America's Heartland is made possible by....

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture dedicated to building greater awareness and understanding of agriculture through education and engagement.

More information at agfoundation.org Jason: It insulates.... >>....we're not talking about toxic chemicals, right?

>>That's correct.

It is a soybean base..... Jason: ....it fuels.... >>....we use the soy diesel in the trucks on the road.

So we figure, why not.... Jason: ....even cleanses and nourishes the skin!

>>I shave with that.

>>You shave with this?

Jason: We're talking about soybeans.

How could one little legume be packed with so much power?

We're about to find out.

>>Edamame!

♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ in America's Heartland living close to the land.

♪ ♪ There's a love for the country ♪ ♪ and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ in America's Heartland living close, ♪ ♪ close to the land.

♪ ♪♪♪ Jason: Welcome to another edition of America's Heartland .

I'm Jason Shoultz.

We're not on top of a tractor today.

We're actually cruising the back roads of Iowa in a Ford Mustang convertible.

Why a Ford Mustang?

I'll tell you more about that later.

It has something to do with soybeans.

Yes, soybeans .

We're talking all about soybeans today and for good reason.

There's 76 million acres planted all over the United States.

And Iowa is the number one producing state for soybeans.

Why so many?

Well, let's just say some folks call it the miracle bean .

♪♪♪ Jason: It's harvest time in the heartland.

And for many farmers, that means bringing in the beans.

Harvesters creep along fields of light brown gathering up these tiny bean pods to get at the soybeans inside.

US farmers harvest more than 80 million metric tons of soybeans each year.

Nearly half gets exported as soybeans, soy meal or oil.

You'll find them grown throughout the eastern half of the US.

The biggest soybean growing areas are the upper Midwest and Ohio River Valley.

If you live outside of that area, you likely don't see, let alone think about, soybeans too much.

But just check out the ingredients on items throughout the grocery store, and you'll find soy.

It's also in fuel tanks, industrial liquids, foams and more commonly, animal feed.

Driving across Iowa, you'll find rolling fields of soybeans at every turn.

Just how can one little bean be so versatile?

I'll start my quest for the answer where the beans grow.

My first stop on this soy story is a farm, of course.

Just outside of Mason City, Iowa the Andereggs have been growing corn and soybeans here since the early 50's.

Like most farmers, they've grown over the years and diversified.

Jason: Hey Steve, how are you doing?

Steve: I'm doing pretty good!

How about yourself?

Jason: Good, good!

Jason: When I caught up with Steve Anderegg, he was behind the machine shed fueling up his tractor.

Right now the beans on his farm are a couple of feet tall, lush and leafy.

Spring rains and the right temperatures mean he's positioned for a good crop this year.

Jason: Tell me about soybeans.

Are they tricky to grow or more tricky than corn?

What's it like to grow soybeans out here?

Steve: Soybeans is actually a pretty simple crop to grow as long as you wait until the soils are warm enough and you're out of any danger of freeze.

Plant the soybeans, and they pretty much grow on their own.

The soybeans will start to turn in late August.

They'll start to turn yellow, and you'll see 'em drop their leaves and turn to a brown color.

And they dry down to about 13 percent moisture.

It's where we wanna harvest 'em.

And that's when we're interested in the soybeans.

Jason: After Steve harvests his beans, they'll end up getting processed.

Oil is extracted, and protein is turned into animal feed.

Just under half of the soybean protein meal produced in the US goes to poultry feed.

The rest goes to things like pet food and cattle feed, and here in Iowa, feed for hogs!

Steve: We have a large hog industry, and the soybean meal gets used up in that hog industry also along with the chickens and the turkeys and into some of the dairy feeds.

Jason: Like farmers around the Midwest, you'll find Steve embracing them using diesel fuel with a blend of bio diesel made from soybeans.

There are different types of bio diesel made out of everything from discarded fryer grease to algae.

But here in soybean country, soybean-based bio diesel is king.

Jason: So what's the percentage of soybean oil in this fuel?

Steve: We use 20 percent soybean oil in our fuel.

We blend it down from spring to summer or to fall.

We start out with 20 percent blend in the spring.

