CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — In February, the Soybean Innovation Lab (SIL) at the University of Illinois lost funding following an Executive Order signed by President Trump that reduced funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

Peter Goldsmith, the Director of the SIL had to fire his team and stop all operations. 

Recently, SIL received a one million dollar anonymous donation to keep the lab operational. While it won't return the lab to its normal level of operations, it will allow Goldsmith and a few other researchers to complete projects they were working on initially.

Most of these are happening throughout Africa, and especially in Malawi. 

"Africa is the last large market that doesn't know soy," said Goldsmith, "It is still a relatively minor part of the economy, meaning that their demand for US beans is still at a formative stage and SIL is advancing the development of the market." 

While the gift is a step in the right direction, it won't allow the SIL to stay open for long. One million dollars represents about 30% of SIL's annual budget. However, some of their initial projects have been abandoned because they were related to public research that isn't of interest anymore. 

"We have to focus on very specific deliverables that will happen within the next year," said Goldsmith. "We'll have a major soybean industry event, the first ever in southern Malawi. So that'll be exciting and good for the industry and for foreign nationals. Folks who are looking to southern Africa as a potential market for soy products." 

SIL is one of about 17 Feed the Future Innovation Labs nationally. Goldsmith said they are the only one that has received some form of new funding. The labs have appealed to the federal government for restored funding, but haven't received anything so far. 

"We're lucky and we're going to work our tails off for the next year, and trying to figure out how to make us sustainable," said Goldsmith. 

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