If someone were to look at Missouri soybeans by production capacity, the sector is “crushing” it. Today, Missouri has a crush capacity of more than 162 million bushels per year with operating facilities through ADM, AGP and Cargill. However, there is still a lot of room for market expansion.
In the next five years, the Show-Me State is expected to have increased crush growth. This market will expand more opportunities for soybean consumption. In Missouri, most soybeans are crushed allowing for additional places for farmers to sell their beans while providing more meal and oil for the U.S. and international markets. According to the American Soybean Association (ASA), there have been announcements for more than 20 plant expansions across the country, which would add more than 600 million bushels per year in practical crush capacity.
Demand Drivers
“Many of the crush plant announcements are being driven by the growth in renewable diesel. Demand for soybean oil to produce renewable diesel has started to grow and is projected to continue on that path,” said Scott Gerlt, ASA chief economist. “To produce extra soybean oil, crush capacity in the U.S. also must grow. In fact, some of the announced renewable diesel plants have been paired with crush plant announcements through a joint venture.”
According to Gerlt, of the crush plant announcements, 14 are for new plants and 14 are for expansion of current plants, at least five of which have been completed.
However, announcements are not shovels in the ground. Expansion is based upon growing renewable diesel production, and as the biofuels industry grows, so will the crush plant buildout. State and federal policy, permits, financing and many other issues will determine what happens.
In May 2022, Cargill announced intentions to build a new soybean crush facility in Pemiscot County, Missouri. Missouri Soybeans worked closely with Cargill to develop the project, with the initial funding for feasibility and marketing studies and business plans coming from MASBDA. But in June 2023, Cargill announced the project would be put on hold due to shifting market dynamics. MSMC is working diligently to continue to develop the project through the checkoff.
One promising plant is anticipated to come online in 2024. Next year, a soybean crushing plant will open near Bartlett in southeast Kansas. Due to its geographic location, this crush facility will be impactful to those in western Missouri. The Bartlett plant will be capable of handling approximately 49 million bushels of soybeans annually to crush into soybean meal and refined soybean oil, feedstock used in producing renewable fuels, food products and animal feeds.
“This is an important milestone for our project, enabling infrastructure investment that accelerates the nation’s transition to a cleaner, greener and more sustainable transportation system,” said Bob Knief, president of Bartlett Grain Co. “With strong demand for soybean products, we look forward to our crushing facility supporting farming families in the Midwest and playing a vital role in multiple supply chains including renewable diesel production.”
The Bartlett facility will process about 140,000 bushels of soybeans per day. The project also will support additional jobs and economic activity during construction.
With easy access to highways 160, 166, 169 and 400, the plant will create strong local demand for soybeans and provide a con- sistent and competitive source of soybean meal, hulls and oil for the feed, food and renewable fuel industries. This project also will encourage rail improvements benefiting southeast Kansas. Overall, the added soybean demand and additional soybean meal availability will benefit both soybean producers and livestock farmers in western Missouri.
More in Missouri
The Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council (MSMC) envisions the state’s soybean industry becoming a net soybean importer. Net exports refer to Missouri’s supply (production and carry-in) minus soybean volumes used in-state and carry-out balances. Based on ProExporter’s projections, Missouri will have 107 million bushels in net soybean exports in the 2022/23 crop year. Those exports will go to other states or international buyers.
Five soybean crushing facilities operate within Missouri. Three facilities operate on Missouri’s western border, and two operate in east-central Missouri. The U.S. crushed 66.2 million tons of soybeans in 2020, according to USDA. Missouri crushed about 4.3 million tons, which represents about 7% of the U.S. total.
“Creating additional demand for a commodity is the ultimate win,” said Scott Brown, Rural & Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center interim director. “Demand gives the farmer high prices, which is much better than the alternative of short supply giving higher prices.”