And we work it down to about 10 percent blend in the fall.

Jason: And really, farmers are the number one users of soy bio-diesel right?

Steve: They are!

They really promote the products that we grow.

Jason: Today 700 million gallons of soy bio-diesel are produced.

Just in case I wasn't convinced about the growing popularity of soy bio diesel in these parts, Steve suggested a road trip.

Jason: How do you like those seats, Steve?

Steve: Very comfortable!

Jason: Let's go!

♪♪♪ Jason: Where are you taking me?

Steve: We're headed to New Hampton, over to the tractor pull.

Jason: Are you an edamame eater?

Steve: Ed-a-ma-me ?

Never had it!

Ha, ha.

Jason: This is the National Tractor Pullers Association tractor pull in New Hampton, Iowa.

You won't find these machines pulling a wagon on the back 40.

Jason: So this is a pretty high octane environment here, right Steve?

Steve: It absolutely is.

They can really get up and move.

Jason: Here they call them Super Farm Tractors .

They're beefed up and attached to a huge sled that digs into the dirt as the tractor goes forward.

Good times, but.... Jason: What does a tractor pull have to do with soy bio-diesel?

Steve: They burn it in their tractors, make their tractors more efficient.

And so we wanna see how they do that, and you know, high class.

Jason: A handful of the pullers tonight are using soy-bio diesel in their tractors.

We stopped by to talk with one of them, Ted Leichty, a corn, soybean and wheat farmer from Indiana.

Ted: It's a 1976, I-H 1066.

We're pulling in the super farm class.

It's 640 cubic per inch.

We're running a 3 X 3 charger.

Jason: How much horsepower?

Ted: We're running probably about 1100 horsepower.

Jason: So you're not gonna use that to plant your corn?

Ted: Nah, it's only good for 9 seconds.

Ha, ha.

Jason: So you're using soy bio diesel in this thing?

Ted: Yes, we are!

We use soy diesel on the farm, and I use a premium diesel.

And it's mixed with soy oil.

We've been running anywhere from 2% to 5% depending on the cost factor, the economics of the whole thing.

Whether it's plastics or soy diesel or whatever, that's that many more bushels of beans that we're gonna burn.

And in the end, it's gonna translate in more dollars per bushel of beans which is gonna make me more profitable.

Jason: And that's a good thing right?

Steve: That's what we strive for.

Jason: Good thing for Steve, too.

Steve: That is the game we play.

We're trying to grow something, make a little money doing it.

Jason: Soy bio diesel is created by combining the oil from crushed soybeans with methanol.

That chemical reaction produces bio diesel fuel along with glycerin and fatty acid by-products.

It's commonly blended at 20 percent bio-diesel to 80 percent petroleum.

Critics of bio diesel say it's inefficient and takes more energy to create than it produces when burned.

Steve: I know that there's that fear out there.

But it doesn't concern me at all because it's a cleaner fuel.

And right now we need to look at our environment, and look at the fact that we need to clean it up.

And soy bio diesel burns so much cleaner than our typical diesel fuels.

It just needs to be used.

Jason: Any time you're using food items like soy or corn for fuel, people start getting concerned about food prices, right?

Steve: That's true!

But right now we grow enough crops not only to supply the food chain but also supply the fuel chain both in corn and soybeans.

We have partners across the world that grow soybeans down in Brazil.

Jason: As Americans look for more energy independence, a debate about bio fuels has emerged.

There are many ideas besides soy bio diesel on the table.

Some scientists believe higher oil-base materials like algae make for a better long-term bio fuel option.

Jason: There's lots of different kinds of bio diesel out there in terms of animal fat, grease, and that kind of thing.

How does soy fit into that whole mix?

Steve: I think it's a piece of the puzzle.

I know we grow a lot of soybeans in the United States.

And we need to use up those bushels.

But in order to supply diesel fuel for across the United States, it's just a piece.

The rest of the bio diesels have to be used also.

They're all good, but we just like to support the soybean because that's what we grow.

Jason: There's a lot more to learn about soybeans and many more uses for them.

In fact, there are soybean ingredients underneath these leather-covered seats!

