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New use for soybean oil could spur demand

The chairman of the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) says a newfound use for soybean oil could someday spur major demand.

Ron Kindred, who farms in Logan County, says checkoff funded ISA research led to the discovery.

“This Soy Innovation Center is something that we started last year.”  He says, “We’ve already got one product that’s coming out of that as a new use, a bio-based lubricant.  Like in 60 days to 90 days we should have a licensing agreement for that to go into commercialization.”

He tells Brownfield it’s an environmentally friendly alternative to petroleum.

“We are replacing a petroleum base with soybean oil.”  He says, “There’s a lot of products we can do that with and increase the demand for soybean oil.  That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Kindred says this is just the first new use to come from ISA’s Soy Innovation Center.

“And there are many, many more things that they’re looking at as a new use for soybean oil or soybean meal.”  He says, “Anything we can do to generate more uses of our product, and generate more demand, then it’s going to pay us big dividends down the road.”

He says investing into new soybean uses helps protect soy demand against things like trade disruptions.

AUDIO: Ron Kindred – Illinois Soybean Association