MORGAN — On the first day of Farmfest, a three day event where agribusinesses network and showcase demonstrations, the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council gave updates on the soybean farming industry, current goals and debuted a SYNLawn mini-golf course to promote agricultural sustainability.

SYNLawn supports farmers and environmental stewardship by using soybeans in its products, which replaces up to 60% of traditional polyurethane with polyols. Farmers and researchers are continuing to expand the global market for soybeans. Most recently, 150 metric tons of soybean was exported to Uzbekistan earlier this year. Soybeans are used to create biofuels, which is a large economic outlet for various uses and can help rural infrastructure.

Each hole of the golf course shared facts and statistics about the sustainable usage of soybeans.

“(We have) tremendous amount of passion for making sure the soybeans have the highest value possible in so many different ways,” CEO of Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council Tom Slunecka said. “Farmers in Minnesota, the leadership here, is fully capable and willing to take risks that few commodity organizations are willing to do … I think our leaders are by now, the most entrepreneurial, innovative and willing to take the risk, because they know that it is (soybean usage) what’s on the cutting edge that will make a difference.”

Rose Wendinger, treasurer for Minnesota Soybean Growers, has a farm in St. James and grows soybeans.

“We’re inviting everyone out to play some holes and golf. At each hole, there’s some educational pieces about what our checkoff dollars are contributing towards in the industry, and what our advocacy goals are for the future, to make sure that farmers are able to farm with all the tools in the toolbox, and be profitable and successful,” Wendinger said. “It (golf) takes work and precision, and that’s kind of the same thing in the soybean world. Like everyone’s swing, and the way that they go into it is so different, but at the end of the game, we’re all aiming toward the same success.”

Wendinger grew up on a dairy farm with five older brothers and studied at Southwest Minnesota State University for agricultural business. As her parents were focused on dairy farming, her inspiration sparked in becoming a lifelong advocate for voicing farmer needs.

“I actually got some really good training and learned how important it is that we’re the ones that share the message, as farmers,” Wendinger said. “Stand up for what we believe and what we need for our operations to be successful. I did the Corteva young leader program, and was very welcomed by the older generation within the soybean leadership … They saw a spark that I could hold a voice alongside and do that.”

Biofuels are the oil that comes from soybeans, which is a clean fuel that can help the environment.

Through her work with Soybean Growers, Wendinger advocates for farmers to make sure they continue to have what they need to work toward the goal of sustainable biofuel operations.

“The biofuels, just making sure that we’re not limited to expanding that and the opportunities for the clean fuels,” Wendinger said. “The advocacy for making sure that we have the chemicals and the applications that we need to produce a good crop for both consumption and oil usage.”

Wendinger also works to support young farmers to have opportunities with financing and tax credits, so they too can compete or work with older landowners and farmers.

Mike Youngerberg, director of product development at Ag Management Solutions, specializes in the production of soybeans to biodiesel and where the industry is going.

Dating back to the late 1990s, Youngerberg said the country was selling soybean meal well, but the price of soybean oil was dropping.

“There were some programs that ended, so the price kind of kept declining,” Youngerberg said. “So the checkoff got involved, ‘OK, how can we take a resource like soybean oil, and convert it to fuel?’ That was done, and that created the biodiesel market. From there, then, ‘OK, we’ve got a product. How do we get it in the marketplace?'”

Getting into the market started with federal standards, because they had requirements for reducing petroleum dependence.

“Ever since that, Minnesota and a number of other states, and even at the national level, have been moving more product,” Youngerberg said. “We’re creating more products. Sometimes it’s an incentive. Sometimes, like the state of Minnesota, we have a mandate. So, that creates markets.”

Most recently about two years ago, renewable hydrocarbon diesel was created, which plays into the current goal of creating low carbon intensities in soybeans.

“Renewable hydrocarbon diesel is diesel fuel made in a different process. Instead of in our traditional biodiesel plants, they convert old oil refineries to basically produce the product,” Youngerberg said. “This pushes for sustainability and lower carbon. The airline industry got really interested … They actually can take renewable diesel and refine it even farther to create jet fuel.”

Farmers are now working on their soybean crops to continue producing fuels in a more sustainable way.

“Our challenge now is, we know how to produce the fuels. How do we help lower carbon intensities? What can farmers do to maybe produce product just using more conservation tillage … Be able to prove that carbon scores are going down,” Youngerberg said. “That’s part of the development area now.”

Gail Donkers is farmer leader for the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council and an outreach organizer for Minnesota Farmers Union.

Donkers said corn and soybean are the top crops grown in Minnesota. A big difference between the two is that the checkoff council for corn is a state run program, where soybean is national.

The checkoff is a certain amount of dollars that is taken when a product is sold into the market, and used for promotion and research funding for farmers. The Minnesota Growers, which Wendinger works with, is the advocacy group that is funded by memberships and listens to farmers on what they need on a state and national level, and talks to legislative partners.

When a Minnesota farmer sells soybeans, one half of one percent of the market price is checked off. Currently, each dollar soy farmers pay into the checkoff, growers earn $12.34 in return.

“We get audited. We have to prove where our dollars go,” Donkers said. “We have to show our farmers that we are spending it on research, education, that type of thing.”

As corn operates in the state, that leads to the crop being more lenient with checkoff rules and regulations.

“With our county organizations, we give them so many dollars to spend, but they have to spend it in the categories that are available. We can’t just say, ‘Here’s, a couple grand, just do what you want.’ We can’t do that. Corn can do that. So, it’s different,” Donkers said. “I’ve served on the Dakota, Rice, Corn and Soybean (association). So, I see the difference … We (soybean farmers) get audited. We have to prove where our dollars go.”

Farmefest will continue today and Thursday showcasing several products, demonstrations, activities, educational sessions and technologies.