WASHINGTON (March 12, 2014) - The American Soybean Association (ASA) presented Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) with the Soy Champion Award at the annual March meeting of ASA's board of directors in Washington, D.C. this morning. The award recognizes Chairwoman Stabenow for her outstanding leadership and advocacy on behalf of soybean farmers.

ASA Michigan Director Matt Stutzman, who farms in Blissfield, pointed to the Chairwoman's persistence in representing farmers nationwide in a long and protracted battle over the farm bill. "... From day one, she has been a champion not only for soybean farmers but for all of agriculture," he noted. "Chairwoman Stabenow has been a driving force for progress on risk management, biobased products and renewable fuels, trade, agricultural research, conservation, and so many other issues that impact our success on the farm every day. Throughout the three year process, she went to bat for us time and time again, and when the farm bill landscape looked the bleakest, she regrouped, and went to bat for us once more, all with a smile on her face."

"We owe so much of soybeans' success in the farm bill to the Chairwoman's leadership," added ASA President Ray Gaesser, a farmer from Corning, Iowa, who visited on multiple occasions with Chairwoman Stabenow and her staff during the three-year farm bill process. "This award honors the champions of our industry on Capitol Hill, and Chairwoman Stabenow has been the perfect example."

The award is given annually by the farmer leaders of ASA to a member of the Senate or House of Representatives who has done exemplary for the industry.