(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to "Farm Connections".

I'm your host, Dan Hoffman.

On today's episode, we traveled to Farmamerica to learn more about a new form of fire suppression using soybeans.

And talk to executive director Jessica Rollins and Cross Plains Solutions Chief Technology Officer, Dave Garlie, all here today on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Welcome to "Farm Connections" with your host, Dan Hoffman.

- [Narrator] Farm Connection's premier sponsor is Minnesota Corn.

- [Narrator] Programming supported by Minnesota Corn.

Working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers, enhance quality of life, and help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

- [Narrator] Additional support from the following sponsors.

- [Narrator] Programming supported by R&S Grain Systems a family-owned business serving its customers for 50 years with leading designs in the manufacturing of grain handling equipment and grain storage systems.

You can call in for a quote today.

- [Narrator] Programming supported by EDP Renewables North America, owner-operator of Prairie Star, and Pioneer Prairie Wind Farms in Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR wind farms and solar parks provide income to farmers and help power rural economies across the continent.

- [Narrator] Mower County Farm Bureau Association, a KSMQ broadcast sponsor, advocates for agriculture based on the policies and beliefs of its members.

It's dedicated to making the voices of its members stronger.

You can learn more about membership benefits at FBMN.org - [Narrator] Program supported by employee-owned AgVantage Software Rochester, Minnesota.

Celebrating their 50th year designing and developing agribusiness software for grain elevators, feed manufacturers, producers, fertilizer and chemical dealers, co-ops, seed companies, and fuel distributors.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to "Farm Connections".

We're at Waseca, Minnesota at Farmamerica, and with us is Jessica Rollins, the executive director.

Thanks for joining us.

- My pleasure.

- Or should I say thanks for letting us join you in this wonderful event today?

- Yes.

- What's happening?

- It is a brand new event for us here at Farmamerica called Soy and Tech Day.

So, a lot of times we like to focus on the history to help people understand what agriculture used to be like, and today, is all about what is happening in agriculture today and what the future will look like with agricultural products.

- Jessica, it's a wonderful event.

What inspired it?

- So, Farmamerica exists to connect people to the evolving story of agriculture through hands-on educational experiences.

And we're not the experts, but we're here to share the story of experts.

So, today's story is all about Minnesota soybean farmers and the researchers they're working with and the innovators and the neat discoveries that they've made for new products with soy in them and how that's a better option for a lot of folks who are interested in making sustainable, environmentally-friendly decisions.

- Well said.

And of course, if a dollar gets spent in our region, it multiplies many times.

So, you're part of economic development?

- Yes, we are.

And we also like to share that story as well.

So today, it's helping people discover that there's different choices for products that in the past we were always using petroleum and we want them to see there's an economic and affordable and an eco-friendly route for them to take.

If they want to have turf, they can do a soy-backed turf.

If they want to have carpet, they can do a soy-backed carpet.

And that's replacing the petroleum product for something that they would already need maybe in their lives and here's a better environmentally-friendly option that's been made possible, because of Minnesota soybean farmers their checkoff dollars and the researchers who have taken the time to find new uses for soybeans.

- Well, you brought an excellent point up.

The farmers are actually helping fund the research by so many sensor dollars from their sales of bushels of soybeans going back into things like research.

- Right, and it is sometimes we forget that it starts on the farm there with those soybean farmers and they also have a say in where those dollars are being spent to help make a difference.

So, we may not always know a farmer.

I know a lot of consumers don't feel like they do, but they can rest assured that farmers are making good decisions to help our environment, our water, our soil be better in the future.

- Our farmers live here too, right?

- Yes, that's right.

- They drink the water, they live on the land that we're talking about.

- And we have the same kids who wanna have the same fun hobbies on the lakes and the rivers and breathe the same air.

So, we're all here to try to make it better.

- Well, even today you dipped a little bit into the medical world, because the fire people talked about carcinogenics that come out of non ag products,- - Yes.

