Farmers seek new uses, markets for soybeans

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo.

Ask Warren Stemme, vice president of the Missouri Soybean Association, about efforts to find new uses for soybeans, and he'll tell you it's not only a good idea, it's a necessary one for American farmers.

He said for the first time, South America produced more soybeans than the United States. That's backed up by the United Soybean Board, an industry organization that uses money from farmers to promote American soybeans. It found that last year South America produced 3.3 billion bushels of soybeans, compared to 2.7 billion bushels by the United States.

Stemme said, "It's a huge concern. There's a whole bunch of issues relating to that. How do we compete with them?"

One way, Stemme said, is finding new markets for soybeans and experimenting to find new uses.

Soy foods, like tofu and soymilk, are already a staple on supermarket shelves, but a Missouri brewer introduced a beer made with soy this year; a California company has been using soy in hair products distributed to thousands of salons nationwide; many farmers and some other consumers use biodiesel with soy in it to power vehicles or equipment; and an Iowa farmer's wife has created a business, one of dozens like it, selling soy candles in scents such as Chocolate Covered Cherries and Grandma's Baking.

Not every effort has made it to the marketplace: attempts to make parts of sneakers out of soybean-derived materials haven't paid off yet.

Each niche adds up

Eric Niemann, chairman for the United Soybean Board's New Uses Committee, said work on new products falls into five categories: lubricants, plastics, coatings and inks, adhesives and other products.

The Nortonville, Kan., farmer said consumers may be using goods with soybeans in them and not even be aware of it. For instance, certain spray foam insulations, furniture padding and carpet backings contain soybeans, he said. Roughly 90 percent of American daily newspapers use some soy ink in their production, according to the United Soybean Board.

"Each niche market doesn't use a lot of soy, but it adds up," said Niemann.

Most soybeans aren't used in niche markets, but are instead turned into soy meal, a feed source for livestock, and soy oil, sold in vegetable oils or used in industrial products, the national board noted.

But farmers support the new initiatives in the hopes they will increase demand for soybeans.

At the Stemme farm in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, Stemme, 41, and his father, Wesley, 72, harvested the beans one bright, cold morning this fall.

The thin, dried plants stand about 3 feet tall, with fuzzy, three-bean pods growing along their lengths.

The older Stemme drove a combine through a field, cutting the plants off about 2 inches above the ground. The plants ran through the machine, which threshes and sorts out the beans.

A cloud of dust rose up, as the plants were cut and sorted by the combine into a grain tank. They'll later be shipped to a grain terminal on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Farmers like Stemme help support research into new uses with their crop sales. He uses biodiesel, a type of fuel that includes soy, on his farm. And, he explained, one half of 1 percent of every bushel sold is directed into research and promotion of soybeans through a national initiative known as the checkoff program, Stemme explained. "We invest in it through every bushel we grow," he said.

New products like beer

And there are other products being created.

Pony Express Brewing Company is making new beers with soybeans accounting for 6 percent of the grains used.

Joe Effertz, president of TransCon AG which owns Pony Express, said the business is working to expand the areas where their Gold, Original Wheat and Rattlesnake Pale Ale are sold.

The business, based in the western Missouri community of Garden City, is owned by farm operators. Effertz said the soy isn't for flavor, but the business is trying to promote the beer as having an increased protein level.

"We hope to be statewide by the end of the year," he said, explaining efforts are also under way to sell the soy beer in parts of China.

Soy is showing up in other products as well. Sexy Hair Concepts, based in Chatsworth, Calif., has been selling hair care products with soy in them since 1999, said Donna Federici, senior vice president of marketing. The company promotes the products for the soy proteins used in them, and now distributes to more than 60,000 salons nationwide, she said.

The company was "15 minutes ahead of the curve," she said. "Children's crayons and candles, everywhere you turn, soy was cropping up. So many different industries were touting the benefits of soy."