The seats are made with foam made from soybean oil.

Ford first introduced the soy foam in Mustang seats in 2007.

They now have soy foam in one million vehicles.

Forty percent of the seat foam comes from soybeans instead of petroleum.

Debbie: You are conserving petroleum products, and you are utilizing a renewable resource instead of something that's limited.

Jason: Ford expects to decrease its use of petroleum oil by one million pounds and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by five million pounds annually.

Henry Ford was a big proponent of the soybean even fashioning this old soybean extruder.

In the 1930's he experimented with using soy for plastics.

He even unveiled a car made out of soybean plastic in 1941.

It weighed 1000 pounds less than a similar car made from steel.

Christian: He actually had the idea, Could I grow a car?

He thought of all these different things that he's putting into his company as far as raw materials and resources.

Is there a way to reduce cost by using an agricultural product?

Jason: The soy car never made it into mass production.

But more than 60 years later, Ford would likely be happy to see his soybean lab in Michigan going strong today.

My next stop to find out more about soybeans?

Iowa State University!

In the heart of farm country, it's a school with a rich agriculture program.

But before I talk to any experts, I find myself stopping off at a construction project on campus.

With my hard hat on, I dropped in on Joe Steffes and his crew from Iowa Foam Insulators .

Joe: We do soy foam insulation.

What we're doing is doing a lot of the sealing up of the gaps and the creases around the building and doing a lot of production on that.

Jason: The foam being sprayed today is made from soybean oil instead of petroleum.

Using a water base instead of CFC's adds to the environmental benefit.

Jason: And so what we're seeing being sprayed here, that's soybean based.

We're not talking toxic chemicals, right?

Joe: That's correct!

It is a soybean base.

Instead of using petroleum oil in the chemical, they use soybean in the chemical.

Jason: And so he'll fill up this whole little roof area here, huh?

Joe: Yeah!

Jason: Yup!

Joe: He's gonna go all the way around it.

Jason: Now obviously, the other way to do this could easily be with petroleum-based foam which might be a little cheaper.

What's the real reason they went and used the soy?

Joe: Well it's natural, renewable.

It's always nice to use a product that doesn't come from oil or petroleum based.

This is naturally something grown in Iowa, in the Midwest, that we're using to help support the economy.

Jason: So when it's sprayed, it comes out as a liquidly, foamy kind of stuff.

But within seconds, it hardens.

Soy foam insulation!

No air is going to get through there!

Jason: I would think that in the Midwest where there are soybeans everywhere, people might be a little bit more receptive to that kind of thing.

Joe: Yup!

A lot of our customers actually grow soybeans, or they know somebody that grows soybeans.

So yeah, it gives you a real nice feeling that you're supporting those neighbors.

Jason: The foam is growing in popularity outside of the Midwest in places like California where home building has gone green.

The soy foam does cost more than traditional insulation.

Joe: And it's a growing market.

I mean it's gonna be a growing market for, I think, the rest of our lives because we're on this earth to sustain it and keep growing.

If we're not, we're not gonna be here very long.

Jason: So as long as those farmers keep growing those soybeans... Joe: ....we'll keep spraying it.

Jason: To get some insight into why this legume is so versatile, I visited Dr. Palle Pedersen a soybean agronomist at Iowa State.

Jason: So these are some pretty good looking soybeans here Dr. Pedersen, right?

Dr. Pedersen: They are awesome.

They are tall.

They are start... ...close to canopy here pretty soon, as you can see.

Jason: When it comes to soybeans in Iowa, he's the go-to guy.

He's in charge of the university's soybean research programs looking into ways to increase the amount of beans harvested, reduce disease threats, and find new ways to grow a better bean.

Farmers and other agronomists turn to him for insight into growing soybeans.

Jason: So how soon before these are ready to be harvested?

Dr. Pedersen: Oh right now, we're in the middle of July, and this field here is an early planted field.

So we can probably start finding.... See here?

We can start finding some pods.

So I will expect in seven to eight weeks.

So middle to late September!

Jason: Good looking beans!

But the real question is how can it be used in so many things?

Dr. Pedersen: You probably heard that we call it the miracle crop because it's high oil and high protein content.

