Tom Slunecka, Working for Minnesota Farmers
Good day and welcome to Minnesota CropCast from the University of Minnesota. I'm your host Dave Nicolai, University Minnesota Extension Educator in field crops. My co host with me today is Doctor. Seth Nave, Extension soybean specialist at the University of Minnesota and our special guest from Minnesota soybean is Tom Slenica and Tom is with us via an audio connection on a zoom call today and we're gonna visit with Tom a little bit about Minnesota soybean and also about his background and information. And before we get started and talking about the weather here, had this last week and then we're going into those situations with that.
Speaker 1:We've got a couple of events that are coming up including Minnesota Ag Expo. But I think first of all Tom, let's talk a little bit about your background in terms of where you grew up, went to school, education, that type of thing, and then how you got interested in agriculture and how you ended up in Minnesota and Mankato in the position you have presently?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, it's it's great to be here with you guys today, and I always love talking about agriculture. And every once in while, I like to talk about myself, so this works out pretty well. So for myself, I'm the story maybe is not so diverse. I'm a farm kid from South Dakota originally.
Speaker 2:Grew up on a large cattle ranch there in Central South Dakota, and and I guess I'm fourth generation owner of that ranch today. So I get back there as often as I can. We raise soybeans and some corn and some wheat and some sunflowers. And so every year, I get to spend a little time on the planting tractor and spend a little time in the combine. I don't get to ride a horse anymore like I used to, but certainly riding a lot of four wheeler, bringing in bringing a fairly large herd off of our off of our pastures out there in Central South Dakota.
Speaker 2:So agriculture is who I am. It's what I've always done. But I certainly have had an opportunity to do many different things within agriculture, things that I never really thought of as a as a student coming from SDSU. So I got a degree from SDSU in agronomy and marketing communications, which at the time, I wasn't sure exactly what I was gonna do with that. As a farm kid, I knew there was a lot of things to do in agriculture, but my career has proven that you you can do just an amazing amount of things and stay in the field of agriculture and not actually farm yourself.
Speaker 2:I was able to take take those studies and start doing some agronomy type work with a company called American Science. I remember back in day, they were the guys that had the pursuit and scepter and a lot of really, products. I was able to work my way through the sales side of that into the corporate office into New Jersey. So my wife and I moved from, basically, Central South Dakota right into Manhattan. And you wanna talk about a culture shock.
Speaker 2:Being a a farm kid from South Dakota and then working every day in Downtown New York is pretty dramatic. And but it was it was a great experience. And the the people around me and learning learning how parts of the country react to things and getting to know my neighbors there, it was really a wonderful experience. And every day, I I was working with people in agriculture, but then every evening, I was surrounded by people that had no idea what agriculture was about. And I think it's it's been able to help me in my career all along having those experiences.
Speaker 2:From there, I went to work for the National Corn Growers Association, and I helped them with some major prod projects, some of which are still in place today, like know before you grow and nowhere to go. Those those seed tags are are still out there, and those are some projects that I developed. That was back in the time when biotech and biotech acceptance was basically everything we worked on every day. And I learned there just the power of association, how important they are to agriculture and really businesses as a whole because there's a lot of things that we as producers don't think about. And in order for our products to get sold nationally, internationally, there's a lot of regulations, and there's a lot of people that have to be convinced of that agriculture knows what it's doing.
Speaker 2:And I was able to help national corn growers and their leadership move through that, and the successes we're having today in biotech are largely because of the work that was done at that point.
Speaker 3:So then you you you must.
Speaker 2:So Yeah.
Speaker 3:You must have you must have moved to Minnesota soybean right away then. Right? Is that is that the next step?
Speaker 2:Actually, I took one more step in between. So, actually, a couple.
Speaker 4:So after working with the National Corn Growers Association, I was able to, get the call from the ethanol industry to start a new, not for profit. It was called EPIC at the time. It's now, called Growth Energy. And one of the main things that we did was able to work on the promotion of ethanol, across The United States and really across the globe. And one of the main things we did with that was to get the race car industry to use ethanol, But we also did some great things with global warming initiatives.
