Ag United News

Agriculture Unites to Support Industry

SIOUX FALLS, SD – In a fast-changing environment, agriculture has had to adapt to meet consumer needs. Today 2 percent of the United States’ population feeds the entire nation and a good part of the world. Those 2 percent are farmers, and they’re under pressure to produce high-quality products that meet government guidelines and consumer demands – a difficult task in a time when cropland and acreage for livestock and poultry production are becoming scarcer and the rural-urban divide is shrinking.

By uniting with animal agriculture groups, the farmer-leaders of the soybean checkoff have helped bridge the divide between crop and livestock and poultry producers. For a soybean farmer, poultry, hogs, and cattle represent the largest consumers of soybean meal, making livestock and poultry producers a soybean farmer’s top domestic customers.

“When you crush a soybean, you get four times as much meal as you do oil,” said Todd Jongeling a soybean farmer from Deuel County and Chairman of the South Dakota Soybean Association. “It’s important that soybean and other grain farmers realize the impact that animal agriculture has on our livelihoods and the success of our industry. If livestock and poultry production diminishes, so to do our markets for soybean meal, which is why South Dakota soybean farmers are working to unite agriculture toward a common goal – a sustainable industry for all producers.”

To accomplish this goal, the South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council has partnered with Ag United for South Dakota to educate soybean farmers and rural neighbors about livestock and poultry neighbors and to help promote animal agriculture.

Ag United was developed through a collaboration of farm organizations that support livestock production and development and includes the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, the South Dakota Corn Growers Association, South Dakota Farm Bureau, South Dakota Pork Producers Council and the South Dakota Soybean Association.

“Together we’re working to make our communities better and our industry stronger,” said Steve Rommereim, a hog producer from Union County. “Having the support of the soybean and other grain farmers makes me feel more secure about the future of our industry. To have the farmer-leaders of Ag United for South Dakota reach out to us and help us strengthen our outreach efforts shows their commitment to maintaining our country’s strong agricultural roots.”

The partnership between livestock and poultry producers and soybean farmers doesn’t stop at South Dakota’s borders. The national soybean checkoff has formed partnerships with other national checkoff organizations and industry groups in support of animal agriculture as well. These partnerships have also sparked increased interaction in several other states, creating a network of organizations all working together to support agriculture in the United States.

To find out more about the South Dakota Soybean Council’s partnership with animal agriculture visit www.sdsoybean.org or www.agunited.org. For information on the national soybean checkoff’s efforts, visit www.animalag.org.