- like petroleum products and fighting fires.

- Correct.

- Any thoughts about that?

- I am flabbergasted that people volunteer to be firefighters.

It is such a dangerous job.

They're putting their lives on the line with fires and then they're also putting their lives on the line when they're using a foam product that has PFAS in it.

That forever chemical doesn't go away and is actually, causing cancer in more firefighters than it is in other people, because they're using a product that's not healthy for them or the environment.

So, there's this solution, Cross Plain Solution has come up with a SoyFoam.

So, firefighters can be putting out fires, saving their communities, saving themselves, because they're using an environmentally-friendly product that once the rain washes it away, it is gone, it is made from soy.

And that's a really great story to be telling and it's really an honor as a farm girl who's checkoff dollars, soybean checkoff dollars, are going to this research.

It's an honor to know that what we are doing is making a difference for our community and for the firefighters.

- And it must feel good as executive director of Farmamerica to be helping them tell that story?

- Yes, for sure.

So like I said, our mission is to connect people to that story of agriculture and this is a story that people maybe aren't hearing yet, because SoyFoam is still a fairly new product, especially in Minnesota.

So, for us to be that space to share that story is really exciting and rewarding for us.

- We visited with the Waseca fire chief for a minute.

He's pretty excited too.

- Yes, it is really gonna make a difference to have that product in our communities.

So, the soybean checkoff is donating SoyFoam to the area fire departments in Waseca and Farmamerica is also donating some SoyFoam to those departments so they have additional foam on hand to help us.

- And certainly, you have a wonderful visitor center that you also open up to the public sometimes for charge, but what is what is possible?

- Yeah.

So, we have a conference room that can hold about 250 people in like a wedding venue style.

So, we have a decent amount of weddings happening in our conference room, business meetings, annual meetings.

We just had a bridal shower.

We also just had a baby shower and lots of graduations, because nobody wants that mess in their yard, in their house, in their garage.

It's way better to just have it off site.

Plus we have great parking.

So, it's a win for us and it's a win for them.

- And there's so much interesting happening here.

So, if someone wants to find out about youth camps or other programming, is there a website they can go to?

- Oh, easy peasy farmamerica.org.

Super simple to remember.

They can also follow us on social media, on Facebook, and Instagram.

- Nice, and Jessica, when we think about the future of Farmamerica, we look out a ways, what would you like to see here going forward?

- Going forward for Farmamerica?

I think our future really depends on telling the story of today's agriculture and tomorrow, like we saw today with all of these great activities and demonstrations happening, it's an industry that's booming and there's technology all around us and we need to be lifting that story up for our community to understand the career opportunities and the economic opportunities that agriculture offers us.

- And well said.

And if it happens to be raining or snowing, you've got a wonderful display inside.

Anything you can share on that?

- I love our display inside.

It is our Agriculture All Around You discovery center.

So, it's really helping people discover that everything stems from a natural resource or from a farm.

And they experienced that through a scavenger hunt style opportunity through a home that we like a vignette home set up and they pull open drawers and watch videos of local farmers and realize that again, like I said, everything is coming from agriculture and natural resources.

And then we have another really fun day in the life of a farmer video that they can experience where they have to make choices like a farmer would.

And I think that's a good juxtaposition to the history that they're experiencing out on our walking path.

- Wonderful, and that website again, please.

- Farmamerica.org.

- Thank you, Jessica.

Keep up the good work.

- Always, thank you.

- Thanks for tuning in.

Stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections".

(gentle upbeat music) - My name is Dave Garlie.

I'm a scientist for Cross Plains Solutions.

Not a firefighter, I'm a science guy and it's dangerous to give a science guy a flame.

So, I'm their chief technology officer.

So, I lead our team in developing the next generation of, well, talking about today firefighting foams.

But the long short of it is, the team has been versed at taking agricultural building blocks and derivatize them for the building and construction market.

And during that process over 30 years, we made a lot of product that was bad, it foamed.

