Submitted Photo Above: Rochelle Krusemark of the United Soybean Board.

FAIRMONT — Rochelle Krusemark from the United Soybean Board shared what new innovations are coming from soybean oil and shared what the board is doing for the future when it comes to soybeans.

The United Soybean Board is composed of soybean farmers all over the country. The board is composed of 11 directors, four of those 11 are in Minnesota and 78 people that are on the executive board.

The board regularly collaborates with Goodyear on research to learn how to incorporate soy into its rubber technology: Goodyear has several lines of tires on the market and planned to increase its use of soybean oil in 2020 by 25%, with even loftier goals for inclusion by 2040.

The research has led to the discovery that soybean oil could not only improve tire flexibility across temperatures but also provide enhanced grip on road surfaces, making it an ideal choice for Goodyear’s all-weather tire line.

Skechers shoes has publicly announced their use of the Goodyear soy-based rubber technology for running shoes: Building off Goodyear’s discovery, Skechers utilized the same technology to deliver grip, stability and durability for select models of their running shoes and incorporated the rubber into more styles throughout 2020.

Another innovation is using a soy-based polymer to replace petroleum in asphalt roads. Soy-based asphalt has been effectively used to pave several large demonstration lots and is currently undergoing Department of Transportation testing for use on public roadways.

Krusemark said that there have been some projects in Minnesota in particular the board has been funding projects in Hutchinson. The funding has gone to both new construction and overlay and patching of potholes.

“That’s an exciting project and the soy asphalt expands and contracts better with our weather extremes here in Minnesota,” Krusemark said.

There is currently a project that is developing a rubric for contractors to be able to utilize as their bidding projects so that they work when the contractors work with the department of transportation.

The United Soybean Board educates, markets and promotes their soybean products and developments in their bi-monthly magazines. There are also other avenues the board is using such as posting to social media on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. They also do a lot of conferences, workshops, seminars both internationally and domestically to get the information out.

The board has developed a new strategic plan for the next few years. The sustainability and in this climate-smart initiative is a priority moving forward to the board.

“Farmers have always been concerned about soil health and taking care of the environment,” Krusemark said. “I think now more people seem to be concerned about what all of us can do as partners.”

According to Krusemark, the whole food supply chain is partnering together a lot more effectively, to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and everybody does their part to really, to evaluate where they’re at and what they can all do to decrease emissions and just use a lot more climate-smart practices. As always, they want to continue to produce the soybean with characteristics that our consumers want, whether that be human or animal usage.

Krusemark wants to let the readers and community know that the board works very hard to make wise investments out of all of the U.S. soybean farmers, checkoff investments and contributions.

We want to make sure that we take care of not only our domestic markets but that we find new uses that are renewable and green,” Krusemark said. “And I’ve been known to say, somebody many times that if there’s a question, how can we accomplish that? I say, well, soy can do that. There’s nothing soy can’t do. We can keep finding more uses for that (soy).”