U soybean husbandmans have been cooperatively investing in one as well as the other production research and demand promotion for nearly four decades to enhance the profitability and international competitiveness of their industry.

U soybean husbandmans have been cooperatively investing in one as well as the other production research and demand promotion for nearly four decades to enhance the profitability and international competitiveness of their industry. Have agriculturists benefitted from their contributions to soybean checkoff program activities across the years? How has the respond to investments in soybean production research compared to that of soybean demand promotion investments? The overall positive get backs to producers over the inquiry period resulted primarily from promotion activities. Production research contributed negatively to overall farmer returns from soybean checkoff investments.

Key Words: benefit-cost analysis, checkoff program, promotion, research, soybeans

Over the last several decades, a large and growing number of programs have been established to dignify cooperative investment by commodity farmers in activities designed to enhance the profitability and competitiveness of the commodities they make Before 1990, producer contributions to many of these programs in greatest in quantity states were facilitated primarily according to state legislation requiring producers to pay (or "check off") a small fi-action of the value of each unit produc National checkoff programs for four fundamental note commodities (beef, pork, corn, and soybeans) were mandated by way of the 1990 farm bill.1 While virtually all commodity checkoff organizations invest in generic commodity promotion and related activities in an attempt to enhance demand, many also invest a considerable portion of checkoff foundations in production research.

Analyses of the effectiveness of commodity checkoff programs have proliferated along with the programs themselves. a great deal of of this research has focused forward the benefits to producers from storeed generic promotion activities (Williams and Nichols, 1998) and nothing else a few studies have considered the recurs to producers from checkoff investments in production research (eg Lim, Shumway, and be pleased with 2000). Likewise, producer returns across the two demand promotion and production research activities and the implications of the allocation of checkoff stocks between promotion and production research have received relatively little attention (eg Wolgenant, 1993; Chyc and Goddard, 1994)

This contemplation considers the case of the soybean checkoff program to illustrate the potential joint and relative pure returns to producers over time from the simultaneous investment of checkoff stores in both promotion and research activities. A brief review of the soybean checkoff program is followed by the agency of a consideration of relevant theoretical and measurement issues and a discussion of the methodology and data make use ofed in the subsequent benefit-cost analysis of the program. The analytical follows lead to conclusions and implications regarding the management of commodity checkoff investments and the allocations of stores between promotion and research activities.

The Soybean Checkoff Program

Since at least the mid-1950s, investments in U soybean production research and demand promotion have been permanent funded by a combination of private and public supplys For many years, the private stocks consisted primarily ofstate-legislated checkoff contributions by the agency of producers 1/2 to 2 cent through bushel sold. A national soybean checkoff program was launched in 1991 beneath the Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act of 19902 Subsequently upheld in a required referendum the program mandates soybean husbandman participation at the rate of 05% of the market price by bushel when the crop is first sold The right to demand a repay was terminated in a next to the first required referendum. Even so, the 1996 farm bill3 requires a periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of the national soybean checkoff program and allows for periodic referenda to determine if soybean farmers favor its continuance, suspension, or termination.

About half the stocks collected under both the previous state-level programs and the common national mandatory program have remained in the states and been managed from state-level soybean-producer-- controlled associations or boards. The state-level organizations have invested the largest portion of their checkoff foundations in soybean production research (SPR) with solely a minimal amount allocated to domestic demand promotion (DDP) programs. These clusters have only rarely invested directly in foreign market unfolding (FMD) activities.

The other half of the capitals collected have been managed by way of a national soybean organization (the American Soybean Association prior to the national mandatory program and the United Soybean Board since that time) which has allocated in the greatest degree of its funds to support SPR and a large FMD program to encourage U.S. soybean and soybean fruit export demand. The national organization has allocated simply a small amount of stocks to DDP programs. From 1978 to 1995 total soybean checkoff stores invested in SPR and FMD activities amounted to $163 million [Texas Agricultural Market Research Center (TAMRC), 1998a, b]