A Beaufort County soybean farmer is the newest recipient of the N.C. Soybean Producers Association’s award for meritorious service at the association’s 50^th-annual meeting in Durham on Jan. 12.

The award recognizes outstanding contributions to North Carolina soybean farmers.

Peed received the award for outstanding leadership and service while serving as president of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association during a two-year period, January 2015 through January 2017. Peed was vice president of the association from 2013 to 2015. John Fleming, incoming president of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association, presented the award to Peed.

“It’s quite an honor. Our board is a very active board, a very together board with a single-mindedness on what we decide to do. It’s been kind of easy to lead, for sure. For what we’ve accomplished, it as quite and honor,” Peed said.

While Peed was president of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association, he oversaw the growth of the internal research capabilities of the organization and worked to the results of research projects in which the association invests are easily accessed by North Carolina soybean growers.

“One of the first steps taken was to expand our research and agricultural practices to produce more yield for our area farmers. While I was president, one of our biggest accomplishments was hiring a new research coordinator, our first ever,” Peed said.

Peed, from Aurora, grows soybeans, corn and onions on about 25,000 acres. Peed farms with his father Floyd Peed and his brother Scott Peed.

“It varies from year to year — about 2,000,” Peed said about how many acres of soybeans are grown by him, his father and brother.

Peed said Beaufort County and Robeson County go back and forth when it comes to being ranked first and second in soybean production in the state. “Being one or two in the state, there’s a lot of revenue that comes into the county. Pretty much all those soybeans are exported from the county to be crushed and turned into animal feed and cooking oil,” Peed noted.

Charles Hall, chief executive officer of the N.C. Soybean Producers Association, noted that Peed was elected to the soybean board in 2007. Peed and his wife Barbara recruited because of their participation in American Soybean Association’s Young Leader Program, a national leadership institute for soy growers, and through his father Floyd Peed, who served on the association board and on the United Soybean Board, according to Hall.

“Jeff presided over a period of growth at the soybean association that included a new vision for investing in soybean research and communicating the results to growers. His leadership along with a few other farmer leaders resulted in the hiring of the association’s first Research Coordinator with a mission to lead the association’s soy research program,” Hall wrote in an email.

Hall continued: “Jeff volunteered his time and effort to lead the association through a very busy two years that also included two statewide commodities conferences, several major annual reports and publications, many grower outreach meetings and events across the state, as well as the required board business meetings.”

The N.C. Soybean Producers Association is a statewide trade association representing all North Carolina soybean producers, responsible for research, education and promotion programs to benefit the state’s soybean farmers. The association is the qualified state board responsible for administering national soybean check-off programs in North Carolina. The association is the state affiliate of the American Soybean Association.