Sizzling New Soybeans

AgWeb.com, Farm Journal - 11/29/2004
by Pam Henderson

All soybeans are not created equal—not anymore. Production contracts for new designer varieties containing lower levels of linolenic acid are germinating across the Soybean Belt faster than you can super size your fries.

This is no flash in the pan fad, says Walt Fehr, an Iowa State University soybean breeder. It’s all part of a rush to reduce or eliminate the unhealthy trans-fats that plague today’s popular convenience foods. And it’s being spurred on by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandate that food manufacturers list the amount of trans fats on food labels by 2006 (see sidebar).

It’s true that similar specialty-oil soybeans came and went in the 1990s. “We were 10 years ahead of our time,” says John Soper, DuPont soybean research director. “There wasn’t a lot of market traction for the low-linolenic and low-saturate varieties back then. The increased recognition of the trans fat issue by consumers and the coming labeling is bringing about alignment and collaboration among participants in different parts of the food delivery system.”

Call it low lin. The beans have already been tagged with the “low lin” moniker. There are currently two different low lin camps: Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred International are each introducing varieties for 2005 that have less than 3% linolenic acid and the Roundup Ready gene.

Iowa State University offers two soybean varieties that result in 1% linolenic acid. Both are non-GMO. Traditional soybeans contain 8% linolenic acid. “There’s no right answer on the 1% versus 3% issue,” Fehr says. “Some data coming out of USDA’s Peoria [Ill.] lab indicates the stability of the 1% oil is superior to the less than 3% oil.

However, it’s not clear how much stability end users really need. Testing this winter will shake that all out.” Meanwhile, DuPont and soybean processor Bunge have teamed up to bring Pioneer Hi-Bred Brand 93M20 to food retailers under an umbrella family of food products called “Nutrium.”

Monsanto has aligned its two Asgrow Brand varieties—AG2321V and AG2421V—with Cargill and Ag Processing Inc. (AGP) to turn “Vistive” beans into value-added oil. Producers will grow the soybeans under contract with the participating soybean processors, which will refine the oil and market it to food companies.

Companies currently offering contracts for the lower, 1% level soybeans include: Asoyia LLC, Winfield, Iowa; Innovative Growers LLC, Mason City, Iowa.; Zeeland Farm Services Inc., Zeeland, Mich.; and American Natural Soy Processors, Cherokee, Iowa.

Want to get in line for a contract? Right now, it appears your best shot is to live in one of the “I” states or farm near one of the processors. Pioneer Hi-Bred’s variety and Iowa State’s IA3017 are Group III maturity. Monsanto’s varieties and Iowa State IA2064 are Group II.

Cargill plans to contract 50,000 acres spread over 18 counties in eastern and central Iowa in 2005, processing Monsanto’s Vistive soybeans at Cargill’s Iowa plants in Iowa Falls, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. AGP expects to contract another 50,000 acres around Sheldon and Mason City, Iowa.

Bunge plans to handle 50,000 acres in volume—mostly in Illinois and Iowa and eventually spread into Indiana and possibly beyond. Asoyia CEO Vivan Jennings says his company contracted for 10,000 acres in 2004 and plans to grow that to 50,000 acres in 2005. Cargill crushes Asoyia’s production.

Contracts likely. Grower incentives are still being ironed out and factors like transportation can impact the bottom line. However, Pioneer Hi-Bred expects to offer 40¢ per bushel premium for low lin in 2005, says Bob Kennedy, senior production systems manager at Pioneer Hi-Bred. AGP premiums will pay a 25¢ per bushel bonus for growing the Vistive line, says Greg Twist, vice president of marketing at AGP. Cargill premiums are expected to be 25¢ per bushel, says David Freider, director of media relations. Asoyia, a privately held company owned by 25 growers, offers up to 55¢ per bushel premium up front and tops it off with a revenue sharing agreement, Jennings says.

Given consumer acceptance, the potential for growth in low lin soybean acreage is huge, says Carl Hausmann, president and CEO of Bunge North America. It requires approximately 50,000 acres of beans to produce 20 million pounds of oil. Bunge alone intends to have 250 million pounds of Nutrium Low Lin product available by 2007.

Frying oil used by food service and food processors is the target. Of the 18 billion pounds of oil consumed as food each year in the U.S., 5 billion pounds is used in frying. “Low lin is not a one-for-one replacement for all hydrogenated oil,” Hausmann says.

Marketing and handling a new seed with an attractive output trait differs from simply selling seeds with input traits. Suddenly, identity preservation must go beyond the farm gate and through the entire chain.

The soybean industry does have experience with food-grade bean segmentation, Fehr notes. “But that’s been a very small market. This is bigger than anything we’ve ever dealt with in commodity soybean production. We’re talking about millions of acres and hundreds of farmers—many of which don’t have good experience yet with segregation and traceability.”

Producers who have grown seed in the past are prime candidates for the first contracts. While contracts differ, at a minimum, low-lin soybeans will need to be planted in fields where soybeans were not grown the previous year. Additionally, the beans will need to be planted, harvested and transported with equipment that has been thoroughly cleaned after working with standard varieties or other crops. These beans must be stored separately from conventional soybeans.

“Our growers follow set standards that include everything from weed control to GPS [Global Positioning System] coordinates for where the beans are being grown and stored. Traceability back to the field is extremely important,” Asoyia’s Jennings says. “We get a high-resolution gas chromography reading on every load to make sure we’re getting the low linolenic product,” he adds.

Beyond following identity preservation protocols stipulated in the contract, Pioneer Hi-Bred’s Kennedy says producers must be willing to deliver low-lin soybeans to designated crush facilities for scheduled crushes during the year. “Pioneer is developing a near-infrared test that will provide a quick check to ensure the beans are low in linolenic content at the point of sale,” Kennedy says.

Yield parity. Monsanto says its low-lin variety is on yield parity with its elite Asgrow soybean offerings. DuPont’s Soper says three years of company testing by Pioneer Hi-Bred shows its variety exhibits “decent disease resistance, good standability and out-yielding best-seller Pioneer 93B09 in Iowa.”

Soybean breeder Fehr says there have been no trials to determine yield differences between 1% and 3% varieties. “All I can say about the 1% varieties is that on the average they yield 3 bu. less per acre than conventional varieties.” View results of Iowa State’s trials at www.notrans.iastate.edu.

The Big, fat facts

It’s no lie. Low-linolenic soybean oil has zero trans fat, less saturated fat and practically no transferable taste.

Trans fat occurs naturally in dairy products and meat. But it is also formed artificially during chemical hydrogenation, a process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil to extend the freshness of food and the frying life of conventional oil. Partial hydrogenation results in the formation of undesirable fats that elevate LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in the blood and lower the HDL (good) cholesterol.

The Food and Drug Administration estimates that the average daily intake of trans fat in the U.S. is about 5.8 grams or 2.6% of calories per day for individuals 20 years of age and older. On average, Americans consume approximately four to five times as much saturated fat as trans fat in their diet.

The updated Nutrition Facts panel on foods (shown at left) will soon list the amount of trans fat, but will not have a percent daily value. While scientific reports confirm the relationship between trans fat and an increased risk of chronic heart disease, a recommended daily value is yet to be established.

Research on altered linolenic acid content of soybean oil began at Iowa State University in the 1960s. The research team used three genes and conventional breeding methods to reduce the linolenic acid from 7% to between 3.5% and 5%. Eventually, by combining the three genes, they were able to lower it to 1%, says researcher Walt Fehr. To develop commercial varieties, lines with 1% linolenic oil were crossed to the best conventional public varieties available.

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