The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that a referendum on the Soybean Promotion and Research Order will not be conducted. The decision is a result of a soybean Request for Referendum held May 6-31, 2024, through USDA Farm Service Agency County offices.
The Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act requires the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a Request for Referendum every five years to determine if there is sufficient interest among soybean producers to vote on whether to continue the order. The last Request for Referendum was held in May 2019.
During the recent Request for Referendum, 229 soybean producers participated with 207 submitting valid requests. To initiate a continuance referendum, at least 10 percent, or 41,336 of the 413,358 soybean producers nationwide, had to vote in the Request for Referendum with not more than one-fifth of the voting participants from any one state.
Results showing states with valid petitions are as follows:
State | Valid Ballots |
Alabama | 0 |
Alaska | 0 |
Arizona | 0 |
Arkansas | 0 |
California | 0 |
Colorado | 0 |
Connecticut | 0 |
Delaware | 0 |
Florida | 0 |
Georgia | 0 |
Hawaii | 0 |
Idaho | 0 |
Illinois | 35 |
Indiana | 33 |
Iowa | 46 |
Kansas | 2 |
Kentucky | 7 |
Louisiana | 0 |
Maine | 0 |
Maryland | 4 |
Massachusetts | 0 |
Michigan | 1 |
Minnesota | 27 |
Mississippi | 0 |
Missouri | 12 |
Montana | 0 |
Nebraska | 4 |
Nevada | 0 |
New Hampshire | 0 |
New Jersey | 0 |
New Mexico | 0 |
New York | 0 |
North Carolina | 0 |
North Dakota | 2 |
Ohio | 14 |
Oklahoma | 0 |
Oregon | 0 |
Pennsylvania | 2 |
Rhode Island | 0 |
South Carolina | 0 |
South Dakota | 12 |
Tennessee | 0 |
Texas | 1 |
Utah | 0 |
Vermont | 0 |
Virginia | 0 |
Washington | 0 |
West Virginia | 0 |
Wisconsin | 5 |
Wyoming | 0 |
National Total | 207 |
A notice of the results were published in the Federal Register on Oct. 1, 2024.
For more information, contact Jason Julian at (202) 731-2149 or jason.julian@usda.gov. You may also write to Research and Promotion Division, Livestock and Poultry Program, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., STOP-0249, Room 2092-S, Washington, D.C. 20250-0249.
Since 1966, Congress has authorized the development of industry-funded research and promotion boards to provide a framework for agricultural industries to pool their resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets and conduct important research and promotion activities. AMS provides oversight of 22 boards, paid for by industry assessments, which helps ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.
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