Speaker 4:We worked with Will Steger, an important Minnesota native. And, his his work, in exploration of the North Pole was was a very unique way of promoting agriculture, in a different way. So I've had the opportunities to do those sorts of things. I I've I've, worked with the animal health industry, with Fiber Animal Health and, also worked on a cellulose ethanol project. And so my career has led me in and out of associations and for profits, and that's an important distinction, in that as I run not for profits, I really apply what I've learned in business, as much as possible.
Speaker 4:And associations are really, really important for agriculture, as I've stated before, but they need to run as fast as industry, and they rent need to run as smart as industry, because agriculture isn't getting any easier. The things that challenge us, both politically and technically, just are not getting any easier. And the amount of people that don't understand the importance of agriculture or that we're doing everything that we can to be environmentally friendly is always a challenge to make sure that they understand it in a way that that, works works in their lives. So, my work experience has led me to a lot of the initiatives that we're doing here now at Minnesota Research and Promotion Council.
Speaker 1:Tom, do you want to talk a little bit about, Ag Expo and in your current role here in Minnesota soybean, maybe a little bit of background of what what actually happens there? And more importantly, why do we have it occur every year at this time?
Speaker 4:Yeah. So one of those fun initiatives that we do here at Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council is we support Ag Expo. And Ag Expo has been going on for a lot of years, and a lot of people say, well, that's that that's a trade show. But it's much, much more than that. And I think this year, more than any other expo, if you're able to attend, you are going to hear and see a lot of things that are gonna help you in your business.
Speaker 4:We've got, great speakers like PJ Fleck from the U of M is gonna be here. He's gonna give some motivational words about, how to manage you your team your team back home on the farm. And, we've got speakers that are gonna talk about, new developments, in agriculture from a technology standpoint. We've got speakers that are gonna talk about mental health because farming is hard. It's it's a mental draw.
Speaker 4:And as as you transition from generation to generation, there's just a lot to consider. So at the expo, there's gonna be fun things. There's gonna be some educational things. But one of the really important things, and it leads back to my prior comments, is your the ability for Minnesota farmers to come together to talk about policy that affects them on both the state and the national level. And so at Ag Expo, both Minnesota corn and Minnesota soybean bring together their county representatives, and they talk about the policies, and they set policies that they want to have done, at their national groups, like, the American Soybean Association, and the National Corn Growers Association, as well as what they want done here in the state.
Speaker 4:And, with, our legislative session, you know, just around the corner, farmers need to be organized. We need to be very directive as to what we need. And being able to come together at a meeting like Ag Expo is the perfect way to get everybody on the same page and to be as clear in those messages as possible to the politicians that ultimately pass laws that affect what we do.
Speaker 3:I know, you're not as work as closely with the membership side as as the checkoff side. But for those listeners that maybe aren't insiders in in the the corn and soybean communities, what what are some of the really or maybe what's the breadth of of resolutions that you might expect at a at a meeting like this? What, what are the what is, MSGA going to be, what are some of their top priorities, and and what's some of the other the the whole breadth of things that they're gonna be, discussing?
Speaker 4:Well, there's a lot of important issues, that affect us here on the farm. Of course, biodiesel, Minnesota being a leader in renewable fuels for both ethanol and biodiesel. We've led the nation in many, many ways. We gotta make sure that our politicians understand how important those fuels are to our bottom line. So some of the things that we'll be discussing is, the clean car initiatives by by the governor.
Speaker 4:We'll be discussing issues, about renewable diesel and and sustainable aviation fuel and what those policies might be and how they're gonna affect our bottom line. We're gonna be discussing issues like right to repair. We we have great, equipment dealers across the state, but every now and again, as the machinery gets a little bit older, we wanna be able to fix that on our own. And what policies are we gonna put put in place that will allow us to do that? Environmental issues like tiling and, drainage from animal units are are other things that are gonna be discussed.
