Demand Makes A Difference

Oct 21, 2015

high oleic

High oleic soybean oil expands uses for U.S.-grown soybeans, which gives soybean farmers more demand for their products.

Mike Beard chose to devote a portion of his soybean acres to high oleic soybean varieties because he’s excited about growing demand for the oil.

“More uses for our oil means a more valuable market for our soybeans,” says Beard, a soy checkoff farmer-leader from Frankfort, Indiana. “We have the opportunity to gain back some of the 4 billion pounds of oil demand that we lost to alternative oil sources when the government required trans-fat labeling.”

High oleic soybean oil is used in commercial kitchens and bakeries because it is heat-tolerant and shelf-stable without modification. Therefore, it can be used without creating trans fats. It’s also lower in saturated fats than other similar oils.

Restaurants like using soybean oil for frying because it doesn’t break down like other oils and it has the neutral flavor cooks want. Companies that make products like Nestle’s Coffee-Mate choose the oil to increase stability without adding trans fats.

The same features that make high oleic a good choice for restaurants – heat tolerance and stability – make it attractive for industrial applications, too.

“There are high expectations for high oleic in the industrial market,” Beard says. “High oleic soybean oil can replace petroleum in lubricants and synthetic motor oil. That could be quite a market for high oleic.”

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.