Wintersteen's soybean legacy

November 2, 2026 | Bethany Baratta

Weather and resilience shaped Wendy Wintersteen’s early life in Kansas. Her father raised cattle outside Fort Scott until drought and falling market prices drove the family northwest to Hutchinson, where he took a teaching position at a local college. Through it all, her mother—who taught in a one-room schoolhouse and worked for International Harvester during World War II—encouraged her daughter’s curiosity, helping a young Wintersteen build her first insect zoo. Together with two sisters, she grew up anchored by education, family and a love  
for the land.

After graduating from high school, Wintersteen attended Kansas State University, studying crop protection and earning a bachelor’s degree in 1978.

She began her career working in eastern and central Iowa as one of the first female ISU Extension associates in integrated pest management. She then completed her doctorate in entomology at Iowa State and rose through the ranks to become a professor of entomology (with a brief stint at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington), followed by senior administrative roles in extension. Prior to serving as ISU president—the first internal appointment to that position in more than 50 years—Wintersteen served 11 years as the inaugural endowed dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at ISU.

Wintersteen’s connection with Iowa soybean farmers grew as she climbed the ranks at ISU.

“Getting to work with the Iowa Soybean Association began when I became the director for extension to agriculture and natural resources,” Wintersteen says. “When I became the senior associate dean and I started attending the board meetings regularly and getting to know the board members and really understanding how they were making decisions about where they stewarded the money of the checkoff of all those farmers across the state, for me that really became very important to me as a professional and as an individual working in agriculture.”

Wintersteen was honored with the 2026 Iowa Soybean Association’s Friend of the Iowa Soybean Farmer award for her deep understanding of agricultural issues and support for Iowa soybean farmers. The award was sponsored by Cargill.

As dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Wintersteen played a critical role in establishing the Iowa Soybean Research Center, a partnership supporting soybean research that improves farmer productivity and sustainability.

“The Iowa Soybean Research Center really was an important opportunity,” Wintersteen says. “It came about because President Leath, the president before me, called for new ideas about how research could be strengthened at Iowa State University and (ISA CEO) Kirk Leeds said we should have a soybean research center.”

Funded in part by the Iowa Soybean Association and housed at Iowa State University, the center was founded to bring ISU researchers, industry and farmers together to guide soybean production and research priorities. Founded in June 2014, the center has provided more than $3 million to researchers at ISU.

Now retired from Iowa State University, she leaves behind a legacy of collaboration and innovation that will continue to shape the future of agriculture and the soybean industry.

“Farmers are innovators,” she says. “They know how to do everything. They’re just trained in that way, they grew up that way, they understand what it means to use their creativity and be an innovator.”

That inspired the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Start Something Network across six colleges at Iowa State, created to support students and nurture their innovative ideas.

Before departing ISU, Wintersteen shared some parting words for Iowa farmers:

“Iowa State University, Iowa’s land-grant university, is always going to be connected to Iowa farmers. We have a partnership with Iowa agriculture that has been from the very beginning of our establishment. And we will always be there to serve you. We thank you for everything that you do for this great state, and we look forward to being engaged with you in every way, to work with you, to learn from you, and to help you as you continue to produce food, feed, fuel and everything that’s needed by this great country.”

About The 2026 Friend of the Iowa Soybean Farmer Award

Presented by Cargill, the Friend of the Iowa Soybean Farmer award recognizes an elected leader, reporter or other ISA partner who has shown a deep understanding of agricultural issues and supported Iowa soybean farmers through their actions and efforts.

Written by Bethany Baratta.

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