And so, the interesting part about that whole aspect is we were able to, when the opportunity of developing a firefighting foam came up, I was asked and I'm like, "Well, I can make soybeans foam."

And so, the rest sort of started from there and the rest is history.

You know, the barrier to entry in the firefighting suppression business is no laughing matter.

And so, if it wasn't for the United Soybean Board and the farmers in general were one half of 1% of the checkoff dollars get resubmitted to projects like developing firefighting foams, it's almost, it's physically impossible, feasibly.

So we're taking, when the soybean goes to the market, goes to the crush facility, you get basically two byproducts.

You've got, one, is the liquid gold, the oil, and there's highly value and sought-after demand for that, especially with the bio-renewable diesel coming online.

And then the byproduct for that process is meal.

And so, it's the meal part that we're actually utilizing to build our firefighting foam.

(gentle upbeat music) Yeah, so PFAS is a general term for a very long polyfluoroalkyl substance.

It's known as a forever chemical, commonly referred to as Teflon.

So, it's a wonderful chemical with respect to its performance capability of oil and grease resistance.

Works great in frying pans, because your eggs don't stick to it.

The unfortunate thing is that chemical has made its way into mainstream.

So, a lot of our fabrics will have oil and grease-resistant properties.

To get that functionality, they use that chemical called PFAS.

And unfortunately, it also ended up in our fire suppression case.

Historically, we used to use soybeans to help suppress fires.

Then they went to animal fats to help suppress fires, but there was a lot of, they were pretty rancid, very difficult to handle for obvious reasons.

Then along comes PFAS and they sort of saved the day.

So, it got eliminated.

Everything that was harmful handling aspect of the old protein foams was replaced with the petroleum.

And during that journey, unfortunately, we're led to believe that was safe.

The truth be told, today, it's a national crisis from border to border and globally, because it got back in our system.

It's a forever chemical for a reason.

It's Teflon, it doesn't biodegrade.

And so, as a result of that, that chemical has found its way into our food chain.

It's found our way into our bodies and unfortunately, it's a direct cause of some health issues, including unfortunately cancer.

(gentle upbeat music) Yeah.

So, PFAS works great.

I mean, there's no doubt about it.

It's a wonderful chemical.

It suppresses fires like none other.

And it's very forgiving in a lot of different applications.

Unfortunately, it's a direct cause of known carcinogen, known cancer related to our firefighters.

The most terrible statistic is our firefighters have a 72% chance of cancer compared to us the general public.

And there's a reason why January is Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month.

That's a list you don't want to be on, but unfortunately, it exists because it's a problem.

So, one of the main attributes to this is the environment that they have to put themselves into, unfortunately, it's not grandma and grandpa's house with wood and nails, it's started on fire.

That house today is a pile of gasoline, because it's directly derived from petroleum byproducts.

And during that journey, we also incubated PFAS into the fire suppression system.

So, the firefighter has no chance.

He walks into a burning structure, there's so many volatile organic compounds, and then that is really the root cause of why they're getting ill.

And cancer unfortunately, is a result of that exposure, over exposure.

SoyFoam addresses that.

So, when we are asked to put together a safe, environmental-friendly fire suppressant, of course, agricultural feedstock is what we're versed with, was a body of choice.

Knowing what the attributes that come with those feedstocks.

Soy in particular is of interest, because of what it's made out of, it's protein.

So, it's not like we're reinventing fire suppression foams from yesterday, because they used to use protein foams.

What we're doing today is we're just taking the lessons from yesterday.

What were the challenges?

How do we address those challenges?

And by the way, how do we perform a package that is as good as what's in use today, which is the AFFF PFAS.

And so, here we are today.

We were able to take soybean meal through chemistry.

We can derivatize it into a functional, flowable, shelf life stable fire suppressant that is you saw demonstrated here today, and it's been charged across the country.

How do you make all these claims to the environmental stewardship of your fire suppressant?

That is where the money comes.

