Caleb Ragland, the president of the American Soybean Association, was thrust into the national media spotlight in 2025, where his steady demeanor and devotion to fact-based arguments made him an effective advocate for all farmers as they fought their way through the trade fire storm. That’s also why Pro Farmer has selected Ragland as its 2025 Ag Person of the Year.
“If you could pick a word to describe the year, uncertainty would be it” says the Kentucky-based farmer. Following the trade ructions of Trump’s first term, Ragland told Pro Farmer he knew that another trade disruption was possible, but like most U.S. farmers was caught off guard at the sheer scale of the trade war, and the lack of a firm deal with China coming before harvest began.
With commodity prices suffering as harvest began, ASA knew action had to be taken. Their approach was to “respectfully, but firmly” communicate the plight of soybean farmers to the general public and lawmakers in Washington. “We’re not presenting ourselves as victims, we simply want to make a living and let the markets work like everyone else.”
The lack of soybean demand made waves far beyond the reach of traditional agricultural news outlets, with nearly 45,000 pieces of online media mentioning “soybeans” since September of this year. Ragland also shared that he sees those efforts paying off in smaller ways, too. Just last week while traveling for work he had an interaction at an airport where two fellow travelers noticed his ASA hat and struck up a conversation about soybeans after hearing about them in the news.
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Direct contact with legislators, administration officials and other policymakers was crucial. Ragland spoke at a Congressional hearing to push for lowered tariffs on farm inputs, policy changes to bolster demand for soy, and direct assistance to farmers impacted by ongoing policy decisions. While not entirely satisfactory for the industry, progress has been made. Some tariffs on fertilizer were dropped in December, and a $12 billion bridge payment to support crop producers was announced earlier in December. Despite movement in the right direction on policy, Ragland knows work remains to be done. “We really don’t want to leave anything out there on the table, and the rules around biofuels and renewable fuel standards is one practical area we could still see improvement.”
Ragland finishes up his term as president this month, and will move into the role of chairman for his final year on the board in 2026. He remains optimistic that the trade deal with China will be honored going forward, but shared he reserves some uneasiness due to the complex political situation between the two countries. His key takeaway from his time in the spotlight was the importance of farmers banding together to influence policy, stating “If we’re not unified we have very little influence, but there’s a lot of strength in numbers when we come together to point to common goals.”