Two New Members Appointed to Pennsylvania Soybean Board
HARRISBURG, PA (December 9, 2015) – At their December meeting, the Pennsylvania Soybean Board welcomed Dustin Kieffer, a soybean farmer from Rebuck, Northumberland County, and Justin Knoebel, a soybean farmer from Elysburg, Columbia County, to the Board of farmer/leaders who administer the soybean checkoff on behalf of Pennsylvania soybean growers.
Kieffer, a 2003 graduate of Penn State University with a degree in Agricultural Engineering, farms with his family on the Mark M. Kieffer & Son, Inc., farm in Northumberland County. He worked in the agricultural machinery and defense industries before moving back to the family grain operation in 2013. In addition to farming, Keiffer is a Pioneer seed representative and a licensed crop insurance agent. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Northumberland County Farm Bureau.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to be part of the Board and to use my background outside of farming, as well as my on-farm experience, to work on behalf of Pennsylvania’s soybean growers to expand capabilities of research and education related to soybean production,” says Kieffer.
Knoebel is a 2012 graduate of Penn State University with a degree in Animal Sciences. He works as Poultry Service technician for Heritage Poultry Management Services, a company that provides poultry nutrition and flock management services to layer and pullet farms throughout the northeastern United States. He is also involved in his family’s grain farm and hog operations. The Knoebel family farms approximately 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans in Northumberland and Columbia counties, and has hog finisher barns in Columbia and Bradford counties that are on contract with Country View Family Farms.
“As a member of the Board, I would like to help maintain a close relationship between the soybean farmers of Pennsylvania and the animal agriculture producers, the number one customers of soy meal,” says Knoebel. “If we can work together to consistently improve the quality and nutritional value of soybeans in our state, it will not only help to add value to the raw commodity that we produce, but will also help animal producers become more efficient and profitable.”
The Pennsylvania Soybean Board is a farmer-controlled Board responsible for managing Pennsylvania’s share of funds received from the nationwide Soybean Checkoff program. There are currently nine members on the Board.
Checkoff funds are used for implementing a program of promotion, research, consumer information, and industry information designed to strengthen the soybean industry’s position in the marketplace, to maintain and expand existing domestic and foreign markets and uses for soybeans and soybean products, and to develop new markets and uses for soybeans and soybean products.
About the Pennsylvania Soybean Board
The Pennsylvania Soybean Board is a farmer-controlled Board responsible for managing Pennsylvania’s share of funds received from the nationwide Soybean Checkoff program. The funding is available under an assessment program, approved by Congress in 1990, under which soybean farmers contribute 50 cents of every $100 they receive for their beans at the first point of sale. Funds are used to develop markets, educate consumers, and research new ways to utilize and produce soybeans more efficiently. For more information, visit www.pasoybean.org.