The Soybean Pod

We’ve heard superlatives from others referring to their relationship with Jerry Schmitz and about Jerry’s role in the founding of the South Dakota Soybean Association. In this edition of the Soybean Pod, the floor is Jerry’s. We’ll dive into his upbringing, his college years and most of all, the impetus in founding the organization from which he retires as executive director. Although Schmitz has...

Steven Censky, in his second tenure as CEO of the American Soybean Association, measures the pulse of global and domestic circumstances that affect soybean growers. He says many growers priced fertilizer supplies prior to conflicts in Iran and on the Strait of Hormuz. However, many did not. Those are the hardest hit with steep cost increases resulting from that war. In this edition of the Soybean...

Terry Jaspers’ resume is well-rounded for leadership. After serving the FFA as a state officer, his education at South Dakota State University prepared him to be a farm lender. That didn’t keep him from farming at aSisseton, South Dakota, whose citizens he serves as mayor. At the time of this interview for the Soybean Pod, Jaspers was a few months into his first term on the South Dakota Soybean Ch...

Soybeans grown in northern states, including South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota, states that comprise Northern Soy Marketing, are being marketed to soybean meal buyers in Southeast Asia. The competing supplier – Brazil – touts soybean meal that they say has more crude protein. On this edition of the Soybean Pod, poultry nutrition consultant Bob Swick says that what northern-grown soybeans la...

It’s fitting that a phrase repeated at Orion Samuelson’s funeral was one that he often used to remind farmers and non-farmers alike: “If you eat, you’re involved in agriculture.” Samuelson, a supporter of producer-funded checkoff programs, became well known most notably on WGN Radio in Chicago, as well as for co-founding and co-anchoring the nationally televised U.S. Farm Report and later This Wee...

Out of the 200,000 bushels of soybeans crushed each day by South Dakota Soybean Processors (SDSP), a few thousand are non-GM (non-genetically modified). In this edition of the Soybean Pod, the company’s senior procurement manager, Kari VanderWal, explains what it takes to supply that daily demand for soybeans grown without traits developed through genetic modification. Growing non-GM soybeans is n...

A fermentation process in Volga, South Dakota, is amping up the nutritional specs on soybean meal. Years ago, Dr. William Gibbons and Dr. Mike Brown, both professors at South Dakota State University, developed a method of bio-transformation resulting in a high-protein feed for aquaculture. Expansion into feeds for swine, poultry and pets led to a name change. Dustin Gibbons, the son of the company...

25X’25 Pursues Renewable Fuels Goals Yet to Reach by SD Soybean

Soybean demand rises and falls with export prospects and domestic uses. On this edition of The Soybean Pod, South Dakota soybean growers talk about what is driving demand and where they think demand is headed. Those growers also talked about how the Soybean Checkoff contributes to demand for the crop domestically and overseas. These conversations with farmer/leaders Bruce Haines, Drew Peterson and...

Cole Sonne is the fourth generation on his family’s Mount Vernon, South Dakota farm. Cole’s days are spent alongside his father raising corn, soybeans and Black Angus cattle, but there’s more. “We also have a YouTube channel called Sonne Farms,” said Sonne, “which I believe is the biggest YouTube channel in South Dakota.” It’s big to the tune of tens of thousands of viewers per episode, seen all o...

Tanner Hento’s name is becoming more familiar, especially among soybean farmers in South Dakota. But now that familiarity is growing on a wider scope. The 36-year-old Avon, South Dakota producer was one of four winners of the National Outstanding Young Farmer award for 2026. Hento accepted the award during a ceremony in Hershey, Pennsylvania, 11 days after being elected president of the South Dako...

A fermentation process in Volga, South Dakota, is amping up the nutritional specs on soybean meal. Years ago, Dr. William Gibbons and Dr. Mike Brown, both professors at South Dakota State University, developed a method of bio-transformation resulting in a high-protein feed for aquaculture. Expansion into feeds for swine, poultry and pets led to a name change. Dustin Gibbons, the son of the company...

