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Clean energy focus is a positive for soybean growers

The president of the Missouri Soybean Association says the Biden administration’s focus on clean energy is a positive for soybean growers.

“That’s a real positive for the soybean industry nationwide because we are able to produce a clean burning product right now with the usage of biodiesel,” Ronnie Russell said.

Russell tells Brownfield a priority for the association is to increase soybean demand in the state.

“And one of those main focuses right now is through the added production of biodiesel and consumption right here in the state of Missouri,” he said.

And Russell said since soybean meal is a byproduct of producing biodiesel, more biodiesel production would mean lower livestock feed input prices with more supply on the market.

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  Soybeans would already be in demand if the useless soybean checkoff high-paid leaders would have gotten off their lazy bottoms and pushed for soy diesel. I don’t know of a fuel facility anywhere around me that does not have ethanol I also don’t know of even one facility within 100 miles of me where I can buy soy diesel. Something just doesn’t seem right to me with that. Wasted checkoff money is the only answer.

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    Mr. Parchment, I hope you’ll allow me a few moments to reply. My name is Kyle Durham, and I am a farmer from Norborne, Mo., as well as the current chairman of the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, the group that administers and manages the state checkoff. The other 12 members of the board are also farmers who volunteer their time to direct the work of the organization.
    As a fellow farmer, I share your dismay that biodiesel is not nearly as widely available as other biofuels. Missouri is the #2 producer of biodiesel in the nation, which is due in no small part to the fact that the biodiesel industry was born in Missouri, when farmers across the state through their checkoff invested in the first research into using soybean oil as a replacement for petroleum. The road to full-scale adoption and ready access to biodiesel has not been easy, but your checkoff continues its work of biodiesel education, and support our partners at the Missouri Soybean Association in their work at the Capitol to also seek legislative remedies.
    Your checkoff should serve you, the producer; on that, there can be no compromise. Know that the board of MSMC does not take that responsibility lightly – it’s at the core of everything we do, and we would certainly welcome your feedback. My personal email is [email protected], if you would like to reach me personally, or the listing of directors and their districts, as well as staff, can be found on the mosoy.org website.

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