By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A St. Louis company is convincing area farmers to grow soybeans specifically designed to feed fish.
Benson Hill, which is headquartered in St. Louis, has a crushing plant in Crescent, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from Omaha.
Vice President of Product Management, Aaron Robinson, says growing soybeans for Benson Hill is the same as growing traditional soybeans, though the beans themselves are different. Benson Hill soybeans are a special hybrid which is easier on a fish digestive track. The food produced from this hybrid is used in aquaculture, such as the salmon market in Europe.
Robinson says the company contracts with farmers to grow the special variety of soybeans. He says the company also can tell the farmer how the soybeans harvested from his farm are used.
“But it is kind of an interesting opportunity to really understand the soybeans that the farmers are growing on their farms where they’re ending up,” according to Robinson.
Robinson says farmers normally merely sell their soybeans at the elevator and have no idea how they are used.
“We run a traceable program that really understands from the field all the way to the grocery store shelf, we understand how that product was made.”
Robinson says Benson Hill simply provides another opportunity for farmers.
“Certainly, from an aquaculture perspective, it’s an evolving market that could continue to grow,” Robinson says. “I think our expansion into animal feed is going to be a huge opportunity for farmers.”
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