URBANDALE, Iowa - Soy on Parade is no more, but its legacy has added more than $20,000 to the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) agricultural scholarship fund.

The giant soybean troop that had made its way around the state this past summer was broken up by an auction at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines last night. The yield was more than $20,000 for the scholarship fund. In addition to the auctioned beans, a concurrent silent auction of goods and services offered by ISA staff added nearly $1500 more to the scholarship fund, bringing the total for the night to well over $22,000.

The giant bean titled ‘History of Soy’ topped the auction, selling for $2,400. The average selling price was nearly $1090, meaning that, with real soybeans selling for close to $9 a bushel today, each of the auctioned beans was worth more than 120 bushels.

“The results of our auction were much higher than my initial expectations,” says Curt Sindergard, a soybean grower from Rolfe and newly selected ISA president. “This truly shows that having a good cause makes the difference. Those in attendance had great attitudes and showed through their bidding that they wanted to help the future ag leaders in our state.

“With the proceeds from this auction and those from our recent golf outing, we anticipate a significant increase in the number of scholarships that we will award in 2008,” he concludes.