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Ohio Soybean Council launches research lab

The Ohio Soybean Council and soybean checkoff has launched Airable Research Lab, a business model to utilize current research and find new uses for soy-based products.

Barry McGraw is the director of research and development for the Ohio Soybean Council and CEO of the Airable Research Lab.

“In the past, the Ohio Soybean Council has a really good track record of working with research and development companies but one gap we saw was coming up with our own ideas, our own intellectual property,  our own patenting and commercialization,” he says. “So, it’s the farmers taking control of creating demand for their product and creating demand for them.”

He says Airable Research Lab will increase the council’s reach

“We’re going to be able to create products faster and get products to the market faster, creating more demand for soybeans,” he says. “And we’re going to be able to engage with companies we weren’t able to engage with because a lot of these companies – commercial and industrial – don’t need funding necessarily, they just need good ideas.”

Examples of projects the lab is working on include a roof coating, candle wax, fish feed, and more.

The Ohio Soybean Council is governed by a volunteer farmer board, which directs the Soybean Promotion and Research Program. The council’s goal is to improve soybean profitability through research, development, marketing, and education with checkoff funds.