Checkoff-Funded Research Yields 38 New Products That Add Demand For Soy

Mar 13, 2014

Everyone knows the stone age didn’t end because they ran out of stones. Innovation happens when people look at their surroundings in new ways. The checkoff helps manufacturers innovate with U.S. soy by supporting research and development of new products with the best chance of increasing demand for U.S. soy.

Last year, checkoff partnerships with manufacturers helped commercialize 38 new soy-based products and ingredients. The diverse list includes products ranging from a soy-based-plastic insert that slides into window frames for better insulation to a soy-based additive that protects oil wells from corrosion.

Dale Profit, a soy checkoff farmer-leader and soybean farmer from Van Wert, Ohio, recognizes the value that industrial uses add for U.S. soybean farmers.

“The checkoff is helping discover other products that can be made from soy to add to farmers’ bottom lines,” says Profit. “These products are good for the farmer, the customer and all the people in between.”

Soybean meal continues to be used primarily for animal feed, while most soybean oil goes to human food production, Profit adds. But versatile soy can also help manufacturers replace petrochemicals and possible carcinogens in their products. Soy-based products are more renewable and environmentally friendly and, in some cases, even perform better.

Check out more than 860 soy-based products, 142 feedstocks and 212 companies that sell them in the 2014 Soy Products Guide.

Source : unitedsoybean.org

Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.