Illinois Soybean Association, United Soybean Board and Syngenta teamwork to enhance soybean quality and value

A new collaboration amongst Syngenta Seeds, the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) and the United Soybean Board (USB) will help showcase and advance the livestock nutritional value of Syngenta soybean varieties.

Syngenta Seeds, LLC North America Regional Director and President David Hollinrake says the company has made a commitment to advancing quality traits in its soybean and corn seed to maximize value from seed-to-feed and fuel markets. “The soybean checkoff and nutritionists have identified which quality traits best meet livestock customer needs, and we want to help farmers maximize their feed markets with our varieties,” Hollinrake adds.

ISA chairman Doug Schroeder praised Syngenta for being the first multinational seed company to take a public stand for soybean quality.

“Syngenta’s focus will help farmers fight serious market share and revenue losses in critical swine feed markets,” Schroeder says. “Soybean meal in swine feed rations has dropped 70 percent since 1990, largely replaced by synthetic amino acids and corn byproducts such as DDGS. ISA is dedicated to reversing that trend.”

Syngenta will leverage nutrition findings from the ongoing High Yield PLUS Quality (HY+Q) program originally developed by the ISA four years ago. HY+Q is also a national checkoff-funded initiative dedicated to increasing the feed value of soybeans by encouraging farmers to select and plant those soybean varieties that feature high livestock nutritional value, as determined by amino acid profiles. More than 70 percent of U.S. soybeans are fed to livestock across the swine, dairy, beef and poultry sectors.

“Soybean producers are losing sales to synthetic feed ingredients and other grains,” says Schroeder, a soybean producer in Mahomet, Ill. “Seed company involvement is critical to the identification, development and promotion of select soybean varieties that will help producers meet the needs of their customers.”

Syngenta joins LG Seeds and AgriGold as the third seed company to support soybean quality advancement.

The Syngenta program will encompass the company’s major seed brands, including NK, Golden Harvest and Enogen Feed Hybrids. Syngenta teams will identify and promote soybean varieties and corn hybrids in the Syngenta portfolio that have the nutritional characteristics most sought after by livestock and ethanol producers, respectively.

“Many of our customers take livestock nutritional criteria into account, just as they do yield and agronomic traits, when making seed-selection decisions,” says Travis Kriegshauser, strategic marketing manager for soybeans at Syngenta. “We offer many varieties and hybrids with superior nutritional value, which in turn help livestock producers enhance animal growth and productivity.”

As part of the HY+Q initiative, the ISA maintains a website at www.soyvalue.com that ranks hundreds of popular soybean varieties for livestock nutritional value across national, regional and local seed brands. The data is derived from more than 50,000 soybean samples between 2013 and 2018. New data from 2019 on varietal performance will soon be uploaded to the site. Farmers can have their own soybeans tested for nutritional value by ordering free sample kits at the website.

About ISA: The Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) checkoff program represents more than 43,000 soybean farmers in Illinois. The checkoff funds market development, soybean production and profitability research, issues analysis, communications and education. ISA programs are designed to ensure Illinois soy is the highest quality, most dependable, sustainable and competitive in the global marketplace. For more information, visit
 the website www.ilsoy.org.

About the United Soybean Board: USB’s 78 farmer-directors work on behalf of all U.S. soybean farmers to achieve maximum value for their soy checkoff investments. These volunteers invest and leverage checkoff funds in programs and partnerships to drive soybean innovation beyond the bushel and increase preference for U.S. soy. That preference is based on U.S. soybean meal and oil quality and the sustainability of U.S. soybean farmers. As stipulated in the federal Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight responsibilities for USB and the soy checkoff. For more information on the United Soybean Board, visit unitedsoybean.org.