Fill ‘Er Up, And Check The Soybeans

A new soybean-based hydraulic fluid that will soon go on sale could eventually provide a market for more than 100 million bushels of the crop each year, officials said Wednesday.

The United States, the world’s largest soybean producer, could reap big economic dividends from development of the oil, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad told a news conference at which the product was unveiled.

“This innovative product takes Iowa soybeans full circle from the field to the factory to farm machinery,” Branstad said.

The fluid, tabbed BioSoy, was developed at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls as part of an effort to make vegetable-based oils for use in industry and machinery.

It will be marketed by Des Moines-based AGRI Industries and will go on sale within the next month. Currently, vegetable-based hydraulic oils are made from rapeseed, a European crop, and canola from Canada, said Lou Honary, a UNI professor. Soybean oil has generally been considered too unstable for use in industrial applications, but researchers have overcome that.