NSGA Brands Its Newest Soybean Variety

Arkansas, the Mid-South and, indeed the U.S., lost a true champion of the soybean industry with the recent passing of Mr. Andrew (Drew) Oliver. Drew, with the help of his wife Pam, managed Revilo Farms near Proctor, AR for many years. A long time soybean farmer, he had a true and honest passion for the soybean industry as evidenced by serving many years on both the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Soybean Association and the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board. Drew deeply understood the challenges facing soybean producers and was well known for being innovative using ‘outside the box’ thinking to solve these issues and challenges for Arkansas producers in particular. Of specific note, he took a keen and focused interest in the development of high value, high quality soybean varieties through our University public breeding programs. And was a staunch supporter in helping direct grower-based resources that strategically placed these soybean varieties back into the hands of our farmers. Many of these were conventional/Non-GMO varieties designed to meet growing demand in these market sectors and Drew visualized that Arkansas could serve as a national leader for sourcing outstanding Non-GMO soybean genetics and varieties. Through this vision, Drew, other industry leaders, and producers, encouraged the development of an entity to promote, distribute, educate and build-up these market sectors in Arkansas and beyond. In a significant way, this was a driving force behind the eventual establishment of the Natural Soybean and Grain Alliance (NSGA). Because of these contributions and many other significant leadership accomplishments of Drew Oliver to Arkansas and the Mid-South soybean industry, the Natural Soybean and Grain Alliance has branded its latest high yielding, high quality licensed soybean variety in his honor-SoyDrew 5.0. We are confident this new variety will prove to be excellent in yield and field characteristics for our producers here and beyond. And that would make Drew very happy.