It's used for many things in industry today.

Jason: How much protein?

In a 60 pound bushel of beans, 48 pounds of protein!

The rest is oil.

Initially oils were discarded, but more recently people are starting to realize the value in soybean oil.

Dr. Pedersen: That's one thing we're looking today (and the breeders are looking at, too) are how can we develop new varieties that both have good quality oils that we can use for human consumption, but also have high yields.

And the farmers can get paid well to plant these specific varieties.

So we have tried to look at both angles right now.

Jason: So the protein gets separated and turned into animal feed and food products.

The oil becomes everything from bio diesel fuel to salad dressing.

Dr. Pedersen: So today we have developed varieties that have no Trans fat, meaning that we have a high quality oil that is comparable to other edible oils like canola oil.

That's why it's such a great crop to work with.

There's always new markets and new opportunities.

And there will always be a very strong demand for this crop because of that.

Jason: Of course, the story of the soybean goes back long before farmers were planting it in Iowa.

The first soy beans have been traced to China in the eleventh century B.C.

After the Chinese-Japanese war of 1894-95, the Japanese began to import soybean oil cake for use as fertilizer.

Ever since, soy has been a main component in Asian cuisine.

Jason: But before I get to explore the importance of soy in Asian food, I discover soy bio diesel at work hundreds of miles from those Iowa fields.

This is the Harbor Queen , part of the Red and White Cruise Line Fleet docked at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf .

This tourist area brings in people from around the world.

And seeing the city and it's landmarks by boat is a popular choice.

And the Red and White Fleet has gone green with bio diesel fuel.

Joe: The vessels have large engines in 'em.

And we consume about a 100,000 gallons in an average year.

It reduces some of the noxious gases that contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer.

Jason: Admittedly, most passengers don't even know about the soy bio diesel being burned down below.

They're more interested in the San Francisco scenery.

Joe: So we're out here with dolphins and sea lions and pelicans and whales.

And we're really interested in being able to get people out here on the water without, you know, having a negative impact on the environment.

Jason: Now to a more likely place to find soybeans in use: San Francisco's Japantown.

Twelve thousand Japanese-Americans live in San Francisco.

They started arriving here in 1860.

One hundred years later, the city created the Japan Center Shopping and Cultural Area .

That's where I find Juban Restaurant .

Juban is a Yakiniku style restaurant where diners grill the meats at the table.

The meats are served with sauces.

The main ingredient?

Soy sauce!

Charles Kusuma is Juban's dining manager.

Charles: It's basically a fermented type of a soybean.

So they fermented that.

Then they mix it with some sugar, and everything becomes soy sauce.

And almost every single Japanese dish now comes with the whole soy sauce.

If it's not a soy sauce in the dish, then maybe it's the dipping sauce that has the soy.

So for Japanese culture, if there's no soy sauce, basically you cannot cook.

If you tell the chefs, "Oh, don't put soy sauce on it," they will get confused.

What?

How can I cook that?

Jason: From soy sauce to small white chunks of gelatinous goodness called Tofu!

Originally from ancient China, tofu is made from coagulated soy milk.

Jason: It's slightly harder than Jello, right?

Charles: Yes exactly!

Jason: So you'd throw a little soy sauce on this or whatever?

You could eat this whenever, right?

Charles: Yeah, exactly.

Jason: But there's not much flavor.

Charles: Not much!

And that's why you have to add the soybean sauce.

Jason: But people eat this instead of meat.

That's one of the big things.

Charles: Many people, yeah, exactly, exactly, because of the very high in all protein, because of the soybean itself.

Jason: How popular is this sort of thing with just tofu and salads and that kind of thing?

Charles: In here?

It's quite popular.

We also have the tofu salad.

We have to mix it with different kind of sauce to make it more flavorful just like lettuce.

Lettuce doesn't have too much taste if you give it just by itself.

But if you add some sauce, some Caesar sauce or something, then it will become very, very great and rich of the taste.

Jason: Chef's love tofu because it's a great flavor carrier.

It doesn't bring much flavor of it's own.

