Contact:Sam Jones-Ellard (202) 660-2268Samuel.jones@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, July 10, 2014 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will not conduct a continuance referendum on the Soybean Promotion and Research Order, based on the results of a recent soybean Request for Referendum. The Request for Referendum was held from May 5 through May 30, 2014, at USDA's Farm Service Agency county offices.
The Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act requires the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a Request for Referendum every five years after the initial referendum, which was conducted in 1994. The Request for Referendum determines if there is sufficient interest among soybean producers to have a vote on whether to continue the Order. The last Request for Referendum was held in May 2009.
If at least 10 percent of the 569,998 soybean producers (not more than one-fifth of whom may be from any one state) nationwide participated in the Request for Referendum, a referendum would have been held. There were 355 soybean producers who participated in the Request for Referendum, and only 324 of them submitted valid requests -- far short of the 56,999 participants required to trigger a referendum. State-by-State results are as follows:
State-by-State Soybean Request for Referendum Results
State Valid Petitions
Alabama 0Alaska 0Arizona 0Arkansas 0California 0Colorado 0Connecticut 0Delaware 3Florida 0Georgia 0Hawaii 0Idaho 0Illinois 43Indiana 48Iowa 56 Kansas 6Kentucky 2Louisiana 0Maine 0Maryland 1Massachusetts 0Michigan 10Minnesota 25Mississippi 0Missouri 9Montana 0Nebraska 2Nevada 0New Hampshire 0New Jersey 0New Mexico 0New York 1North Carolina 5North Dakota 3Ohio 73Oklahoma 2Oregon 0Pennsylvania 2Rhode Island 0South Carolina 0South Dakota 17Tennessee 0Texas 2Utah 0Vermont 0Virginia 1Washington 0West Virginia 7Wisconsin 6Wyoming 0
National Total 324
A notice of the results of the Request for Referendum will be published in the Federal Register in the near future. For additional information, contact James R. Brow, Research and Promotion Division, Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program, Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., STOP-0251, Room 2610-S, Washington, D.C. 20090-0251; telephone (202) 720-0633; fax (202) 720-1125; or e-mail james.brow@ams.usda.gov.
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