SOYBEAN PRODUCERS TO VOICE OPINIONS IN POLL JULY 26

Soybean producers will participate in a nationwide poll next month to determine if they want a referendum on continuation of refunds on research and promotion assessments.

The poll, to be conducted at Consolidated Farm Service Agency county offices, will be held July 26, but producers can request absentee forms by mail through July 14.

Lon Hatamiya, administrator of USDA's Agriculture Marketing Services, said refunds will be discontinued if the poll indicates that producers do not support a referendum.

A refund referendum will be held if at least 20 percent of the more than 381,000 soybean producers participate in the poll. Refunds come from soybean checkoff dollars collected each year.

The nation's soybean farmers voted last year to continue a program that raises money for advertising, promotion and new-product development of soybeans through a fee on their sales. Two of the top-four soybean-producing states, however, opposed the measure by an almost 2-to-1 margin.

Nationally, 46,060 growers voted to continue the soybean checkoff program and 39,546 voted against it, for a 54 percent majority.

The vote was required under the 1990 law establishing the program. The program was approved despite opposition in Illinois, the top soybean-producing state. Illinois growers voted almost 2-to-1 against the measure, 12,864 against and 7,813 for. Growers in Indiana, the fourth-ranked soybean state, also rejected the checkoff, 6,388 to 3,680. But in Iowa, traditionally the second-ranked soybean producer, the vote was 8,237-6,129 in favor of the program. Growers in Minnesota, the third-ranked state, voted 3,583-2,656 in favor.

Missouri passed the measure in 1994 by a 62 percent margin, 2,982 for and 1,933 against. Cape Girardeau County soybean farmers heavily supported the measure, 80 to 20.

The refund program, said Leigh Burkhalter, director of public relations at the Missouri Soybean Association, Columbia, is designed for farmers who are unhappy with the way the checkoff funds are used.

She explained the process: "Ten percent of all checkoff dollars are set aside for the refund program. Soybean producers can request up to 10 percent of their share of checkoff money."

Under the program, growers pay half a cent for each dollar of sales, raising about $46 million a year. Half goes to the states and half to the United Soybean Board, the national promotion group.

Benefits of the program more than make up dollars spent by farmer, said Burkhalter.

Soybeans, which are raised extensively in Southeast Missouri, are used in many products -- soy diesel fuel, soy flour, adhesives, soy ink, plastics, foams, and NewStone, a composite building material.

Five new soybean varieties were introduced for 1994 as a result of checkoff dollars. Some of the new varieties will be resistant to soybean cyst nematode and provide larger yields. Others will be highly tolerant to phytophthora root rot and have yielded well in the presence of the disease. One of the new varieties, Piatt, was developed in Illinois. It is a late-maturing bean and is resistant to phytophthora root rot but not to cyst nematode.

Results of the 1994 referendum mean growers can get a refund of their checkoff once a year, but the amount of money available for refunds are limited.