As farmers look ahead to the 2026 growing season, uncertainty around markets and input costs is shaping early decision-making across the countryside.
Matt Gast, vice chairman of the United Soybean Board, said producers are still weighing fertilizer needs and crop mix as spring approaches, with narrowing windows for flexibility. Gast farms corn, soybeans and canola, giving him some room to adjust acreage depending on market signals, but he said those choices become more limited with each passing day.
“The window is narrowing up here that every day that goes by,” Gast said, noting that planting decisions will hinge on how markets behave in the weeks ahead.
Input costs remain the top concern among producers, coupled with lower grain prices. Gast said many farmers are wrestling with how to adapt to factors largely outside their control, including deciding what expenses can be reduced and where investments might still make sense to protect yields.
“How you adapt to that, what you do, what things can you do, what things can you cut out, what things can you add to maybe increase those yields,” he said.
Gast said the coming year is likely to be challenging, but emphasized the role the soybean checkoff plays during difficult economic cycles. As a federally mandated program funded by a one-half of one percent assessment, the checkoff splits funds between state soybean boards and the national program, focusing on research, education and promotion.
According to Gast, the return on that investment remains significant. He said every dollar a farmer contributes to the soybean checkoff generates an estimated $12.30 in return.
“Our goal is research, education, promotion,” Gast said. “And so we’re continually learning, growing, changing things to evolve as things evolve.”
He pointed to demand-building efforts as especially critical in times of low prices, highlighting the importance of expanding soybean uses beyond traditional markets. Gast cited products such as firefighting foam, soybean oil applications, footwear, tires, plywood and synthetic turf as examples of innovations supported by checkoff dollars.
“If we didn’t have the checkoff, where would prices be without these new uses?” he said, adding that it is during tough economic years when the value of the program becomes most visible.
Gast said the ultimate goal remains moving more soybeans into higher-value markets and putting more money back into farmers’ pockets.
“That’s ultimately the goal at the checkoff,” he said. “To bring more money to farmers.”
Listen to Corryn La Rue’s interview with Matt Gast here.
