Accompanied by a mostly mild Denver forecast, the Wisconsin Soybean Association (WSA) certainly turned up the heat advocating for the state’s soybean farmers at the 2025 Commodity Classic March 2-4. 

“Commodity Classic not only gives us an opportunity to look at the latest and greatest equipment, but also the latest updates from some of our national leaders,” said Sara Stelter, WSA director and past president.  “It gives us a chance to connect and reconnect with farmers and personnel from around the world.” 

Wisconsin representation on ASA 

WSA board members had the opportunity to let their voices be heard at the American Soybean Association (ASA) State Caucuses held in conjunction with Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and South Dakota Soybean. That followed with the ASA Award Ceremony, which honored farmer leaders from across the country for their involvement in the organization at the national level.  

“We’ve been telling our story about the exciting things and challenging things going on around the country and especially in Wisconsin,” said Tanner Johnson, who represented both ASA and WSA at Commodity Classic. “We’re working hard to represent soybean farmers. There’s no shortage of challenges right now and we’re hoping to turn them into opportunities.” 

WSA later joined delegates across the country for ASA’s full Delegate Session, which serves as a national policy guidebook for the year ahead. 

Strengthening partnerships 

Building industry relationships remains a top priority for WSA leaders, who spent time meeting with representatives from Beck’s, Corteva, Bayer and Syngenta.  

“We took some meetings with different industry partners and heard about the opportunities and challenges they’re facing and how we can strategically partner together,” said Johnson, a member of ASA’s Executive Committee. “Obviously we’re trying to pull the rope in the same direction.” 

Hot topics at Classic 

Just as Commodity Classic came to a close, U.S. tariffs went into effect at midnight March 4, with retaliation that followed by Canada and China.  

Trade, already a primary topic at the 2025 Classic, was top of mind throughout the final day of Classic.  

“It’s been a sprint, but we had some policy panels and representatives of the USDA ask questions about what the new administration’s plans are for agriculture, specifically with soy,” Johnson said, who attended a panel with the four leaders of the Ag Committees.  

“There were a lot of questions about the status of the farm bill and how the ag committee is handling the lack of predictability with this administration,” he said. “They were very candid in their answers.” 

Honoring WSA leaders 

WSA leaders didn’t leave Commodity Classic without a few accolades to add to their list of accomplishments.  

WSA Directors Steve Trzebiatowski, Danny Brisky, Sara Stelter, Katie Kaczor and Daniel Linse were honored with an Ag Leader Source award during a breakfast ceremony March 4. Trzebiatowski was once again awarded the Platinum Plus award.  

Bringing insight back home  

From strengthening industry ties to hearing insight and strategizing about the best path forward for Wisconsin’s soybean farmers, Commodity Classic offered WSA the perfect platform to advocate and plan for a successful future.  

“I think we learned a lot this week that we’re certainly going to bring it back to the state and hopefully turn that snowball into a snowman and roll it down the hill a little bit,” Johnson said.