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Committee advances fallback checkoff language for soybean and related commodity programs, supporters say it’s a safety net
Summary
House Bill 1398 would add fallback state checkoff authority modeled on corn law so Indiana soybean, pork and other commodity marketing programs can continue if the federal program ceases; proponents including the Indiana Soybean Alliance, Indiana Pork and corn growers testified in support and the committee approved the bill 11‑0.
Representative Beau Baird presented House Bill 1398 and moved two amendments by consent to add fallback language for commodity marketing programs. He described the draft as "fallback language" that would not be triggered unless the federal program goes away and said amendments align the bill to existing federal checkoff structures.
Courtney Kingery, CEO of the Indiana Soybean Alliance, told the committee the soybean checkoff is 100% farmer funded and farmer governed; she said ISA collected $18,018,360 in fiscal 2025 and retained about $9,000,263 in Indiana. "These are 100% farmer funded programs," Kingery said, and she urged the committee to support continuity in the unlikely event a national program ceases.
Sarah Simpson, ISA's director of policy and industry affairs, reviewed technical changes in the amendment, including designating ISA as the Qualified State Soybean Board, creating a Soybean Market Development Fund, modestly adjusting board composition (adding two voting seats to move from 24 to 26 voting members), adding legislative ex officio nonvoting members, requiring annual activity and independent audits, and a refund provision for farmers.
David Harden and Brian Warpup, both ISA volunteer board members, described checkoff‑funded projects — including commercialization of a soybean‑based infrastructure product and expansion of high‑oleic soybean production — and emphasized that the bill would not increase the assessment rate but would preserve farmer control of funds.
Tom Murphy (Indiana Corn Growers) and Josh Trenary (Indiana Pork Producers) also urged support, saying fallback language protects research, market development and export work if federal arrangements change. Trenary emphasized that checkoff dollars are kept separate from policy or litigation budgets.
After committee discussion about why Indiana had not enacted fallback language earlier, Representative Dave Heiney moved to "move due pass as amended." The committee voted 11‑0 to advance HB1398.
The committee forwarded HB1398 with unanimous support; record shows amendments taken by consent and no appropriation or implementation timeline discussed in the hearing.