So to go through those exhaustive testing to the claims takes a lot of farmer checkoff dollars and they were very supportive in funding those efforts, because they also want to know, right?

We wanna be armed with knowledge and facts so we go to the community, hence the packet that you're holding.

We can hand this out to the community in the event there's a threat that needed to be eliminated.

There's foam everywhere.

So, during that journey, biodegradability is a big, big factor.

So, our Environmental Protection Agency has a standard called ready biodegradable.

To be considered ready biodegradable, your chemistry has to be degraded in 180 days 60% of it.

Because we're using soybeans, we are 69% at 18 days and that's exactly what we want.

So, we want to keep it contained with a shelf life in a bucket when the fire department has to go out and eliminate a threat like a fire, they use it.

There's foam everywhere, but there's no costly remediation.

In 18 days it goes bye-bye.

And so, there's foam everywhere.

We just let Mother Nature reconsume herself.

And that's the beauty of both the environmental impact study is the only way we can do that is because we're using soybeans.

(gentle upbeat music) - I am Jason Forshee, the fire chief and shift commander at Waseca Fire Department and the SoyFoam has been a great product that we're getting to know more about.

I love that it's safe for our people to work with.

It seems to do an excellent job suppressing fires and doing different things that we need it to do.

And I'm pretty excited that it's something that's from the local, from the ground and a product that our farmers have, you know, comes from their fields.

In about a half hour that foam is gonna leak down to the bottom all the way through that product in a packed thing of like potting soil.

And water will not, it'll stay on top of.

Sure, just the old foams that were out there were really dangerous.

They weren't good for the people.

There's some lawsuits, there's cancer that it's caused in firefighters, and these new products that are coming out are a lot safer for our people, and that's really the number one key.

The hope with the foam is we continue to move in the right direction and get 'em to being the safest product that we can use for our people and they still do an excellent job of doing what we need it to do.

Yeah, I think the one that I really liked is when they did the fire break and different things like that where it stopped.

There was good product on the other side that was dry, it should have started up and it didn't.

That fire break that they put in, the preventative opportunities to use this product is immensely, I think is is gonna be great for the fire service and we're excited to be able to partner with the local soybean growers to use their product.

(gentle upbeat music) - Yeah, my name is Aaron Wavra.

I'm the local dealer for Roof Maxx.

Roof Maxx covers pretty much the whole entire country.

I cover Southwest Minnesota and Northwest Iowa.

Again, the local dealer covering the area.

Carol.

(truck engine rumbling) So, Roof Maxx is essentially, a roof replacement alternative.

It rejuvenates the shingle, it brings the shingle back to performance, allowing the shingle to work the way that it's engineered and designed to work, extending the life of the roof.

It comes with a five-year warranty.

We can do it up to three times.

Bring that performance and thereby extend the life.

You know, it's just maintenancing your roof instead of waiting for it to die and replacing it.

So, that's the cool part, I think, it's a soy-based product.

So, it's grown right here in the Midwest from local soybeans.

Improving the economy around the area here.

It's manufactured in Ohio, which I also think is very cool.

Again, local United States manufacturing helping, you know, the economy that way.

It takes those soybeans and derives the soy methyl esters out of the beans and then it's formulated to be asphalt loving.

So that means you can put it on, you know, your decks or windows or whatever and it's super easy to clean off, because it doesn't bind to those things, but it does bind to the asphalt, thereby rejuvenating the asphalt and extending the life of the roof.

Typically, we don't want to start treating roofs that are under five years old.

We want the oils that are naturally in asphalt when they're new to evaporate out of the shingles.

Usually, around the five or six-year mark, you might start to see streaking, a little bit of granule loss.

Your roof just doesn't quite look as new as it used to.

Might be about the time to give us a call.

We can also, you know, work at the tail end, but there still needs to be some life left in the roof.

So, anywhere between that kind of five or six-year mark from a super progressive guy that likes to maintain and keep his stuff nice, or the person that's wondering, if they need to replace the roof or not.