Speaker 4:Because as crop producers, we need a strong animal agriculture sector. And while we may not all have, animals on our farms today, we all know somebody who does. And, that's where our grain goes, and we need to have that. And then, of course, lastly is anything to do with international trade, whether it be Mexico or the rail system out to the West Coast or one that we're working hard to to redevelop, which is shipping grain through the Port Of Duluth over to Europe. It's a it's a it's really a new market for The US, and it's something that the US government is really getting behind is to diversify who we're selling our crops to.
Speaker 4:We have been reliant on China, in a big way for a long, long time, and now there's a movement to see, what other markets we can develop so that we're less dependent on the Chinese, consumer for buying
Speaker 3:Those are I mean, that you've you, touched on just the you you captured exactly what I was hoping you would, the the real breadth of it. I I I wanna go back circle circle back to one that I think that's that's close to my heart is we had Gordon Denny on a few weeks ago, and we talked with him about renewable fuels standards and increased demand for oil. And I think this idea that Minnesota soybean farmers are very supportive of animal agriculture in Minnesota is really an important point. And I think that some people might miss that is that the soybean organizations are not they represent farmers, not just soybeans. And they want of course, they're they're working to help soybean farmers, but through that, they're they're helping all farmers.
Speaker 3:And and one way that really helps those farmers is to support the animal agricultural industry in Minnesota. We need to find a way to use more of our soybean meal here. So, I applaud the growers for helping out with that.
Speaker 4:It's it's vital. Oil is important, but, you know, we can't afford to raise soybeans and just sell oil. We need to sell meal. In the past, we've sold whole beans largely out of Minnesota, especially the northern half of the state is largely just shipped whole beans out of the state. But now with renewable diesel, we've got more and more crush plants coming on board.
Speaker 4:In fact, we are instrumental in starting one of those ourselves. And, that animal agriculture is needed for that for that meal. And why not value add here on the farm? Why not have those jobs here? Let's export meat.
Speaker 4:Let's not export soybeans.
Speaker 3:Sounds good. So the, Ag Expo, Minnesota Ag Expo is on January. Right? Wednesday, Thursday of this week. And that's at the convention center downtown Mankato, but it's tell me the name of it.
Speaker 3:I forgot.
Speaker 1:It's Mayo. It's the Mayo.
Speaker 3:The Mayo.
Speaker 1:Mail. Auditorium.
Speaker 3:Center there. So and and, Tom, do you know if if folks can register when they get there? Can they just walk in?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Just, come on in and register. You'll wanna get there early. I think we're gonna be sold out this year. I know that, the show floor is completely sold out.
Speaker 4:We've got great sponsors from all kinds of companies that are gonna be there, and, it's just really gonna be a great time. So registration opens at, 07:30 on Wednesday, and sessions run, through the evening with the MSGA after hours social events at the Loose Moose. So, if you just wanna kick back and communicate with, your neighbors and, just have a little bit of fun, that event starts at at 7PM. The next day kicks off again, with the Minnesota Corn Growers Association's packed breakfast at 7AM. And so shout out to them.
Speaker 4:That's also a great event. But, come on in, see the sessions, participate in the trade show, and learn some new things for
Speaker 3:your farm. We I know that there's some Minnesota farmers that feel left out with the Iowa caucuses, and they don't get to see their they don't get their political action quite as much as they do down south of the border here. So I know there's some politicians who'll probably show up that folks can talk to as well. And not only that, but a bunch of researchers from the University of Minnesota will be there with some posters and chatting about their research. Both the corn corn Chekhov folks and soybean researchers will be there both days.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of stuff going on around there at the expo. So we did want to chat with you a little bit about the Ag Innovation Campus, Tom. This may be more new and novel to some of our listeners even than the Ag Expo. So you might want to bring us up to speed a little bit on the Ag Innovation or AIC and tell us where the idea came from and what it is and where are you at and and what where are we seeing any processing going on there? Is that how quick are we gonna see that happen?
Speaker 4:Yes. The Ag Innovation Campus is just an amazing story, and it it really goes to show, the innovative spirit of the leadership, that we have on our boards here in Minnesota. No other state in the nation has ever, attempted to do a project like this. In fact, there is no other facility being built like this anywhere in the world. And it's happening in a large part because of the research that has been done at at the University of Minnesota.
