A request for referendum campaign kicks off today on the Soybean Promotion and Research Program. USDA is conducting it and producers have four weeks to participate. According to the United Soybean Board:
The request for referendum will determine whether U.S. soybean producers want a referendum on the Soybean Promotion and Research Program. The Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act requires that the Secretary of Agriculture provide soybean producers the opportunity to petition for a referendum every five years.
Soybean producers eligible to participate in the request for referendum are defined as any producer who paid an assessment on the sale of soybeans during the period beginning January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2008, and who owned or shared in the ownership and the risk of loss of such soybeans during this period of time. Eligible individuals who do not want a referendum need not take any action.
Producers can obtain a LS-51-1 form to request a referendum either in person, by mail or by fax from May 4, 2009, through May 29, 2009, from their county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices or online at http://www.ams.usda.gov/lsmarketingprograms. Individual producers and other producer entities can request a referendum at the county FSA office that maintains and processes the producer’s administrative farm records. A producer not participating in FSA programs may request a referendum at the county FSA office serving the area where the producer owns or rents land.
Request for Referendum forms returned by mail must be postmarked by midnight May 29, 2009, and received in the county FSA office by close of business on June 5, 2009. Producers also need to attach documentation such as a sales receipt to this form showing that the producer, corporation or other entity paid assessments on soybeans during the period from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2008. FSA will determine a producer’s eligibility and notify all producers who are ineligible to participate in the request for referendum process.
The U.S. Soybean Federation has also commented publicly on the request for referendum.
“There is absolutely no question that soybean farmers have benefited from the national soybean checkoff program,” says Warren Stemme, USSF president and a soybean farmer from Chesterfield, Mo. “The farmers who created the checkoff nearly 18 years ago demonstrated an amazing amount of insight and now it’s the job of today’s soybean farmers to keep the program and the corresponding legislation intact.”
Beginning today soybean farmers have the opportunity to participate in a request for referendum. Farmers can sign a petition requesting a vote on the continuation of the soybean checkoff program.
USSF Vice President Jerry Slocum explained that farmers who believe the soybean checkoff is doing a good job for them don’t need to sign the petition.