Look around at the number industrial uses for U.S. soy. The engine manufacturers that support the use of biodiesel in their engines. Or the farm-equipment companies that use soy-based body panels. Or the car companies that use soy-based foam in their seats.
Companies choose to use soy in their products instead of petroleum because soy is a homegrown, renewable resource that performs well. For farmers, these industrial uses improve demand for U.S. soybean oil and increase farmers’ profit potential.
The soy checkoff supports research, development and commercialization of new soy-based products and industrial uses for U.S. soy that increase demand. Thanks in part to this support, hundreds of soy-based products exist today for farmers and other consumers to use.
According to the most recent data, industrial uses of soybean oil require the oil from more than a half-billion bushels of soybeans.
Perhaps the best-known industrial use for soy is biodiesel. Missouri soybean farmers funded the initial research on biodiesel more than 20 years ago to find a use for excess stocks of soybean oil. The checkoff has been a major supporter of biodiesel research and promotion through the National Biodiesel Board ever since. That research is a big reason why at least 1.28 billion gallons of biodiesel will be used this year.
The checkoff also works with Goodyear to use soy in passenger-car tires, which could be available for purchase as early as 2015. According to Goodyear scientist Stephan Rodewald, checkoff involvement helped propel this new use for soy.
“Our R&D efforts to utilize soybean oil were intensified after we started collaborating with the checkoff,” Rodewald says. “It is evident that R&D sponsorship by the checkoff has created new soy-based products that would have otherwise not been realized.”
He says the company hopes to one day completely replace petroleum-based oils in the tires with soybean oil, which could use almost 54 million pounds of soybean oil annually.
Soy helps companies manufacture better products and support their customers.
“Goodyear has always been interested in new materials to support innovative tire development,” says Rodewald. “We appreciate that soybean oil is a domestic and renewable resource provided by our local farm communities.”