Speaker 4:The the breeding program there has, shown us that our soybeans can do more than just create meal and oils. You know, we can we can do, biopolymers, and we can do, feed that has higher value to animals. And we can produce soybeans that have a higher oil content in order for today's market. So it's it's really in a culmination of the last twenty years of research with the University of Minnesota that led to this initiative. We were working through, how we were gonna bring some of these products to market about seven years ago.
Speaker 4:And what we found is that the biggest hurdle in the way of creating something new, and that could be a new technology or a new type of soybean or even a different kind of oilseeds, so say all of the cover crops that people are working on. The biggest hindrance of getting that to market is to prove it at scale. And what I mean by that is, you have to create a large enough volume that you can do full scale feeding trials, let's say, if it's a new type of soybeans, or you have to prove it at a large enough scale in order for a food manufacturer to wanna take that product on. They have to know that it's gonna be there consistently and that it meets specs and that it's something that they can trust before they move their entire systems over to something new. So this facility is being designed to prove things at scale.
Speaker 4:So we're gonna be taking on projects that have already been proven, at laboratory scale, maybe even already proven at demonstration scale. And we're gonna be able to move them in at a large enough quantity that, people can then larger companies can take take our final products and say, hey. That will work. And when it works at the AIC, then it's gonna work for all of the other crush facilities across the nation. I think the the best example of this story is when we were working on high oleic soybeans about eight years ago, and we said, hey.
Speaker 4:This is a really good technology. It was something it was came out of the breeding program at the U of M. This is a healthier oil for consumers. So we went to another Minnesota, a very important company, Schwannz. And we got a meeting with Schwannz, and we brought in our oil profile.
Speaker 4:And they said, wow. That really looks great. Now bring us 3,000 gallons so we can do one test run on pizza rolls. Now I'll never forget that I'll never forget that meeting. It was just shocking to me to think that, okay.
Speaker 4:Just for them to consider something, they need 3,000 gallons just to run one test. So the volume of these things are great. But how do you take, of, just a handful of soybeans off the benchtop and create a program that has enough volume to just test for 3,000 gallons? It's it's expensive. It's complicated.
Speaker 4:It takes time. And at the time, there were only two facilities available to do that. One was at Texas A and M, and the other one was in Canada at POS. And it took us a year and a half to just to work through that system. And we said, okay.
Speaker 4:If we wanna continue to develop new types of oilseeds, new types of processing technology, we need a facility that is standing there ready, willing to work with us. And that was the impetus behind building the Ag Innovation campus. It's it's complicated, in order to get these things forward, and we weren't sure what kind of traction we were gonna get when we promoted the idea. But the industry, itself, the crush industry said, yes. We absolutely need a facility of that size.
Speaker 4:The state legislature said, why? That's a fantastic idea. And they went to work, and they they helped us to get the original, funding that helps kick the project off. And that happened because of the growers association and their political strength to make it happen. So just a whole lot of pieces came in alignment for this facility to, break ground and and to now have phase one completed.
Speaker 3:So tell us what what is AIC? So physically, what what, what what is it? What have you what have you built there in Crookston, Minnesota?
Speaker 4:So right now, we've just completed phase one, and phase one is a 240 ton a day, mechanical crush plant. So that's roughly nine semiloads a day. The meal, that it's gonna come off of that process will be sold to the local animal industry, and there's more and more of it every day, in Northern Minnesota. The oil will go for, biodiesel, and the hulls will also go back into the livestock market. Now that plant is starting up this week.
Speaker 4:We ran some test runs last week. Everything is looking good, and it takes about a month or so to run through startup. So by mid February, that plant will be running, twenty four seven, crushing those truckloads. And, so that's phase one. Phase two, will be an office complex that'll have laboratories.