So add some great seasonings and sauces and you are able to create some delicious dishes.

And Japanese meals aren't complete without edamame.

Talk about soy on the menu!

These baby soybeans are picked off the plant and boiled inside their pods with salt, a popular appetizer or snack!

Jason: So you use your teeth to get them out?

Jason: Although hugely popular in Asian restaurants, they are surprisingly not that well-known in soybean country.

Jason: Do you ever get any soybean farmers that are tourists, that come to San Francisco and go, "Whoa, I've never seen that before!"

Charles: Oh yeah, actually many people.

Many people doesn't even know how to eat the edamame, They pick it up.

It's basically like the artichoke.

The artichoke, you just eat it like that, just kind of pull it from your teeth.

And this is the same way of eating it!

And many people just say, "What is that?

How can you eat that?"

But it's so traditional that I want to try it .

Jason: Edamame!

Jason: You wouldn't want to smear tofu all over your skin, but what about getting some of the good stuff out of the soybean to use in skin care products?

That's exactly what this duo did back in the 1990's.

Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg are the founders of Boston-based Fresh.

Their boutique stores sell high-end beauty products.

I caught up with them at their San Francisco Fresh retail store.

Their soy experimenting started at the dining table!

Lev: And we got addicted to those edamame's, where you come home and you broil them, put salt on top of them?

You just, like eat them like nuts.

And then you start.... ....obviously reading about the ingredient more and more and you're finding out that this ingredient was so rich in so many nutrients.

There's gotta be a connection between whatever you consume on the inside.

Some of those ingredients must be good for you on the outside as well.

Alina: Soy protein has about 20 different amino acids.

And those are the parts that we need to build proteins in our body.

And our cells, our skin cells, are made of proteins.

So it was a natural idea thinking that well, if they're renewing proteins in our body, you know, to help us sort of survive and nourish, what could it do to actual skin?

Jason: Lev and Alina focus on natural ingredients in their products.

Soy actually came after successfully incorporating milk into beauty care.

Their first soy product was a cleanser.

Lev: It's an amazing cleanser.

Jason: Not long after, they released a soy-based cream.

Lev and Alina wanted to prove just how refreshing soy is on the skin.

And since I've got to sit on soy, watch it race, see it sprayed, and eat it, why not?

Lev: As you see, the texture of it is pretty incredible, very, very unusual.

Jason: So this is the Soy Face Cleanser right here?

Lev: It's the Soy Face Cleanser.

It's a very, very, very gentle.... Jason: ....oh, yeah.... Lev: ....texture.

It's absolutely incredible.

Jason: All right.

Lev: What cleanser are you using right now?

Jason: You don't wanna know.

Bar soap!

Lev: No, no, no, no... ♪♪♪ Lev: That's very, very fresh.

Jason: It's cleaning my pores right now.

Lev: It's cleaning your pores.

And also what it does is that because in this particular cleanser, not only are you creating a protection barrier on your skin right now, because of the amino acids from the soy, it also gives you tonifying effect from the cucumber.

Jason: We should market this to some of those Iowa soybean farmers, right?

Lev: Oh, yeah.

Jason: It's their own soybeans, right?

Lev: Of course.

I mean, they growing the soy, they know the benefits of it, so they might as well start using it on their faces.

Jason: They're gonna have a clinic in some farm field out in.... Lev: Uh, that'll be very interesting.

Jason: Wouldn't that be fun?

Lev: Guerilla clinics!

Jason: Alright, so we'll add up the list.

We've got animal feed and fuel.

We've got food, tofu, soy sauce, lots of different things, and of course, we've got these great skin care products.

Yeah, the soybean really is an amazing plant.

That's going to do it for this time on America's Heartland .

Make sure you join us next time.

In the meantime, check out americasheartland.org for video streaming and stories from today's show.

We'll see you next time.

♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ in America's Heartland living close to the land.

♪ ♪ There's a love for the country ♪ ♪ and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ in America's Heartland living close, ♪ ♪ close to the land.

♪ America's Heartland is made possible by....

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture dedicated to building greater awareness and understanding of agriculture through education and engagement.

More information at agfoundation.org ♪♪♪