The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will not conduct a referendum on the Soybean Promotion and Research Program (soybean checkoff).

USDA received 3,206 signed request for referendum forms, which is less than half of one percent of all the eligible soybean producers at county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices. Had 10 percent of the 663,880 eligible producers - with no more than one-fifth of the 10 percent coming from any one state - requested a referendum, the secretary of Agriculture would have conducted the referendum within 12 months.

The request for referendum determined whether U.S. soybean producers wanted a referendum on the Soybean Promotion and Research Program.