Protecting Indiana’s soybean checkoff program a key goal in 2026 Assembly 

By Brian Warpup, ISA Membership & Policy Committee Chair 

When I was 10 years old, I attended my first Chicago Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field. Being in elementary school, nothing could seem to top this moment. I can still remember walking in, going through the concourse and taking in the view of the field from my seat near the third base line. 

The next year I was able to go back and watch another game, but this time my seat was on the other side and up in the second deck. The sights were completely different than what I remembered. The players seemed further away, but I could see the entire field and the view of Wrigley was majestic. 

I was at the same place, but the game seemed different simply from a change in…perspective. 

As I look back on this year as chair of the Indiana Soybean Alliance’s Membership and Policy Committee (M&P), I have several new perspectives. Does legislation help or hinder farmers in Indiana? 

My view of what happens in Indianapolis or Washington, D.C., always seemed too far away or out of my control. What I have learned is that if many of us have a common goal on protecting our interests and we can get in contact with the right people, positive outcomes can happen within the agricultural industry. 

Simply paying attention to potential bills or laws and knowing the direction to go can help all of us move forward. In the next session of the Indiana General Assembly, which begins in January, M&P will work to provide a safety net for Indiana soybean growers. 

As a board member of the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA), our state’s soybean checkoff program, I have seen firsthand what the checkoff does and how this meaningful approach works to attain our goals and influences our agricultural landscape. The checkoff is a great way to pull resources together for the common good for Indiana farmers. 

All soybean farmers pay into the checkoff. Half of those funds remain in Indiana and are controlled by the farmer leaders of the ISA board. The other half goes to the United Soybean Board (USB), the national soybean checkoff program. Farmer leaders from across America direct USB funds. A federal soybean checkoff law requires Indiana to collect these funds for ISA and USB. However, that law is subject to congressional action that could eliminate those funds and the work they do. 

What would Indiana farmers do if this was taken away? How would Indiana farmers maintain the programs that help move our product around the world? 

Most other soybean-growing states have adopted state laws that allow state soybean checkoff programs to continue collecting those funds without requiring them to share the funds with a national program. Indiana is the largest soybean-growing state without this type of law. 

We, at M&P, want to see the state’s soybean checkoff program continue its efforts to find new export markets, to create new products, to research new growing techniques and to promote soybean uses to consumers around the world. 

M&P will support creating this safety net for the state checkoff during the next General Assembly. This safety net will only go into action if the national checkoff program is ever eliminated. The bill does not ask Indiana farmers to pay more into the checkoff program. 

Having this safety net for state checkoff efforts is crucial. This law would change our perspective in our efforts but keep a seat in the game.