Sometimes, as an outsider, it’s hard to truly understand what American Soybean Association (ASA) state delegates do throughout the week of Commodity Classic. As Evan Dalldorf, the new industry representative for the Wisconsin Soybean Association (WSA), said: “I definitely didn’t get much pool time this year.”

Dalldorf was one of several Wisconsin soybean farmers to travel to Orlando for the annual Commodity Classic. While Dalldorf did attend the caucus meetings and the full delegate session, he wasn’t a Wisconsin voting delegate. Rather, he was there to learn.

“I’m happy I joined WSA, I’m happy they brought me onto the board, and I’m excited to keep coming to Classic on behalf of the association and to keep doing good work for soybean farmers,” Dalldorf said.

The WSA delegation stayed busy throughout the week with industry and business meetings, and a slew of media interviews. Wisconsin soybean farmer and ASA director Tanner Johnson, alongside WSA President Sara Stelter and director Steve Trzebiatowski met with Bayer representatives to discuss growing and legislative challenges in the state.

“Meeting with Bayer was fantastic,” Trzebiatowski said. “We’ve never really done these types of industry meetings in the past, and to get to know our industry partners and how we can support them and they can support us only strengthens WSA’s ability to work on behalf of soybean farmers.”

The WSA delegation kept busy between Wednesday’s state caucus meeting, which comprised Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and New York. Here the delegation works through the resolutions from a regional perspective. Much of the work is done in an ASA subcommittee long before the delegates meet for the caucus.

“I think it’s more efficient now,” Johnson said. “Having an in-house, dedicated staff at ASA makes this a much better process. Things ran smoothly and we were efficient.”

Stelter was pleased with the WSA delegation’s work in Orlando, between the ASA resolutions process to all the meetings they attended.

“I think it was a really good week,” Stelter said. “I think we made some really good connections with folks from around the country and with different services and different manufacturers. I think it was an extremely positive week. I appreciated this year’s Classic gave our delegation a chance to really bond as a group.”

Johnson concurred.

“This has been fun,” Johnson said. “We met a lot of people from around the country. I actually ran into the Ambassador from Australia, so it really turned into an international affair. We had a lot of discussions with farmers and with people making decisions for farmers. I think we are moving soybeans forward, and we got a lot done.”

With Commodity Classic 2023 in the books, WSA turns its attention to its quarterly board meeting ahead of its March 29 Madison Hill Visit.

To listen to the variety of WSA interviews at Commodity Classic with Brian Winnikens at Reel Country, click here.