Rural Route 2: Taking Flight

April 21, 2022 | Bethany Baratta

As I write this, I’m somewhere between Charlotte and New Orleans. My window seat in Row 13 of the American Airlines flight gives me a clear view over the plane’s wing.

I’m heading to Commodity Classic, one of the largest commodity specific tradeshows in the world.

The plane’s wing extends into the clouds. I snap pictures for my 4-year-old son, who wants to see what I see, even though he’s back home.

Down below me, clouds. Above, blue skies. On this, the first day as editor of the Iowa Soybean Review, it doesn’t escape me that I’m in the clouds — both figuratively and literally. I have the privilege of stepping into this editor spot, a position Ann Clinton embraced for decades. I’ll miss going back and forth with Ann; her cubicle was within a few feet of mine for the past three years. We bounced story ideas, words of encouragement and headlines off each other. We also traded stories about our families and our farms.

But Ann has taken a new flight path, and now, so have I. More than anything, I’m grateful. Grateful to be trusted at the helm of this publication. Grateful to continue learning from you and being a caretaker of your stories.

In this issue of the Review, I invite you to dig into some highlights from your checkoff-supported Soybean Research Information Network, celebrate soy as part of National Soyfoods Month (and beyond!) and hear from farmers about their planting intentions this year.

I’d like this space to be a conversation; I want to learn more about you. Is there something you’d like to see in the pages of the Review? I’d love to know what topics are on your mind. Feel free to email me at bbaratta@iasoybeans.com or call me at 515-334-1020.

I wish you well as you take flight into a new growing season. May your soil be fertile to produce abundant crops, and may the rain come where and when it’s needed.

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