By Jordan Bright, ASA Director of Social & Digital Media
From shifting markets to uncontrollable weather, soybean farmers juggle challenges at home and abroad while producing the food and fuel the world relies on. While they navigate these unpredictable landscapes, the American Soybean Association makes sure their voices are heard on policy and trade in Washington, D.C.
Throughout 2025, each American Soybean magazine has broken down ASA’s main priority policy issues and why advocating for them is so important. This final quarter, we explore transportation and infrastructure; sustainability and conservation; and appropriations.
Transportation & Infrastructure
When U.S. farmers have harvested the last soybean for the season and the grain hoppers are full, soybeans begin their long journey from field to market. The U.S. soybean industry relies on a multimodal transportation network including truck, rail and waterways to move its products to exports or domestic feed, fuel and biobased markets.
U.S. infrastructure is historically one of the largest advantages American soybean farmers have over competitors abroad, and a modernized infrastructure that supports reliable transportation is imperative to U.S. soy’s continued success.
“Throughout all areas of policy, a strong farmer voice provides important perspective and helps move the needle. Infrastructure efficiency improves basis. Educating lawmakers about the need for infrastructure investments for farmers, whether or not that key infrastructure is within a specific Congressional district, helps drive broader geographic support for major projects,” said ASA Executive Director of Government Affairs Alexa Combelic.
To ensure soybeans can move seamlessly to market, ASA advocates on Capitol Hill for directing federal infrastructure funding toward improving transportation systems, including crumbling locks and dams, rural roads and bridges.
The U.S. inland waterways system includes nearly 12,000 miles of navigable waters and hundreds of aging locks and dams—the majority of which have exceeded their originally engineered 50-year lifespans, including those on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Despite its outdated infrastructure, inland waterways systems remain the most cost-effective and efficient way to transport agricultural products to export terminals.
While several legislative wins over the past several years have helped secure new and increased funding to upgrade the U.S. inland waterways system, much of the infrastructure remains outdated and requires continued advocacy to secure the funding and authorizations needed to address the construction backlog.
Much like the locks and dams on the inland waterways system, aging roads and bridges can also hinder the ability of soybean growers to move their products to market in a cost-effective manner. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided new and expanded funding for highway and road repair projects across the country. Additionally, it included funding for a pilot project that seeks to support bioproducts like soy-based transportation related construction materials.
Sustainability & Conservation
U.S. soybean farmers have long been committed to efforts that support sustainability, which includes environmental, economic and social pillars, along with conservation.
Sustainability policy in Washington, D.C. is ever evolving. Through executive orders, rulemaking and legislation, ASA must be prepared to help shape and react to a variety of proposals. ASA farmer-leaders appreciate the opportunity to be engaged in legislative, regulatory, and most importantly, on-farm efforts that will preserve the future of farming and the future world at large.
“Policy conversations are increasingly placing sustainability and conservation at the forefront of human and soil health,” said ASA Policy Manager Carson Fort. “Our growers understand what it takes to protect their most vital resource—the land—and they work every day to ensure their practices preserve it. ASA advocates to ensure they have access to the tools, whether technical assistance or advanced technology, that enable them to produce more while using fewer resources.”
ASA follows a set of sustainability policy principles intended to help guide its advocacy efforts. The topline principles include supporting policies that will maintain and improve economic sustainability of soybean farmers across its 30 soybean-producing states; there is no “one size fits all” solution to on-farm sustainability; supporting voluntary and incentive-based approaches and opposing sustainability programs that include mandates and penalties or that remove valuable agricultural land from production.
Soybean producers are already employing sustainability practices on their farms, and ASA helps advocate for future policies to include both retroactive support and prospective incentives.
Appropriations
Every U.S. government agency relies on appropriations—the bills lawmakers must pass to allocate resources—to fund specific programs and projects.
“More urgently than ever, farmers need clarity as their financial stresses approach disaster,” said ASA Policy Manager Joe Prosser. “Programmatic assistance and market expansion efforts work to provide certainty as producers attempt to navigate low commodity prices, record inflation and historically high input prices.”
ASA advocates for increased government funding for programs and agency operations benefiting soybean farmers, including additional resources for EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, increased funding for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging operations and capital improvement projects, and agriculture marketing and research initiatives. When needed, ASA can also use the appropriations process to push for critical financial assistance programs to support farmers after economic or environmental disasters.
“All of ASA’s appropriations priorities can be traced back to advocating for increased demand, effective production and efficient delivery,” Prosser said.
The post Spotlight on Soy Policy: How ASA Shapes the Future of Farming appeared first on American Soybean Association.
