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Soybeans In Space? MN Soybean Leaders Visit NASA Facility

Prior to Commodity Classic, American Soybean Association Director and Minnesota farmer George Goblish and Minnesota Soybean Director of Market Development Kim Nill participated in a field trip to the NASA Vegetable Production System (aka the “Veggie Lab”) facility near Orlando.  

This NASA facility, overseen by Dr. Gioia Massa, has long researched the challenges of growing plants on the International Space Station (ISS).  It is now addressing which crops will be grown during the upcoming NASA mission to Mars.

Kim Nill had been corresponding about NASA’s earlier growing of soybeans in space with the previous Director of NASA’s Veggie Lab, during the past two decades as part of the various positions he held within ASA and the U.S. Soybean Export Council.

Dr. Massa noted one of the crucial lessons they learned growing plants on the ISS is that water and soil particles (e.g., from dead plant root removal post-harvest) must be controlled, so that neither dust nor water droplets “float” around the spacecraft in zero gravity.  Thus, they invented sponge-like “pillows” to hold water near roots, and they invented the hollow plastic “screw” shown in photo, with which to remove dead plant roots post-harvest while containing the soil around those roots.

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2.5 Billion Pounds Of Sunflower Are Harvested To Produce Oil This Way - Let's Dive In! Join us as we uncover the extraordinary journey behind harvesting a staggering 2.5 billion pounds of sunflowers in the United States, all to produce the golden sunflower oil that graces kitchens worldwide! In this documentary, we take you from vast sunflower fields to cutting-edge oil production facilities, where modern innovation meets agricultural expertise.

What You'll Discover:

•The Sunflower Harvest Process: Dive into the fascinating methods used by farmers to plant, care for, and harvest sunflowers across America's farmlands.

•High-Tech Harvesting Machines: See the impressive machinery in action, from specialized harvesters designed for sunflower seeds to the efficient transport systems that ensure every pound counts.

•From Seed to Oil: Explore the transformation of sunflower seeds into premium cooking oil, including cleaning, pressing, and refining processes in state-of-the-art factories.