Farmers Advocate for State Checkoff
Published: Friday, January 30, 2026
Farmers from across Indiana gathered together with lawmakers at the Statehouse in Indianapolis last Thursday for the annual Bacon Bar and Brunch hosted by the Indiana Corn Growers Assn. and Indiana Soybean Alliance.
Matt Hayden, Indiana Farm Bureau District 1 director, traveled down from Hebron to participate in the Indiana Soybean Alliance's annual bacon bar and brunch. He said the event is important for building and maintaining relationships with state legislators and keeping agriculture at the forefront of the conversation.
Another area farmer, Brian Warpup of Huntington County, agreed.
"This is one of my favorite events of the year," said Warpup. "We get to see and talk to our legislators."
The breakfast bar and brunch highlights the connection between livestock and grains, according to the Warren crop producer.
"The connection with corn and soybean is livestock's our No. 1 customer," he said.
When asked about local legislation Warpup is watching, he said anything to increase trade with corn and soybeans is good. He would like to see new customers in the coming years, especially with the current market conditions.
Going into 2026, Warpup said the main concern is that input prices have not come down.
"A lot of guys, I think, are holding off on input purchasing until the last minute, hoping that those come down or that there's a rebound in our (commodity) price," he said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bridge Assistance Program allocates about $40 per acre for soy and $47 per acre for corn, covering about every 3-3.5 bushels per acre for soybeans.
"But it's not enough. We were hoping for a little bit more. That's a $12 billion program. From what we didn't gain in 2025, that really doesn't cover that exact amount," Warpup said.
Warpup is currently weighing his options for spring planting. He said corn is appearing to have less projected loss in 2026 compared to soybeans so far, so he expects to see more corn in the ground this year.
Steve Obert, leader of the Indiana Dairy Producers, mingled with state lawmakers last Thursday with a specific interest in bills penned concerning the Gov. Mike Braun's Make Indiana Healthy Again Initiative.
"We want to make sure science and research is at the heart of these laws," he said.
Sarah Simpson, director of policy and industry affairs for the Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Growers Assn., listed several state bills the two groups are watching.
Some legislation includes reallocating funds for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture's economic development from value-added funding, using Clean Water Indiana money for MESONET for weather stations and agronomic and conservation research, ensuring ISDA can support Indiana FFA, and the soybean checkoff's "fallback" legislation.
She said the No. 1 piece of legislation for ISA and ICGA is the soybean "fallback" legislation (SB 55), penned by senators Jean Leising (R-District 42), Susan Glick (R-District 13) and Brett Clark (R-District 24).
"I think that it's really important that we are equivalent to Iowa, Illinois, the other large agricultural states, that if there was not a federal checkoff, that we could continue advocate for Indiana's interests, particularly in market development," she said. "Because Indiana is the largest producer of high oleic soybeans, it's important that we have the funds to go on those trips to promote products that are very specific to our state."
An example she gave was the promotion of high oleic soybean oil, which is largely produced in Indiana.
SB 55 also creates a pork market development program, to be administered by the Indiana Pork Producers Assn. Like the soybean checkoff, assessments would be levied only if they are not collected under the federal program.
State Rep. Lorissa Sweet of Wabash (R-District 50) is a member of the Ag and Rural Development; Family, Children and Human Affairs Committee; and Local Government committees. She represents Wabash, Huntington, Miami and Wells counties. While at the bacon bar and brunch, she shared some of the legislation she is watching most closely.
"There are quite a few local government bills coming through that will affect local communities. There's a bill on township government that is a pretty heated debate on how to make township government more productive in what it does, save the taxpayers money and make sure it's being implemented correctly," she said.
Sweet said the bills are all coming through very rapidly due to the shortened session. Much of the rest of the session, she expects to be evaluating and voting on the many bills penned by members of the General Assembly.
She is especially watching any legislation coming through on carbon sequestration, noting that it is a hot topic in District 50.
"We have lots of discussion on it locally, so I'm definitely keeping an eye on it," she said.
One bill she heard recently, concerning the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, she said did not advance.
"I think people are reluctant because of the executive order. (They want) to see how that plays out before we put something into statute," she said.
Sweet is also watching HB 1001, Housing Matters, penned by Rep. Doug Miller (R-District 48). This bill would ease restrictions on the construction of housing, making it easier to erect new homes.
"I had an ag bill this year that would help farmers in case of a grain failure," she said.
That bill, HB 1305, she said has not yet been heard. It was referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on Jan. 6.
ISA's Membership and Policy Committee Chair David Hardin is keeping an eye on bills that may have an impact on agriculture. He raises soybeans, corn and contract finish hogs on his farm in Hendricks County.
"Our main focus today is talking with legislators about SB 55, the fallback checkoff language," he said. "If the federal checkoff order were to go away, we would have language in the Indiana code that would trigger at that point in time."
He said the checkoff would mirror the federal checkoff, with the only difference being a refund provision, much like the state's corn checkoff.
"The likelihood of a federal checkoff being ended didn't seem very high, but in this day in age with all the political uncertainty going on, both in Congress and the courts, in Washington, D.C., it made sense to approach this now," he said.
Hardin added that Indiana is the only major soybean producing state without state checkoff language.
"If the federal checkoff were to go away, our soybean farmers would be at a severe disadvantage compared to their counterparts across the state line," he said.
Hardin said new markets are needed for soybean farmers to ensure better stability. This, he said, includes new trade deals internationally and renewable diesel fuel domestically.
When asked where he saw the soy market in the next 10 years, he said it is dependent on renewable diesel fuel and the Brazilian crop.
"If we continue to see increases in soybean crush for renewable diesel, I think there's going to be positive things on the horizon for the soybean market. We just hope that we don't see continued expansion of acres in Brazil, because if they continue expanding their acres, then we're only going to continue to lose market share in the export world and an increase in export prices," he said.
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