SIOUX FALLS, SD – United Soybean Board members held their summer board meeting and approved 181 new checkoff funded projects with a total allocation of $78 million for the 2022 fiscal year. South Dakota has four directors serving on the board. One of those is Jason Frerichs of Wilmot. He says budget priorities includes soybean meal and oil and sustainability and making sure U.S. soybeans are the most valuable around the globe.
“The main areas that we focus on are insuring that we have the meal and oil aspects taken care of,” said Frerichs. “We also want to be leveraging the benefits of U.S. soybeans as premiere over others throughout the world.”
He says they made sure the projects they approved will increase soy demand.
“We also have to make sure we chose projects that continue to add demand for soybeans. We are in unprecedented time where we are seeing record prices for soybeans and at the same time our partners in the soy value chain, they need to continue to have that confidence that they are going to have the product and also at some level of a price that they can continue to be in business.”
Frerichs says besides setting a budget and funding various projects, directors also adopted a long-term strategic plan.
“In addition to setting our budget for the upcoming year and awarding projects for checkoff dollars we also put forward a long-range strategic plan which helps to move us to the next level in terms of making sure that technology is at the forefront. And also knowing that infrastructure is also very key.”
Frerichs says that every dollar invested in the soy checkoff returns over $12 in added value to soybeans.
“We’re very proud of that measurement to know that for every dollar invested, to have a $12 return is significant. We want to continue to strive to maintain that level of return on investment for our checkoff. Whether it’s at the state checkoff level or national for soybeans we know that it is continually adding value to the soybeans we produce.”
South Dakota producers serving as directors for USB besides Frerichs, include Todd Hanten, Mike McCranie, and Dave Iverson.
