Perhaps Roger Hadley, Woodburn, Ind., explained it best, standing in a barn at the modern-day Fouts farm near Camden in Carroll County. “I always heard that the American Soybean Association started on a farm in Indiana, but I never knew where,” the soybean enthusiast said. “As it turns out, I drove up and down this road many times and never knew anything special happened here.”

What was a well-kept secret isn’t a secret anymore. As part of the American Soybean Association’s 100th-year celebration on Aug. 4, Indiana state officials dedicated a permanent road marker at the farm, which sits along Indiana State Road 29 in Carroll County.

“The three Fouts brothers were pioneers with soybeans, and it was special to return to the farm where they held a field day which led to the American Soybean Association,” says Kendell Culp, Rensselaer, Ind., a director on the ASA board since 2015 and vice president of Indiana Farm Bureau.

“It’s extra special that the farm is still in the Fouts family,” he adds. “Plus, Taylor Fouts, one of the three brothers, was the first president of what is now ASA.”

Important history

Jill Wagenblast of ASA compiled the history that led to the group’s founding in “American Soybean Association: Our First Century, 1920-2020.” Taylor, Finis and Noah Fouts hosted nearly 1,000 farmers from six Midwestern states for the “Corn Belt Soybean Conference.” That’s 1,000 people gathering without interstates, GPS or cellphones.

IMPORTANT EVENT: Kendell Culp, Rensselaer, Ind., a director of ASA, attended the 100th-year celebration at the Fouts farm in Carroll County, Ind.

Each brother owned his own farm, but they cooperated to raise soybeans. The field day was held on Taylor Fouts’ farm, named Soyland. The original barn that bore that name is gone, but the 2020 celebration was held just yards from its location. Today, the Jones family, relatives of the Foutses, farm the acreage.

Max Armstrong, longtime radio broadcaster and part of the Farm Progress team, did considerable research on the early days of the Foutses’ efforts with soybeans. He served as master of ceremonies at the 2020 celebration.

As it turns out, the brothers’ father received two varieties of soybeans from USDA through Purdue University in 1896. Taylor, the youngest, graduated from Purdue in agronomy in 1902, and came home serious about growing soybeans.

The crop was primarily used for forage at the time. In fact, the earliest USDA records on yield begin in 1924, with a national average yield of 11 bushels per acre. Armstrong and others noted that the Fouts brothers struggled trying to make soybeans work in the early years, reporting several failed crops before finally raising soybeans successfully. They formed a seed company to sell seed, and even invented some of the equipment needed to raise, harvest and clean soybeans.

The growers at the Sept. 3, 1920, field day at the Fouts farm founded the National Soybean Growers Association. According to Wagenblast, it was renamed the American Soybean Association in 1925. Taylor Fouts served again as president in 1927-28.