Biodiesel. GMO labeling. U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba. WOTUS. Having a hard time keeping up on the latest legislative issues? If you want to know when and how to voice your opinion on important issues in agriculture, the tool you need is probably already in your hand: your cell phone.

At Commodity Classic 2016, the Illinois Soybean Growers announced the addition of two new grassroots advocacy efforts to the Voice for Soy legislative action network: opt-in text message action alerts and the Voice for Soy Advocacy Champions program.

GETTING HEARD: John Longley: “With just a few clicks on voiceforsoy.org, you can make sure legislators and regulators hear your side of the story.”

"These new efforts will promote timely, relevant grassroots responses from Illinois soybean farmers," says Mike Levin, ISG director of issues management and analysis.  "The new text message action alert feature and champions program make raising the voice of the soybean industry in Springfield and Washington, D.C., more effective and efficient."

Farmers can sign up for the new text alert system at voiceforsoy.org. “We’ll let you know when it’s time to act and time to contact your legislators,” said ISG Communications Coordinator Jayne Godfrey.

Godfrey explained the Advocacy Champions program “is a really grassroots effort to get the message out to act”.  The program includes about ten farmers throughout the state who will reach out to five people when it’s time to advocate for Illinois agriculture.

 “If you don’t advocate for your own business, who will?” said Aledo farmer John Longley, ISG director and Advocacy Champion. “The number of farmers is declining and our voice matters.”

Need more information before voicing an opinion? Voiceforsoy.org houses detailed information on key issues, recommendations on how to take action and a legislative contact finder. According to the ISG, soybean farmers' engagement in Voice for Soy has nearly doubled since September 1, 2015.