Soy growers expressed concerns and support for factors affecting farmer cost of production last week.

The American Soybean Association (ASA) submitted comments to the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research on April 27.

“With commodity prices down by an average of 40 percent since 2013 and land rents remaining relatively high, farmers are looking to productivity gains through agricultural research and technological innovation as ways to reduce per-unit costs,” ASA President Richard Wilkins stated. “And we know that, if the U.S. is going to continue to provide food, feed, fiber and fuel to a world population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, it must be done on the same or less land and in a sustainable way.  Agricultural research and technology have been and will continue to provide the tools for achieving this goal.”

ASA reiterated the vital importance of agricultural research.

“ASA has long supported full funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) flagship competitive research program, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and that remains our top agricultural appropriations priority for FY 2017,” Wilkins wrote.

ASA also strongly supports the research programs carried out by a national network of land-grant universities. The results of the research directly affects the cost of production for America’s soybean farmers.

ASA shared the concern of many of the witnesses about farmers’ continued access to important crop protection products, and the sense that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is consciously delaying decisions to bring and keep products on the market, as well as declining to defend its own science-based process and decisions.

Click here to read ASA’s entire testimony.