eMerge Genetics - Non GMO SoyBean Seeds

Soy tech in food, feed, emerging markets from West Des Moines

08/31/2009

August, 2009 by Emma Struve, Iowa Farm & Ranch

An Iowa-based seed company is capitalizing on the specialty soybean market in animal and human feedstuffs.

Dr. John Schillinger started Schillinger Genetics Inc., headquartered in West Des Moines, in 1999 after retiring from the Asgrow Seed Company.

“I’ve worked with this crop for 40- some years and I’ve never been as excited as now,” Schillinger remarked. “It’s been a passion of mine to do this – differentiate ourselves from what everyone else is doing.”

Products researched and produced by Schillinger Genetics have consumer-specific characteristics not typically seen in commodity soybeans. For example, the company has high-protein beans, ultra-low linolenic beans, and more unusual traits.

Also, all the products are non-GMO (genetically modified organism).

“We’re not inserting any foreign trait from outside the soybean plant,” Wayne Hoener, vice president of sales, said. While he acknowledged that GMOs have their place in the industry, Schillinger Genetics saw an opportunity to develop products for some markets that would more readily utilize non-GMO products rather than commodity soybeans.

One of the first elements on which the company focused was protein content.

Given that soybeans are primarily raised as a protein source, Hoenersaid, “If we can raise the protein even more…it helps the value of the product.”

Schillinger explained the theory, “I felt the time was right to begin looking at soybeans for their compositional factors.” Equally important was how the composition affected food and feed potential.

According to Schillinger some of the company’s soybean varieties’ protein content exceeds that of commodity soybeans by 15 to 20 percent.

Markets being explored include aquaculture and snack foods, among others.

Farm raised salmon, tilapia, shrimp, and trout, Hoener offered as an example, are primarily grown on a diet that uses fish meal as a protein source; an ingredient that has dramatically increased in price.

Schillinger Genetics’s high protein soybeans may provide an alternative to fish meal opening an additional market for Iowa soybean growers and increased income opportunity for aquaculturists.

“We’ve kind of hit upon the topic of increasing the health of snack foods,” said Schillinger.

He elaborated, the company developed a “snack pellet” with soy flour processed from high-protein soybeans. The end result has been included in a number of snack-foods produced by national companies, including Genisoy.

Besides low-linolenic soybeans, touted for their trans-fat free oils that provide human health benefits, Schillinger Genetics is developing lipoxygenase-null beans.

In short, lipoxygenase is an enzyme in the bean that, Hoener explained, is responsible for its “beany” or “grassy” flavor. By reducing the amount of the enzyme, the bean is tastier; an advantage for marketing to the domestic soy-milk industry.

Also in the human consumption vein are Schillinger Genetics’s tofu variety of soybeans desirable in international markets, especially Japan.

Research is also being conducted to improve soybean usability in livestock.

Soybeans naturally contain an agent, or inhibitor, that is biologically active in animals that consume the feed. It acts to inhibit trypsin, an enzyme in the gut responsible for protein digestion.

It is an industry standard practice to either heat soy protein to a temperature that destroys the inhibitor or feed soy protein at a higher rate to account for the loss of digestibility.

Products in the Schillinger Genetics pipeline include soybeans with characteristics that make them more digestible, Hoener said.

“We have the ability to really help out the producer and end user,” he continued.

Livestock, especially poultry and swine, feeding trials are being conducted at the University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, and South Dakota State University, among others.

The goal, Schillinger stated, is to remove the anti-nutritive components.

“I’m excited about our future in feed,” he continued.

Currently, the company focuses about 90 percent of its resources on soybean research and development but has an emerging corn department, too.

The research station in Grinnell is one of a few in the United States and complements those located oversees allowing a “12 month research production calendar,” Hoener remarked.

Schillinger Genetics utilizes a marker assisted lab where soybean DNA segments associated with particular traits can be marked and monitored. A recent focus has been on identifying soybean allergens that cause problems in pets and people. This information could improve the usability of soy-based protein in food for these species.

In December of 2008, Schillinger Genetics launched eMerge Genetics to specifically focus on niche soybean markets with a companion Web site (www.emergegenetics.com) to serve as a meeting place for producers and marketers of the specialty soy products.

Hoener elaborated, “Basically eMerge products are unique and novel in some way” incorporating traits that actually change the composition of the grain.

Schillinger described the company simply, “A little company with big ideas,” and emphasized the philosophy of building relationships all along the chain from Schillinger Genetics to the products’ end user.

“West Des Moines is a really nice business environment, ” Schillinger remarked.