ST. LOUIS (Sept. 4, 2013) – From the use of high-quality soy meal for animals around the world to soy oil for human consumption, soybean farmers from around the United States learned about some of the many ways customers use U.S. soybeans during the United Soybean Board’s (USB) 2013 See for Yourself program.

“The farmers on this trip really got their eyes opened to what the soy checkoff does for them as a producer and marketer of soybeans,” says David Hartke, a USB farmer-leader and soybean farmer from Teutopolis, Ill. “It’s a great grass-roots effort to educate farmers on where their checkoff dollars are going and how it benefits them.”

Participants started the program in St. Louis, visiting four sites:

• ADM, one of the largest agricultural processors in the world.
• Schaeffer Oil Company, which uses soy oil in many modern additives, such as frictional modifiers and synthetics.
• Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, which focuses on plant research, including soybeans improved through the use of biotechnology.
• Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, which uses biodiesel in equipment and vehicles.

The participants then visited multiple sites in Panama and Colombia to learn more about the soy industry and how the soybeans they raise are used outside of the United States. They toured the Panama Canal, where work continues to expand the waterway used to ship almost half of U.S. soy exports. In Colombia, they visited one of the country’s leading animal-feed manufacturers, trout farms and other places that use U.S. soy, in addition to learning about a program to use U.S. soy to help local children get better nutrition.

“I knew checkoff funds were used to promote the use of soybeans, but I didn’t know the funds were used in so many different countries,” says Quint Pottinger, a soybean farmer from New Haven, Ky. “I also didn’t know the checkoff worked to open new markets for U.S. soybeans. I learned so much with the See for Yourself program, and I’m so happy I was able to go.”

The annual See for Yourself program also provides the 10 farmer-participants with the opportunity to talk with soy-checkoff farmer-directors about their checkoff investment. They can also visit with checkoff leaders about other checkoff activities, which are aimed at improving the value of U.S. soy meal and oil, ensuring the industry and its customers have the freedom to operate and meeting the needs of U.S. soy customers.

The 69 farmer-directors of USB oversee the investments of the soy checkoff to maximize profit opportunities for all U.S. soybean farmers. These volunteers invest and leverage checkoff funds to increase the value of U.S. soy meal and oil, to ensure U.S. soybean farmers and their customers have the freedom and infrastructure to operate, and to meet the needs of U.S. soy’s customers. As stipulated in the federal Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight responsibilities for USB and the soy checkoff.

No one knows how much agriculture has evolved and transformed over time better than America’s farmers. That’s why the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is seeking farmers’ help in telling stories of the innovation and experiences of farming and ranching across the United States.

Farmers are invited to share their personal stories about the ways innovation and technology have helped to continually improve the industry at www.americanhistory.si.edu. The museum is currently seeking stories, photographs and other memorabilia to feature in its upcoming “American Enterprise” exhibition, which will paint the picture of American business through agriculture, consumer finance, information technology/communication, manufacturing and retail/service.

“Agriculture continually evolves and has become extremely efficient and sustainable with the help of new technologies,” says Sharon Covert, a farmer-leader on the United Soybean Board (USB), which recently committed a $1 million investment in support of the exhibition. “Sharing your stories and artifacts of agriculture’s transformations will allow the public to see incredible strides the industry has made in order to provide food, feed, fuel and fiber for the rest of the world.”

Submitted stories could be included in the exhibition or featured on the museum’s blog and social media sites. A few suggested themes include personal experiences, the effects of technology, or the roles of finance, competition, safety, animals, water or labor.

Scheduled to open in May 2015, this multimedia “American Enterprise” will capture the nation’s history of business spanning the mid-1700s to the present, highlighting agriculture and its many contributions to our economy.

“Growing up in the 1950s, I remember ‘walking the beans’ to remove weeds from the fields with a long-handled hoe,” says Covert in her story submission. “Now, we can spray that same field to remove the weeds and our soybeans are strong and vigorous.”

The development of American agriculture will be demonstrated through objects such as road signs related to no-till production and organic farming, a 1920s Fordson tractor and a computer cow tag and reader unit to show the change in dairy farming from an intensive hand-labor process to a modern computer-run operation.

About the United Soybean Board
The 69 farmer-directors of USB oversee the investments of the soy checkoff to maximize profit opportunities for all U.S. soybean farmers. These volunteers invest and leverage checkoff funds to increase the value of U.S. soy meal and oil, to ensure U.S. soybean farmers and their customers have the freedom and infrastructure to operate and to meet the needs of U.S. soy’s customers. The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight responsibilities for USB and the soy checkoff. For more information on the USB, visit www.unitedsoybean.org.

About the Museum
The National Museum of American History is currently renovating its West Exhibition Wing with new galleries on American business, democracy and culture; an education center; new spaces for the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation; public plazas; a Hall of Music for live performances; and the addition of a first-floor window wall with views to the Washington Monument. For more information, visit http://americanhistory.si.edu. The museum is located at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W., and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.