Innovations

Asgrow plant prioritizing seed quality

The site lead of a soybean processing plant says having high quality seed standards builds trust with farmers.

Drew Yingling manages Bayer’s Commercial Soybean Processing Facility in Stonington, Illinois.

“We understand the seed we’re producing here is truly the livelihood of our customers and they deserve and depend on us to provide them and their families with that premium product. So here, when we see a bag of seed going down our packaging line, we see it as something much bigger than just a bag of beans.”

He says quality is prioritized from the field to the time seeds are shipped to the customer.

“We conduct quality checks three different times throughout the growing season for varietal purity. Then following harvest, we sample each batch of seed and run it through our site quality lab, where we ensure proper germination, physical purity, and appearance.” He says they continue taking samples throughout the conditioning, packaging and shipping process.

Yingling says automation and other technology help keep the bar high. 

“From the click of a mouse we are able to automate a valve throughout the process and make sure the seed is going to the right location all the way through our quality lab to be able to monitor consistency, temperature, and seed counting.”

The plant produces about 2.3 billion units of soybeans annually that are shipped to 20 different states and about 75% of those are for the Asgrow brand. 

*Photo of jar samples provided by Asgrow

Audio: Interview with Drew Yingling