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United Soybean Board leader from Minnesota sees potential in high-oleic

A newly elected member of the United Soybean Board would like to see the market for high-oleic soybeans grow.

Rochelle Krusemark of Minnesota is one of 17 farmers appointed by Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack to oversee the investments of the Soy Check Off.

She says there is great potential for high-oleic varieties.

“The oil from the high-oleic soybeans feature basically all the functionality that’s needed by food manufacturers and restaurants, without the trans fats.”

The Food and Drug Administration has a plan in place to phase out trans-fats from the American diet.

Krusemark tells Brownfield the current market for high-oleic soybeans is limited, but her state is exploring it.

“Minnesota is doing a high-impact project on high-oleic.  Currently there haven’t been varieties you could grow in Minnesota.  But there have been varieties developed at the University of Minnesota, partially funded through our Check Off dollars, that is actually a non-GMO high-oleic.”

She calls those varieties a future profit center for soybean growers because of the diverse applications.

“Not only for cooking and soy meal, but also for lubricants.  Because if some consumers or manufacturers choose to not use the GMO product, then we need to have machines that can use a non-GMO product for lubrication.”

High-oleic soybeans are being grown in 11 states on approximately 250,000 acres. The United Soybean Board has a goal of 18 million planted acres by 2023.