The guard is changing in more ways than one. Kevin Scott is the new assistant executive director for the South Dakota Soybean Association and the South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council. Scott, a farmer from Valley Springs, South Dakota, was brought aboard in anticipation of the retirement later this year of current executive director Jerry Schmitz. Kevin Scott’s leadership experience...

It is increasingly difficult to successfully pass a farm to the next generation. South Dakota State University Extension is addressing what it takes to navigate this succession with a series of Sustaining the Legacy conferences on what it takes to plan for passing the farm down. From estate planning to retirement to long-term care, on this edition of The Soybean Pod, we talk to Heather Gessner, So...

A late-October 2025 agreement between President Trump and Chinese President Xi was that China would resume importing soybeans from the U.S. after they suspended U.S. soybean buys this past spring. Two-and-a-half weeks after the announced agreement, agricultural cooperative Wheaton Dumont Coop, which serves farmers in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota, said it would move at least four unit t...

Soybean farmers are struggling without China among the list of U.S. export customers. To maintain soybean demand, growers are heavily dependent on exports, particularly exports to China. The world’s largest soybean importer has backed away from buying U.S. soybeans, which is hurting farmers’ bottom line. On this edition of The Soybean Pod, from South Dakota soybean farmers and their checkoff, Treg...

There’s been a lot of noise about seed oils, including soybean oil. Some of it, specifically from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior is critical, blaming the oils for inflammation and chronic diseases like type II diabetes and obesity. Dr. Mark Messina could not disagree more. On this edition of The Soybean Pod, Dr. Messina, director of nutrition science and research...

A bio-adjuvant being developed with support from the South Dakota Soybean Checkoff at Dakota BioWorx in Brookings, South Dakota, will enhance the efficacy of crop protection sprays while yielding a dry material that shows promise in treating white mold and other crop ailments. “The beautiful thing about it is this is derived from soybean,” says Dr. Matthew Cole, founder and CEO of Pioneer Biotech....

Dakota BioWorx is housed in the new POET Bioproducts Center at the South Dakota State University Research Park. The firm is home to a bunch of bioprocessing labs, bioreactors and processing facilities that help scale up bioproduct ideas that are getting closer to commercial launch and success. In this edition of the Soybean Pod from South Dakota soybean farmers and their checkoff, we’ll talk to Da...

Research and experience point to the conclusion that reducing tillage is a good farm production practice. On this edition of The Soybean Pod from South Dakota soybean farmers and their checkoff, our guest is Peter Kovacs, an associate professor in the Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science at South Dakota State University. Kovacs talks about Soybean Checkoff-supported research on r...

Zach Smith went from an upbringing in the shadow of Disney World to doing soybean feeding trials on South Dakota beef cattle. On this edition of The Soybean Pod from South Dakota soybean farmers and their checkoff, we’ll talk to the central Florida native about that checkoff-supported research being conducted at South Dakota State University. With a calculator at the ready, Smith, an associate pro...

Biobased diesel fuels – many of them sourced from soybeans – are breaking records. Numbers associated with these liquid fuels are impressive and continue to rise. On this edition of The Soybean Pod from South Dakota soybean farmers and their checkoff, Kate Shenk, director of regulatory affairs for Clean Fuels Alliance America, talks about those numbers and what they mean for soybean farmers and ru...

The soybean market is hurting compared to its high-water mark. The robust markets soybean growers enjoyed in 2012 and 2022 seem a distant memory. In this edition of The Soybean Pod from South Dakota soybean growers and their checkoff, agriculture economist Ben Brown at the Food and Agricultural Policy Institute offers insights into why the markets are soft, as well as where they might go and how t...

A South Dakota State University study indicates the adoption of conservation practices like reduced or no-tillage contributes to yield increases and improvements in soil health. In this edition of The Soybean Pod from South Dakota soybean farmers and their checkoff, Dr. David Clay, Distinguished Professor of soil science at SDSU, explains how that has happened and how conservation farming can impr...

During the spring of 2025, South Dakota farmers experienced and endured all manner of weather through the planting and early growing seasons. On this edition of the Soybean Pod, American Soybean Association Corteva Young Leader Program alumnus and current SDSA board member Jeff Kloucek talks about his satisfaction with the season in the short time since planting and about his approach to crop cons...