Lucas Lentsch, chief executive officer at the United Soybean Board for the past two years, has resigned from the organization following the group’s February board meeting this week. 

"The United Soybean Board (USB) today announced that Chief Executive Officer Lucas Lentsch submitted his resignation, effective immediately,” according to a statement from the organization.

Darryl Chatman, USB’s executive vice president of compliance, will serve as interim CEO “while the board conducts a comprehensive search for the organization's next leader,” according to the statement. 

“USB remains focused on delivering measurable results for soybean farmers, maintaining strong partnerships across the industry, and will continue executing its strategic priorities to ensure farmers achieve maximum value for their Soy Checkoff investments,” the group said. 

Lentsch did not respond to our requests to comment.

Soybean industry sources, who spoke on the condition of being granted anonymity, said Lentsch made some positive changes in terms of hiring staff and bringing key segments of the soy "family" together. For many years, the majority of the staff had been outside contractors. 

However, these sources also noted that there seemed to be a disconnect between board expectations and Lentsch's management style. During the United Soybean Board's meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi, this week, some board members openly discussed their desire to limit the CEO's ability to make certain types of staffing decisions. 

"Clearly, there was tension brewing and I'm not really surprised by this outcome," said one source. 

“Something's going on here,” said another source, thinking back to the group’s December board meeting. “I'm not quite sure what it is, but something's going on.” 

Lentsch began his tenure as CEO on Jan. 1, 2024, after an extensive six month search to succeed previous CEO, Polly Ruhland. 

Before joining the Soy Checkoff, Lentsch was executive vice president at Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), which managed the national dairy checkoff. He previously served as CEO at Midwest Dairy, representing a 10-state region.

Growing up on his family’s dairy farm near Veblen, South Dakota, Lentsch also served as his state’s Secretary of Agriculture from 2013 to 2016. 

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