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By Tim White

This month, Heath Conklin will truck low-linolenic soybeans grown by B.R. and J. Farms about 50 miles to an elevator at Marion and get a 60-cent-per-bushel premium.

The Conklins, including Heath’s father, Russell, his uncle Bill and cousin Joe Young, contracted with Bunge to produce about 700 acres, or 80% of their soybean production, to Vistive soybeans on their farm near Marysville.

“It worked out much better than we imagined,” says Heath. Yields on the farm’s beans ran at record levels — between 54 and 66 bushels an acre. “I was expecting a yield drag,” he says, “but this year there really wasn’t any difference.” The Conklins are part of a boom in low-linolenic production in Ohio that began last year. In 2007, there were an estimated 250,000 acres of low-linolenic soybeans planted in the state. That is likely to double in 2008.

There are currently four facilities processing low-linolenic soybeans in Ohio, and there will be more than 30 local and regional low-linolenic seed brands available in 2008. Oil from the beans typically contains less than 3% linolenic acid, compared with 8% for commodity beans. This enables food processors to use the oil to reduce or eliminate the need for hydrogenation, which creates trans fats in processed soybean oil.

Ohio has more than 30 elevator delivery points for the low-linolenic beans, according to Jerry Leydens, grain merchant at Bunge Marion. This is the fourth year of a joint agreement between Bunge and DuPont to sell Pioneer’s low-linolenic varieties to growers and Treus low-linolenic soybean oil to consumers. This year, Bunge expanded its contracting to include Monsanto’s Vistive lowlin varieties.

“We have no problems getting the acres we need,” says Leydens. “A farmer’s seed costs are the same. Herbicide control is the same. Some say there is no yield drag; others say there is.”

Yield drag was no problem for Jim Berg, who harvested a farm record 65 bushels per acre this fall. He planted 40% of the acres to Monsanto’s Vistive varieties.

Under a contract with Cargill at Sidney, Berg will deliver his beans to the Sidney elevator Jan. 21. Sidney is Cargill’s largest U.S. refi nery and schedules its low-linolenic deliveries to fi t its production calendar.

“You have to deliver, and you do have to have on-farm storage,” Berg says. “You commit yourself to the warehousing risk. So you have to keep the beans in good condition.”

Identity-preserved crop production for a premium is on the rise in Ohio, according to John Lumpe, executive vice president of the Ohio Soybean Council. “Many growers take advantage of premiums for non-GMO soybeans, especially if they are close to the river.

This is a great new opportunity for farmers to add to menu of premium products they can grow.”

Key Points

• Low-linolenic soybeans opened a new market for farmers.
• More than 30 Ohio elevators are buying the specialty beans.
• Future developments depend on demand for non-trans fats.

They said it: “I’m always receptive to new ideas, but we don’t jump full bore. We had record soybean yields this year. The 40% of our acres planted to Vistive yielded comparably to the other 60%.”—Jim Berg,Wapakoneta

“In June, I thought we might just as well get out the bush hog. But the soybean plant sometimes needs a little stress to do better. We wound up with record yields this year.”—Paul Linninger, North Lewisburg