The partnership opens new pipeline for plant protein ingredients and supports Benson Hill’s plans to scale soybean production and grower relationships
Benson Hill, a food tech company unlocking nature’s genetic diversity with its leading food innovation engine, announced today a collaboration with family-owned Rose Acre Farms to optimize its soybean processing capacity in Seymour, Indiana, and build out the supply chain for Benson Hill’s high-protein, high-oleic, low anti-nutrient soybeans. This collaboration will allow local growers to tap into price premiums for food- and feed-grade identity-preserved, non-GMO soybeans, and support Benson Hill as it meets growing demand for high-protein animal feed and plant protein ingredients for plant-based foods. The new collaboration will also support jobs in the area and boost the local economy.
Benson Hill’s portfolio of high-quality soybean varieties delivers a full range of in-demand premium attributes, including better digestibility, heart-healthy omega fatty acids, and higher protein that serve the plant-based food, healthy oils, animal feed and aquaculture markets.
Benson Hill has partnered with growers to contract more than 30,000 acres of premium soybeans this growing season, including significant acreage in Indiana. To minimize cost and the carbon footprint of transportation, Benson Hill sought out Rose Acre Farms as a partner to develop a processing facility in close radius to its grower partners. This announcement will also support Benson Hill’s plans to significantly increase its future contract acres in the area. Benson Hill and Rose Acre Farms are now actively enrolling interested growers for the 2021 growing season.
“We are thrilled to partner with Benson Hill to expand our crushing capacity in Indiana,” said Tony Wesner, COO of Rose Acre Farms. “We believe this strategic partnership will deliver tremendous value to local farmers and, by opening a new market pathway for in-demand soybean ingredients, support higher land and commodity prices over time. As the second-largest egg producer in the United States, we also see that the market is moving towards higher-protein animal feed, a key attribute of Benson Hill’s soybean portfolio.”
Benson Hill provides its cutting-edge soybean food and feed-grade seed varieties through its Benson Hill Seeds division. The food tech company plans to fully commercialize a line of Ultra-High Protein soybean varieties in 2021. For growers and for buyers, Benson Hill’s soybean product line combines superior nutritional qualities and oil content with highly competitive yields, offering benefits from seed-to-shelf.
“Benson Hill’s partnership with Rose Acre Farms further builds out our supply chain infrastructure and enables us to bring our identity-preserved soybeans to more commercial buyers,” said Chris Wilkins, COO of Benson Hill. “Demand for high-quality, high-protein soybeans – particularly as ingredients to serve the booming plant-based foods market – continues to grow. We expect the plant protein market to continue to increase at a double-digit percentage over the next several years, and with value chain partners like Rose Acre Farms and farmer partners across the Midwest, we are well-positioned to capitalize on that demand.”
About Benson Hill
Benson Hill moves food forward with Cloud Biology® and the CropOS™ platform, a leading food innovation engine that combines data science and machine learning with biology and genetics. Benson Hill empowers innovators to unlock nature’s genetic diversity from plant to plate, with the purpose of creating healthier, great-tasting food and ingredient options that are both widely accessible and sustainable. More information can be found at bensonhill.com or on Twitter at @bensonhillinc.
About Rose Acre Farms
From our beginnings in the 1930s as a family chicken farm in rural Indiana, Rose Acre Farms has grown to become the second-largest egg producer in the United States. Although our operations now encompass numerous facilities across the United States and our customers include some of the world’s largest retail, food service, and industrial companies, we are still family-owned and pride ourselves on the small-town values of quality and service that have characterized Rose Acre Farms from the start. Rose Acre Farms, headquartered in Seymour, Indiana, employs 2,500 people. The company has facilities in Arizona, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia. More information can be found at www.goodegg.com.
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Rose Acre Farms, Seymour Indiana
Benson Hill
Melanie Bernds
Mbernds@bensonhill.com