The Kansas Soybean Commission is soliciting research and education proposals for FY 2027. Proposals are due to the Commission by the close of business on Monday, October 6, 2025. Do not include funding for Commissioner travel in your budget. The Kansas Soybean Commission uses Kansas soybean farmers’ checkoff funds to support contract research and education projects across many areas including production ag, promotion of and education on soybeans and soybean products in feed, food and fuel, and new uses and new markets for soybeans and soybean products.
Please contact the Kansas Water Institute for submission templates, full research priorities, or a pdf version of the submission instructions.
All submitted proposals should contain clear and audience-appropriate statements and language about the importance and potential short- and long-term benefits and impacts of the proposed research and education work. Contact KWI for the full document of research priorities. Water-specific priorities are as follows:
Water Management and Water Use Efficiency for continuous improvements in water conservation and maximized crop production with decreased water inputs. Proposed projects may span improvements in irrigation equipment (hardware and software), decision tools, management practices, genetic discovery, germplasm development, and trait characterization and introgression for improved water use efficiency, to include improved heat tolerance and drought resistance. Projects also may include related work to create climate resiliency across extremeweather events, especially related to water, that may include temporal flood tolerance as well.
Instructions
The following instructions are provided to aid in the preparation of project proposals. Failure to follow these instructions may remove your proposal from further consideration.
1. Estimated Period of Performance
The agreement for this proposed project will begin on July 1, 2026, and end on June 30, 2027, with one semi-annual report required on January 15, 2027, and, unless otherwise stipulated, a final report due no later than August 15, 2027.
2. Technical Questions
All questions pertaining to this solicitation shall be directed to:
Adam O'Trimble Director of Operations and Accounting (785) 271-1040
The deadline for submitting proposals to the Kansas Soybean Commission office is close of business on Monday, October 6, 2025. Please submit all proposals in electronic form to otrimble@kansassoybeans.organd anderson@kansassoybeans.orgor on a flash drive to:
Adam O'Trimble Director of Operations Kansas Soybean Commission 1000 SW Red Oaks Place Topeka, KS 66615-1207
4. Proposal Format
Proposals should be no longer than 5 pages plus the cover page and budget page. Proposals should be written in laylanguage, and they should contain the following information:
Cover page: Follow the format for the cover
Title: The major thrust of the Highly technical words or phraseology should be avoided; do not use scientific jargon; use common names for all organisms. No more than 15 words for the title.
Principal investigator(s), department, telephone number, and e-mail
Objectives: A clear and complete one-sentence statement for each specific numbered objective of the project arranged in logical
Procedure: a description of the investigations and/or experiments proposed; techniques to be used incarrying out the proposed project; methods by which experimental data will be analyzed or interpreted; procedure of applying results or accomplishing technology
Justification: Importance of the issue to the benefit of Kansas soybean
Objective: In addition to explaining the proposal’s objective, if possible, indicate the specific KansasSoybean Commission priority being addressed by number and letter.
Project location(s): Location(s) for field research and test
Duration of the project (number of years): If this is a multi-year project, which year does this proposalrepresent? Projects will be approved for only one year at a time.
Budget: Itemize the budget splitting out labor, travel, and other The Kansas Soybean Commissiondoes not normally fund equipment purchases, institutional overhead, nor principal investigator salary. Universities may pay (under)graduate assistants to assist with the work, but the Kansas SoybeanCommission will not pay a student’s tuition. If your project contains travel opportunities for Kansas Soybean Commissioners or staff, do not include those costs in your budget because the Kansas Soybean Commissionwill pay those directly.
Facilities and equipment: Are they adequate to complete the project?
Cooperators: List all private and public cooperators and their role in and relationship to the Proposed research may complement and extend but must not duplicate already funded research. Whereapplicable, provide a concise listing of related research and funding sources for the PI and collaborators,and a brief description of how this check-off funded research will be used to attract or complement additionalfunding support (public and private: e.g. USB, QSSB, USDA, company) to extend knowledge or expandresearch breadth and depth, especially in cases where basic research funding is requested.
Related information: A summary of the most significant work related to the project should be Provide a brief review of how the proposed project will supplement or extend previous work. For continuing projects, including a summary of accomplishments to date is necessary.
Expected outcome: Provide a brief description of the expected short- and long-term outcomes and benefitsof the proposed research or education program. The expected outcomes may be the generation of new information as reflected in tangible products such as new varieties, development and/or acceptance of newmethodologies, research and Extension publications, patents, software, and Where feasible, identify the measurable economic, social, and environmental benefits expected to result from the project.Examples of such benefits include cost savings, enhanced economic and employment impacts, improved health and nutrition, human or community development, more efficient natural resource utilization, andminimizing the impact of agriculture on the environment. Identify, where appropriate, the potentialrecipients of the benefits such as producers, consumers, taxpayers, and communities. Describe how theresults of the research will be communicated to potential users. If outcomes are not expected during the lifeof the project, please develop a schedule.
5. Review criteria
Significance of the proposed project to the priorities of the Kansas Soybean Commission.
Likelihood the project will improve the profitability of soybean farmers and meet the expected outcomes of the project.
Relationship of proposed research to ongoing and past research and whether it is complementary orunique to ongoing and past
Interdisciplinary expertise/talents.
Facilities and equipment
Private and public entity cooperation including multi-state interaction and cooperation.