Soy products sprout new growth
By Jenni Glenn
The Journal Gazette
Janelle Sou Roberts/The Journal Gazette
EarthShell Biodegradable Dinnerware, made from potatoes, corn and limestone, is available at Sam’s Club.
Fear
Crayons. Disposable dishes. Carpeting.
Usually these items are made from plastic or other petroleum-based materials, but farmers are promoting alternatives using crops from their fields. As products such as soy candles gain ground in the marketplace, farmers stand to reap the benefits of increased demand for their grain.
Companies typically introduce 25 to 50 industrial products containing soy each year, said John Campen, new uses program manager for the United Soybean Board, a Chesterfield, Mo.-based trade association for farmers. Each new product containing soy helps improve the bottom line for farmers. For every 100 million bushels of additional soybean usage, farmers nationwide can expect to earn 10 cents more for every bushel they harvest, he said.
It takes many product launches to reach that mark. But Karen Fear, who farms 1,300 acres in Wells and Jay counties with her husband and son, said farmers should take the initiative in the development of soy- and corn-based products.
Fear is a director for the United Soybean Board and serves on the organization’s new uses committee. The committee finances research to develop soy-based products, but not all achieve success in the marketplace, she said. Soy crayons, for instance, sold well in Mexico but not in the United States because of their soft texture. But biodiesel – a vehicle fuel made from soybean oil – is gaining national attention and has grown into an industry capable of producing 395 million gallons of fuel a year.
“You so rarely hit a home run,” Fear said. “Biodiesel is more of a home run. The other things are small hits.”
No matter how small, each additional product helps boost demand for soybeans and the prices on the farm, Fear said.
A Baltimore-based company introduced disposable dishes made from corn starch and other materials in Fort Wayne about a month ago. EarthShell Corp. hopes its plates and bowls made from limestone as well as corn and potato starches will capture a share of the nation’s $13 billion market for disposable dishes, said Vincent J. Truant, chairman and chief executive officer.
EarthShell is marketing the biodegradable dishes to cafeterias and quick-service restaurants as well as consumers, Truant said. About 30 Sam’s Club stores in the Midwest, including the Lima Road store in Fort Wayne, started carrying EarthShell’s products a month ago. The disposable dishes typically sell for 4 to 6 cents each, which is comparable to the price of a high-quality plastic plate or bowl, he said.
Interest in the environment, not the agricultural economy, drove EarthShell’s research, Truant said. The company wanted to develop a product that would decompose quickly in a landfill. It also made sense to use American crops to create the disposable dishes, he said.
“The economic benefit to farmers is where they once produced their crops for food products … today they’re looking at broader markets,” he said.
Rising demand for other soy-based products are expected to have little effect on food prices in the next 10 years, said Mike Erker, bioproducts development director for the United Soybean Board. Farmers worldwide produce a surplus of soybean oil and meal, and harvest yields continue to improve over time. Increasing demand helps use up that excess supply, he said.
Prototypes and proposals for 10 to 20 viable soy-based products sit on Michael Bryja’s desk at the Indiana Soybean Board at any given time. As the director of technology commercialization for the state trade association, Bryja studies the concepts and considers whether the Indiana Soybean Board should invest in or promote the ideas. A soybean oil-based jet fuel additive similar to biodiesel is among the products the board is examining.
The Indiana Soybean Board holds an annual contest at Purdue University to generate ideas for products containing soybeans. When a group of students developed soy candles for the contest in 1997, the organization financed additional research into the concept at Purdue, Bryja said. The research yielded some patents, and the Indiana Soybean Board licensed the idea to manufacturers and retailers. National retailer Bath and Body Works started carrying soy candles in 2001, and now they are widely sold, he said.
“Any time we can have a positive impact on the consumption of soy, we want to give that a chance,” Bryja said.
Companies and farmer organizations are developing other consumer products containing corn, including bioplastics, said Dean Eppley, a Wabash County farmer who is chairman of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council.
Consumers may not even be aware of some of the corn-based products around them. The Wabash County Historical Museum installed carpeting containing 15 percent corn-based plastic a year ago, said Eppley, who serves on the museum’s board.
“To look at it, walk on it, you wouldn’t have the slightest idea (the carpet) was any different than anything you would see at any other similar location,” he said. The corn-based carpet cost the same as other commercial carpeting, Eppley said.
Crop-based products must be able to compete with similar items made from petroleum-based chemicals, Campen said. If the cost and quality cannot match the traditional product, the soy-based alternative stands little chance of succeeding in the marketplace.
About 10 percent of the United Soybean Board’s budget finances efforts to develop and market soy-based products, Campen said. The organization spends $3 million to $3.5 million a year, on average, on research and development. The money comes from a mandatory fee called a checkoff that farmers pay when they sell their soybeans. The fee, which totals 0.5 percent of the selling price of each bushel of soybeans, is used to promote the industry.
The Indiana Soybean Board budgeted $412,000 this year to support technology commercialization efforts, Bryja said. That is 10 percent of the organization’s budget.
Corn farmers do not pay a mandatory checkoff in Indiana, so the state has less money to spend researching corn-based products, Eppley said. The council distributes about $50,000 collected each year from the voluntary corn checkoff. Some farmers have pushed for the state to adopt a mandatory checkoff to finance additional research into corn-based products and other promotional programs. The Indiana House passed legislation to create a checkoff, but it did not get a hearing in the Senate.
Despite the obstacles, Fear said she has noticed significant progress in developing new uses for farm crops. She collects soy-based products and has a T-shirt listing the many uses for soybeans. The shirt’s list was comprehensive when Fear joined the Indiana Soybean Board about 10 years ago, but the number of soy-based products keeps expanding.
“To see the changes is just amazing,” Fear said.
jglenn@jg.net
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Bio-based products
Thousands of soy- and corn-based products are being marketed to consumers and for industrial uses. Some of the products include:
•Home insulation
•Crayons
•Candles
•Engine oils
•Disposable dishes
•Carpet and padding
•Bedding
Source: United Soybean Board, Indiana Soybean Board and Indiana Corn Marketing Council Chairman Dean Eppley
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