(Photo: Iowa Soybean Association / Joclyn Kuboushek)
Executive Insights: Season opening
March 2, 2026 | Kirk Leeds
March has a way of flipping a switch for me. Somewhere between the crack of the bat in spring training baseball and the first stretch of daylight past supper, my mind shifts gears. Baseball season is starting, and in Iowa that means it’s almost planting time.
Baseball and farming share the same rhythm. As a former Little League coach, preparation meant getting the players in the right place, repeating the basics and trusting the effort would show up during game time. On the farm, winter meetings and shop talk give way to seed decisions, equipment checks and a cautious eye on soil temperatures. Optimism is part of the job description in both professions.
Opening Day in baseball is full of promise. Every team is undefeated. Every fan believes this could be the year (especially if you are a lifelong Cubs fan!). Spring planting carries that same optimism. A field ready for planting, a well-tuned planter, and bags of soybean seeds represent months of hope before a single bushel is harvested. Experience teaches humility, but it never quite erases anticipation.
That sense of anticipation carries into the work highlighted in this issue. One that stands out highlights the growing role of high oleic soybeans for use in the dairy industry. It is a reminder that what we grow here in Iowa has a longer reach. High oleic soybeans lead to greater butterfat yield while improving feed efficiency, according to research funded by the soybean checkoff. It is another example of how innovation at the seed level (also funded in part by the soybean checkoff) can ripple through the entire agricultural system.
Also included in this magazine is the Insights Report summarizing on-farm research completed this past year through ISA’s Research Center for Farming Innovation. The most meaningful research happens under real-world conditions, on farms, with real management decisions in play. The Insights Report offers practical insights producers can use. Just as you see in every issue of the Iowa Soybean Review, it’s also an invitation to lean on the expertise of the team to help you monitor a practice or product on your farm. That forward-looking focus matters. Research, like baseball and farming, is always about the next season as much as the last one.
As we head into another spring, the parallels keep showing up. Some years are championship seasons. Others teach hard lessons that shape how we play the game going forward. You do not control the weather, the markets, or the bounce of the ball, but you do control preparation, effort, and willingness to adapt.
As pitchers and catchers report to their teams and planters get ready to roll, I find comfort in the familiarity of it all. After over thirty years of writing about this season, I still feel the excitement. Spring is the beginning — on a diamond or in an Iowa field — and beginnings always deserve our attention.
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