Farmer-leaders honor use of biodiesel and other soy products

ST. LOUIS – With the help of U.S. soy, New York City is learning that it’s actually pretty easy to be green with products such as soy-backed carpeting and synthetic grass.

In addition, New York’s greenhouse-gas-reduction strategy includes the use of cleaner-burning biodiesel in the ports of New York and New Jersey and requirements for the use of Bioheat, a blend of biodiesel with traditional heating oil.

“It’s a good thing for U.S. soybean farmers to have New York City asking for and using our products, the first being biodiesel, followed by Bioheat¨and now soy-based carpet-backing,” says Lewis Bainbridge, a soybean farmer and United Soybean Board (USB) secretary from Ethan, S.D. “It speaks volumes about the quality of soybeans produced in the U.S. for food, feed, fuel and industrial products.”

Bainbridge recently joined fellow soy checkoff farmer-leader Sharon Covert, a farmer from Tiskilwa, Ill., in recognizing New York sites that use biobased products. One stop was an Applebee’s restaurant in the Harlem neighborhood, where the franchise owner had installed carpeting with soy-based backing throughout the restaurant. USB also acknowledged the installment of AstroTurf¨ with soy-based backing in Battery Park, just two blocks from the nearly complete One World Trade Center monument at ground zero.

“As U.S. soybean farmers, we are excited to support many products that bring benefits to New York City residents,” adds Covert, who also serves as USB Customer Focus Action Team chair. “The soy checkoff is pleased that state-of-the-art products, such as biodiesel, carpet and AstroTurf, use soy as a renewable ingredient for sustainability.”

The soy checkoff invests in research, development and commercialization of new products that contain U.S. soy. Thanks in part to this relationship, 45 new soy-based products hit the market last year.

For information on the United Soybean Board, visit http://www.unitedsoybean.org