Gift keeps soybean lab open

URBANA, Ill.— In February, the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Feed the Future Soybean Innovation Lab at the University of Illinois was told to stop work, bringing an abrupt end to 123 years of progress toward developing a global soybean value chain supporting Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and Australia.

At the time, ISL Director Pete Goldsmith cobbled together funding from the university to keep the lab afloat until April 15, which was to be its last day.

At the 11th hour, Founders Pledge, a global nonprofit empowering entrepreneurs to do the most good possible with its charitable giving, announced a $1.02 million gift from an anonymous donor to fund the lab and core staff for another year.

While durable federal investments are necessary to support the previous scale of SIL’s work and that of the university as a whole, the gift will allow SIL to complete some of its most critical work and give Goldsmith time to seek stable funding into the future.

“We will use the gift to restart our efforts with our partners and clients bringing soybeans to the Lower Shire Valley of southern Malawi — diversifying the Lower Shire economy and leveraging recent World Bank irrigation investments,” said Goldsmith, emeritus professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the U of I.

SIL and local partners had only just begun developing the soybean industry in southern Malawi, where a hotter, low-elevation environment presents unique challenges.

“SIL’s efforts were strategically positioned to expedite the registration of new varieties for both rainy-season and dry-season production, an advancement that would mark a significant milestone in Malawian agriculture,” said Bruce Carruthers, who consults for Agricane in southern Malawi.

“The cessation for SIL’s involvement would have resulted in a slowdown of variety development and release, ultimately delaying the introduction of improved genetic material into the agricultural sector.”

Goldsmith pointed out that although SIL’s work has direct benefits for African farmers and agribusinesses, building the African soybean value chain also represents a major boon for the U.S. and global economies.

“Africa is the last frontier for soybean. It’s one of the fastest-growing areas and has huge potential. But someone has to go in and de-risk commercial interests. That’s what SIL does,” he said.

“We go in and de-risk, build the market and reduce uncertainty so that farmers in trade can follow on. And it’s not just farmers. It’s traders. It’s processors. We’ve been very effective at it. Without us, there’s no plan B.”