WYNYARD, Sask. – The green roof of a soybean processing plant in this east-central Saskatchewan community is clearly visible from Bob Webb’s farm.
Webb decided to plant 40 acres of soybeans this cool spring to capitalize on the opportunity to grow and supply a crop to the new A1 Soybean Enterprises plant in Wynyard.
He conceded the sight of his soybean fields turns a few heads.
“People are curious to see how they turn out, and so are we,” said Webb, who plans to straight cut the soybeans around mid-October.
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“We will determine after harvest if we will continue.”
Wading into his knee-high soybean crop, he shook his head at the amount of weeds encouraged by a healthy dose of rain in spring and late summer.
Despite such growing challenges, Webb remains optimistic.
“If there’s something new, we like to try it,” said Webb, who runs a 10,000-acre farm with his sons Shannon and Scott.
They already grow spring wheat, canola, flax and peas and do custom grain hauling.
The soybeans were bought from a seed grower in Manitoba for $24 a bushel and seeded the third week of May.
“The only thing costly was the seed,” he said.
The Webbs added 40 pounds of fertilizer during seeding and have sprayed twice to limit weed growth.
Shannon said the soybeans give the farm another crop in the rotation and because of its longer growing season, do not interfere with other harvest operations.
“It could be something once it gets going,” he said of soybeans and the new processing plant.
Soybeans growing in the area look promising, said Rick Pollard, office manager with A1 Soybean.
The plant, now awaiting equipment from China, is expected to begin processing small batches at first “to ensure they can generate cash flow.”
Pollard said the plant will process soybeans for nutraceutical products bound for China.
The company, founded in 2004, holds Chinese patents for the production of soy protein peptides, a new technology that adds nutritional benefits to food.
The technology is also said to improve the taste and smell of soy products and make them easier to digest.
When the Wynyard project was announced, officials originally said the plant would create more than 50 jobs and produce soy beer and wine, elixirs and energy drinks.
“We got interested in Saskatchewan because it is an agriculture-based province,” Pollard said.
Although the province has not traditionally grown soybeans, the company believes a production base can be built.
“We believe firmly that there is no reason why this plant can’t be supplied by Saskatchewan farmers,” Pollard said.
“But that aside, it is hardly unusual to establish a food processing plant where you ship in raw product.”
If additional supplies are needed, they can come from Manitoba.
“We would prefer to buy from local farmers because that benefits them and that in turn benefits us and cuts transportation costs,” he said.
While not at the heart of a soybean growing area, Wynyard has other attributes, such as the plant, which was built in 1990 for Quill Springs, a water bottling operation that went into receivership in 1992. The building has been vacant since.
Another attraction for the owners was the involvement of Saskatchewan residents such as former MP Lorne Nystrom. The plant is financed by Chinese Canadians, with Nystrom serving as the company’s vice-president.
Soybeans are admittedly a long shot, considering Saskatchewan’s variable weather, said irrigation agronomist Terry Hogg at the Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre in Outlook, Sask.
Soybean trials there have demonstrated several challenges for growers.
“Proceed with caution, take the lowest heat unit variety you can get and try a small area,” he said, citing OAC Vision as a good choice.
Hogg advised farmers to solid crop soybeans into their warmest fields, perhaps on south facing slopes or in protected areas.
Soybeans are a warm season crop that needs warm days and nights. They do little until the heat of July and August makes them jump.
“They come up and sit there,” Hogg said.
Soybeans do not like to be seeded deep and have trouble pushing through crusted soil, he added. Like sunflowers, soybeans need a frost to help them dry down once they are mature.
They also need adequate moisture to produce good yields and help develop through the flowering and podding stages.
