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Longtime Hillsboro farmer and member of the United Soybean Board Don Willis joined 76 other board representatives during the organization’s meeting Feb. 7-9 in Nashville.

Willis said the national board is made up of soybean farmers from throughout the United States.

“Our meeting in Nashville this last week was to set direction and prioritize what research to fund,” Willis said from his farm office in Hillsboro. “There are a lot of good things going on with soybeans.”

The meeting included a General Session where farmer-leaders set priorities for program investments for fiscal year 2024 portfolios.

According to the United Soybean Board statement, “these portfolios are split across supply and demand for infrastructure and connectivity, health and nutrition, and innovation and technology, in addition to the communication and education committee. The decisions made at this meeting will further USB’s mission to create value for U.S. soybean farmers by investing in research, education and promotion of U.S. Soy.”

Willis said he previously served on the Tennessee Soybean Promotion Board.

“I served two terms on the state board and I was asked to be one of Tennessee’s representatives at the national level,” he said.

Willis said Tennessee currently has three representatives on the United Soybean Board.

While Willis is from southern Middle Tennessee, he said the other two representatives are from northwest Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee.

“Tennessee has three seats on the board, which is really good,” Willis said. “We had two for a long time but having three, we feel like we are able to better represent Tennessee.”

Willis said during the meeting, board members were broken up into committees and sub committees where they casted their votes and heard some healthy discussions.

“It is a lot of discussion because different regions of the country have different priorities as far as what research they want and soybean usage,” he said. “In the southeast, we feed a lot of chickens. In the Delmarva Peninsula (on the East Coast), most of the soybean oil there is to cook potato chips.”

“There are different uses, so there is a lot of discussion about how to prioritize the money,” Willis added.

According to the United Soybean Board, the organization is funded by a commodity checkoff, which collects one half of one percent of the soybeans that are sold, that value is then put in a fund which is then used to fund research and promotion for soybean growers.

Willis said soybeans are a part of so many things in day-to-day life, that a lot of people might not know what all they can be utilized for.

“Goodyear is producing a tire that does not have any rubber in it, it is made from soybean oil,” Willis said. “Most of your Goodyear shoe souls are soybean oil now, they are trying to decrease the environmental impact of the rubber production.”

Some other significant uses of soybeans include a bio-fuel used in New York City for heat as well as an asphalt-free paving material, Willis said.

For more information about the United Soybean Board, visit www.unitedsoybean.org.