INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) Board Directors Mike Koehne, a farmer from Greensburg, Ind., and C.J. Chalfant, a farmer from Hartford City, Ind., were elected to leadership positions with the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC) during the group’s meeting in Mobile, Ala., on Nov. 21.

Established in 2007, the STC includes ISA, 13 additional state soybean boards, the American Soybean Association (ASA) and the United Soybean Board (USB). The goal of the organization is to position the U.S. soybean industry to benefit from a transportation system that delivers cost effective, reliable and competitive service.

STC Executive Director Mike Steenhoek said a healthy U.S. transportation infrastructure gives American soybean farmers a competitive advantage when seeking export markets. He is pleased with the election of Koehne as chairman, Chalfant as secretary-treasurer and Kansas soybean farmer Raylen Phelon as vice chairman to lead the STC board in 2025.

Koehne grows soybeans and corn on his farm in rural Decatur and Franklin counties. He is a past chair of ISA, and he has been a board member since 2016. In addition, Koehne serves as an Indiana representative to ASA. He said good infrastructure is essential to American farmers.

“Our infrastructure is our competitive advantage here in the U.S., and it is important to maintain and improve it,” Koehne said. “As a farmer, I know we rely on the ports, inland waterways and road and rail systems in the U.S. to move grain. It is essential to our farms and our bottom line. I am very excited to work with other farmers around the U.S. to look for new improvements and to help keep American soybeans moving as efficiently as possible.”

Chalfant has been an ISA board member since 2017, where he also served in the positions of secretary and treasurer. He grows both soybeans and corn in rural Blackford County, and he has a degree in farm management from Purdue University. He believes in STC’s mission to improve the U.S. transportation system to help farmers.

“Getting our crop from the field to the elevator is just the first step in a longer process,” Chalfant said. “The ability to move those crops by road or by rail or by the inland waterways to customers around the world improves the value of those crops.”

Douglas re-appointed to USB

Flat Rock, Ind., farmer Jim Douglas was re-appointed to a second three-year term on the USB board by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on Nov. 18. Douglas was a nine-year board member of ISA, and he also served as the board’s chair. In addition, he is USB’s representative to the U.S. Meat Export Federation’s board of directors.

Indiana has three additional members on the board of USB: Don Wyss, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Tom Griffiths, of Kendallville, Ind.; and Matthew Chapman, of Springport, Ind.

Williams is vice chair of ASA’s WISHH

Craig Williams, a farmer from Oaktown, Ind., was elected as vice chair of ASA’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) earlier this year. Williams is a past ISA board member. He grows soybeans, corn and wheat on his farm in rural Knox and Sullivan counties.