RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE SOYBEAN CHECKOFF PROGRAMS

Soybean producers participate in a checkoff program to support research and market development activities. Checkoff funds are used for both yield-enhancing and cost-reducing production research. Using USDA cost-of-production data and a regional modeling framework with greater model pretest support than several alternatives, national marginal returns to producers are estimated to higher for checkoff-supported research than for publicly supported soybean research. They are also higher for checkoff cost reducing than for checkoff yield-enhancing research.