Typically, you don't have to.

If the roof is still working, but you're just questioning it, we can usually come in and help save and extend the life of that roof.

So, from an economic standpoint, another reason that I really like it, and one of the reasons that I got into it, you know, I mean, one, the environmental piece of it is really nice, but from a homeowner perspective and their pocketbook, that's really what it ends up coming down to.

A replacement by average today is between 10 and $20,000, depending on your home.

The average is about 15.

You know, we're gonna come in about 80% less than that, you know?

So again, if an average home is around $15,000, we're gonna be around three, you know, to 3,500.

And again, we can do it up to three times, which over the course of a 15-year cycle of applications is still about close to 60% or 40% savings over the replacement today.

And a new roof is only gonna get you 15 to 17 years by the data.

So, if we can about double the life of your roof, it's significantly cheaper, better for the environment, better for the homeowner's pocketbook, better for everybody.

So, I mean, the number one contributor to landfill waste is shingles.

And obviously, as you pull 'em off, they're gonna go into the landfill, then they're gonna need to make more, which the CO2 emissions and those things both from creating the shingles as well as putting them on the roof are generated.

And if we can avoid those things, that's all the better for, you know, the environment and the people around it.

So, you know, the biodegradable nature being a soy-based product, you know, it's again, locally grown, it's sustainable.

All of those things that we're really looking for in an environmentally-friendly product in this case also benefits the pocketbook, which typically, isn't the case when you're looking at green or environmentally-friendly products.

Yeah, so granules, most people don't understand that granules their main purpose is for UV protection.

Color is a secondary, erosion, hail protection, that's all secondary.

It's all about the UV protection.

When those oils are in the shingles and they're new, the granules are there to protect those oils.

Just like when they put asphalt roads down, they put rock on top.

That's to help allow the UV to be reflected off.

When those granules start to come off, it exposes more asphalt.

So, we would want to kind of see where we're at from that point.

It's one of the main factors we're gonna look at when it comes to being able to issue a warranty or not, is if there's enough granules left on your roof, we put the oils in and then we need that protection to maintain those oils and that performance.

Yeah, so I mean, along with a lot of other improvements that you're seeing in the soybean markets with new technologies and products there's a lot of them.

They're coming up all over the place, because of the emphasis behind it.

Roof Maxx got some of the most potential when it comes to opportunity.

You know, the amount of roofs that are out there, nine outta 10 roofs are asphalt roofs and about one out of seven are replaced every year.

And most of those don't need to be replaced, if you can just, you know, get ahold of them and get on top of 'em with a Roof Maxx application and service.

So again, the amount of opportunity from an economic standpoint for the soy farmers and the soy economy is immense, if we can just spread the word and help people understand that this product is even an option.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) - That does it for now.

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thanks for joining us here on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - [Narrator] Farm Connection's Premier sponsor is Minnesota Corn.

- [Narrator] Programming supported by Minnesota Corn.

Working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers, enhance quality of life, and help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

- [Narrator] Additional support from the following sponsors.

- [Narrator] Programming supported by R&S Grain Systems a family-owned business serving its customers for 50 years with leading designs in the manufacturing of grain handling equipment and grain storage systems.

You can call in for a quote today.

- [Narrator] Programming supported by EDP Renewables North America, owner-operator of Prairie Star, and Pioneer Prairie Wind Farms in Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR wind farms and solar parks provide income to farmers and help power rural economies across the continent.

- [Narrator] Mower County Farm Bureau Association, a KSMQ broadcast sponsor, advocates for agriculture based on the policies and beliefs of its members.

It's dedicated to making the voices of its members stronger.

You can learn more about membership benefits at FBMN.org.

- [Narrator] Programs supported by employee-owned AgVantage Software Rochester, Minnesota, celebrating their 50th year designing and developing agribusiness software for grain elevators, feed manufacturers, producers, fertilizer and chemical dealers, co-ops, seed companies, and fuel distributors.