‘I feel lucky every day’

KEOTA - A farmer of 42 years, Lindsay Greiner has been reelected as an at-large director for the Iowa Soybean Association.

Greiner is no stranger to the association, he has been involved with the organization for around nine years and was on the board for six of those years. He served as a county adviser for the soybean association, before being elected to the board and serving as the president in 2018-19.

Greiner and his wife, Shelley, farm with one of their three sons near Keota.

Greiner started farming with his dad when he graduated from high school in 1978. For about 20 years after his dad retired, Greiner farmed alone until his oldest son, Keaton, joined the operation.

Greiner said it is the best thing in the world.

'I feel lucky every day that I get to go to work with him,” Greiner said.

Greiner's other two sons, Kalen and Kolton work in agriculture. Kalen works for a pig production company, and Kolton works as a soybean buyer for Cargill.

Greiner and his son farm 1,500 acres, growing soybeans, corn and hay as well as raising about 20,000 pigs.

The farm uses sustainable practices. They feed corn and soybeans to pigs and then use the manure to provide fertilizer for the corn and soybeans.

'I don't know how you can get more sustainable than that,” Greiner said.

When taking a look at this year's soybeans, Greiner said six weeks ago he would have said they looked really good.

'Today I can tell you they don't look good at all,” Greiner said.

Usually, good soybean yields are due to the rains in August, and this year there has been little rain.

'My expectations for our soybean yields are declining every day,” Greiner said. 'It's almost getting too late for rain to help now.”

Greiner's position on the association board entails attending meetings, overseeing the strategic goals of the organization and providing opinions on financial decisions.

'As volunteers, our directors take their role to serve fellow soybean farmers very seriously,” ISA President Tim Bardole said.

Greiner said there are four different areas that they work on in the soybean association: policy development, information and education, demands and supply.

In information and education, they work to inform and educate farmers and consumers, Greiner said, and surrounding demands, they work to find new customers to buy the products.

'It is increasingly important farmers understand how their checkoff investment is utilized,” Bardole said. 'When prices are low and adverse weather impacts our yields, every farmer should be aware of the value the ISA brings to their operation.”