You may not see them, but soybeans everywhere out at the Indiana State Fair! In fact, they are being used behind the scenes to help to feed and fuel the State Fairgrounds!
“If you’re visiting, you’ll get to see and learn and touch and enjoy all the benefits of soybeans at the State Fair,” says Courtney Kingery, CEO of the Indiana Soybean Alliance, who says you are likely walking on soybeans at the State Fairgrounds – and not even know it!
“The sidewalks around the state fair are protected with PoreShield, a concrete-durability enhancer that’s made out of soybean oil. You spray it on, and then it protects the concrete from freeze thaw,” says Kingery.
“When they’re on the trolleys, the tractors are fueled with soy biodiesel. [It’s] renewable diesel made from soybean oil here in Indiana,” adds Kingery.
She says soybeans are also being used to help cook up those delicious deep-fried food items at the Indiana State Fair.
“If they stop at any of the vendors to get fried food, we have several vendors that [have their] foods cooked with high oleic soybean oil made from soybeans grown here in Indiana [and] processed here in Indiana.”
“If they walk into any of the animal buildings and they go to see the swine [and] they see the llamas, a lot of those animals are eating soybean meal in their feed,” says Kingery.
She says all of those uses for soybeans were first developed from investments made by funds provided by the soy checkoff.
“The United Soybean Board has recently done a study that said for every dollar invested into the checkoff returns $12 to the growers, because it creates those new market opportunities for those current products and down the road.”
Kingery says while you’re at the Indiana State Fair, you should bring your family by the Glass Barn presented by Indiana Soybean Farmers on the north side of the Fairgrounds.
“We have our combine simulator that we can climb up in and drive the combine. That’s always a favorite,” says Kingery. “You can come in and take a little break, watch the videos and really not just learn about soybeans, but learn about the people behind them, and that’s really the story we’re trying to tell. It’s the people who work in this ag industry every day that we love.”
Kingery says the exhibits inside the Glass Barn are helping to teach others outside the ag industry that soybeans are more than just a plant that you see growing in farm fields across Indiana.
“The great thing about the soybean is that it’s food and fuel,” says Kingery. “One soybean can do both. It can give us fuel, it can give us food, it can give us energy – all from one little bean that’s grown right here in Indiana.”
Click BELOW to hear C.J. Miller’s report about how soybeans are feeding and fueling the Indiana State Fair!
Click BELOW to hear the FULL interview with Courtney Kingery, the CEO of the Indiana Soybean Alliance, as she discusses the many ways that Indiana soybeans are being used throughout the Indiana State Fair.
