerry's Passions Beyond Agriculture

Jerry Slocum 8:31

Right.

Aaron Putze 8:31

So now I do promise this is my last question. When you're not representing soybean farmers, when you're not reading up on the industry, doing the work that you do, uh what what what do you what do you like to do when you get away? I like water sports.

Jerry Slocum 8:45

I still water ski, I enjoy it. I fish a little bit, but that's not that's my main thing.

Aaron Putze 8:50

What's the biggest catch? What do you what do you think?

Jerry Slocum 8:52

Well, we we're trout fishermen. And you know, so we're catching those maybe eight, nine pounders of pretty big fish. But we enjoy it. I enjoy it. I think Cindy enjoys it. So and I like to read. I read so much stuff that I have to read. So when I can just get on an airplane and read, or get in that quiet corner of the house and just read something fun.

Aaron Putze 9:12

They say leaders are readers, Jerry, and uh appreciate your leadership. Thanks for uh spending a little bit of time with me here for the being scene as we're on the go, as the soybean industry always is. Thank you so much.

Jerry Slocum 9:22

Thank you, Aaron.

Maxwell Schaeffer 9:23

And that's Jerry Slocum. If you learned something about what it actually took to build the markets Iowa farmers depend on today, let us know. Drop a comment, send us a text, or share this episode with a friend. You can find all that information in our show notes. Jerry said something that stuck with me. We can do things collectively that we can't do individually. That's the whole idea behind the checkoff. And it's still true 35 years later. So wherever you're listening from, whether you're in a tractor cab, on a morning drive, or catching up at the end of a long day, just know that the work being done on your behalf goes back a long way. Now for our fun soy fact. Did you know that the soybean checkoff currently generates an estimated return of $12.30 for every dollar invested by farmers? Now that's a legacy at work. Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of the Bean Scene, brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and the Soybean Checkoff. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the Iowa Soybean Association on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube. Happy 35th anniversary, soybean checkoff.