To quantify the opportunity for Missouri soybeans to satisfy in-state feed demand, University of Missouri Extension agricultural economists estimated the soybean meal and hulls demanded by different animal species raised by operations of varying sizes. According to these estimates, raising chickens for meat production or egg production can greatly increase Missouri soy feed ingredient demand due to these diets’ high soy inclusion rates and the number of animals needed for a complex or processing plant.
“With this increased growth, livestock producers that depend more heavily on meals will likely see better feed prices,” said Brown. “Chicken or pork producers who may have struggled in recent years may now be beneficiaries of soy crush in the state.”
As the hunger for meat and soy continues to grow, the opportunities for animal agriculture are increasing.
“I forecast that poultry and pork exports will become more competitive with meat from other countries,” said Brown. “This is due to decline and more competitive soybean prices.”
While the detrimental impact of the announcement of Tyson closing two major chicken processing facilities in southern Missouri in October cannot be understated, there are still opportunities for growth and expansion. Missouri is poised to see more business entering state lines through upcoming partnerships.
A Powerful Partnership
To expand even more opportunities in agriculture, Missouri Soybeans entered an agreement with Missouri Partnership through the agricultural alliance, Missouri Farmers Care.
“Missouri Partnership works proactively to increase the state’s prosperity by attracting new capital investment and jobs,” said Matt Amick, Missouri Soybeans director of biofuels and market development. “Since 2008, Missouri Partnership has led or supported projects across the state resulting in 217 wins, 32,900 new jobs and $6.4 billion in capital investment.”
Missouri Partnership is a public-private economic development organization focused on attracting new jobs and investment to the state and promoting Missouri’s business strengths.
“Our team is focused on increasing the state’s prosperity by attracting new companies to Missouri, and we have always put an emphasis on our thriving industries, including ag tech and food and beverage,” said Subash Alias, CEO of Missouri Partnership “Business attraction is extremely competitive, so we are thrilled to tap into the expertise of Missouri agricultural commodity groups as we work to bring more companies like American Foods Groups to the state.”
Some recent successful projects that led to major investment from agricultural tech and food and beverage companies in Missouri include American Foods Group, a Chick-fil-A distribution center, Swift Prepared Foods and the USDA National Insitute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Economic Research Service (ERS).
“Missouri Farmers Care, through the investment of Missouri Soybeans and other commodity groups, will work directly with Missouri Partnership to recruit new companies to the state that increase commodity utilization,” said Amick. “This will be done through a multi-step process of marketing, business development and project management.”
The state has seen a blueprint for success with commodity groups and the Missouri Department of Agriculture working alongside Missouri Partnership to recruit American Foods Group, a beef processing plant in eastern Missouri, which will provide more opportunities for marketing cows and finishing cattle in the state.
Seeing this success, Missouri Soybeans helped create an enhanced partnership to aggressively recruit and promote our state. Through the work of Missouri Partnership, ag and food-related companies will know Missouri has the resources they need and an ag industry that is aligned and will support the farmer and business opportunity.
“Missouri agriculture has been stepping up in a substantial way to drive our state’s capacity to support the expansion and at- traction of new agricultural processing to our state,” said Ashley McCarty, executive director for Missouri Farmers Care. “Knowing the benefits of additional agricultural production and processing to our farms, communities and state, our goal is clear — expand commodity utilization. Missouri offers abundant resources, strong agricultural production, a business-friendly climate and healthy communities. Our state is open for business.”
Adding value to soybeans through dairy, poultry, beef, biofuels, aquaculture and more isn’t a new concept, but Missouri has ground to gain on capturing more of the potential of the state’s top crop. The goal of this partnership is to see more commodities processed, fed and utilized in Missouri.
MSMC is committed to producing and marketing solutions to maximize the Missouri soybean farmers’ profitability. With expert staff and a dedicated board, Missouri Soybeans is driven to build demand for the state’s No. 1 cash crop – soybeans.
If farmers have further questions about Missouri’s crush capacity, the Soybean Net Importer Study or Missouri Partnership, please reach out to Matt Amick, Missouri Soybeans director of biofuels and market development, at mamick@mosoy.org.
