United Soybean Board

The United Soybean Board is a national commodity checkoff program established by the Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act of 1990. It is funded by a mandatory assessment of 0.5 percent of the net market price on each bushel of U.S. soybeans sold by producers. The board does not manage equity or debt portfolios; its entire deployment budget comes from these farmer-paid assessments.

All funding decisions are made by a volunteer board of 77 farmer-directors appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Directors are nominated by Qualified State Soybean Boards and represent soybean-producing states proportional to their production volume. The board sets strategic priorities and approves annual budgets, with day-to-day program management handled by professional staff in Chesterfield, Missouri.

The USB does not operate as a venture investor or hold equity in portfolio companies. Its model is research-grant and partnership-driven. In some cases, it funds technology development with private-sector partners or research institutions, but it does not take carried interest or equity stakes. The focus is on creating downstream demand for soy-based products and improving farm-level agronomics.

The USB funds work across multiple applied-research areas that connect to soy chemistry and agronomy. Key sectors include industrial uses — soy-based plastics, adhesives, asphalt binders, and lubricants — as well as biodiesel and renewable diesel feedstock development, high-oleic soybean breeding, animal agriculture nutrition, and aquaculture feeds. The board also funds programs in soil health, carbon sequestration measurement, and export market access.

The national United Soybean Board collects and deploys the federal half of the soybean checkoff. State-level Qualified State Soybean Boards — such as the Iowa Soybean Association or the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council — collect the other half and fund state-specific projects. The national board often co-funds projects with state boards, but its mandate is explicitly focused on building domestic and international market demand at scale.