Speaker 4:It'll have meeting spaces for collaboration, some community space in there as well, and it's potentially the future home for the ag utilization AURI. So, that group has been around for a long time. They have offices in Crookston now, and they'll they'll now relocate them over to our office complex at the Ag Innovation campus. The next building that'll be built is, a facility that'll have rentable base for new types of technology that need a slipstream off of the crush plant to prove at scale. As I said before, proving at scale is is really complicated.
Speaker 4:Having a home that you can afford to go to, is what will be in phase three. So technologies like Plasma Blue, which advances, the oil that comes off of of a crush plant. You can you can convert that oil into all different kinds of products with Plasma Blue. We've got a technology that uses, soybean hulls and turns them into plastics. We've got a company that wants to bring in technology that uses microwaves to dry oilseeds because drying oilseeds can be problematic.
Speaker 4:They're prone to start on fire when you use natural gas. So if we can use electricity and microwaves to dry that grain, maybe it's safer for the farm, safer for the elevators, more efficient. So there are, really quite a few different technologies that are gonna be vying for spots in those, bays, and all of it designed to get products to consumers and to the farm gate faster, sooner, and cheaper through the ag innovation campaign.
Speaker 3:The things that, you know, occurs to me is that, a lot of our challenges we've had in the past few years with trade and other things, shipping, I think we've been a victim of our own efficiency. We built so many efficient built inefficiencies into our business model so tightly that the way we do our business is efficient and we can move things around. But it doesn't allow for any new innovation because it doesn't fit into the existing system well. And in some ways, you've kind of unwound this whole thing, and you've created an inefficiency. In other words, you've gone backwards, you've started a system where you're looking at small scale that includes more cost, but it allows you to do a lot more things.
Speaker 3:And so I think I think it's really important for the public sector to get involved with projects like this because it's these are things that would never occur in the in the private space. So or a public private partnership, as I think you're building, especially with these incubators. So I applaud you. Think it sounds like a tremendous project. I am glad that we're, starting to crush some soybeans.
Speaker 3:That sounds that's great news for me. Yeah.
Speaker 4:You you really did a great job of explaining that, Seth. That's that's exactly what we've done. And and private industry would not have done this because the profit margin on what we're doing here, is not as grand as a large crush plant. In fact, the entire entity has been built as a not for profit. The profit made at the crush plant will be shared with, in the form of grants to all types of technologies that are gonna come through.
Speaker 4:It is there for the future. It's not there for money making today. It is there for the future. And we've got some tremendous sponsors that have come into this program, not just the Minnesota Research and Promotion Council and the state legislature, but private industries like Crown Iron and Farmers Union Enterprises, PerkinElmer, and the list goes on and on. This is, really a perfect example of public private investment, looking towards the future.
Speaker 4:And, everything from educating tomorrow's plant operators to, breaking the mold of of what we think an oilseed can do, is what we hope comes from this project.
Speaker 1:You know, Tom, you know, one of the things that people ask about is why Crookston? There's some strategic thought behind this isn't there in terms of the location for this facility in the in the Crookston area and given the fact of where soybeans have been grown in Minnesota and where they are continuing to move and being grown in other areas. You wanna talk just a little bit about that?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Kristen was a little bit unique and and certainly, off the beaten path, but, there are some real advantages there. Diversification in in farming practices is is still a common practice there. So farmers will grow sunflowers, wheat, canola, corn, soy. So there's a little more diversity there, and that's good as we bring in, new types of soybeans.
Speaker 4:In fact, our first, research trials are gonna happen towards the end of end of February on crops that were that have a different oil profile. And so we're actually gonna start research even before phase two and three are done. But the the, the ability to get onto farms and have some diversity in their cropping rotations was important. The other thing is that sector of The United States is the number one food growing soybean region in The United States. And so there's a there's a lot of, smaller on farm storage that allows for segregation.
Speaker 4:That's very, very important. And having, crops that work in the North is probably the most complicated. So if we're able to accomplish, rotation of, let's say, cover crops or new types of soybeans, short day soybeans, and do that cost effectively, it's gonna benefit the farmers in Southern Minnesota, equally. Because as we breed soybeans for that shorter day, we we can easily breed them for longer day. So it it's it again, it is a bit, reverse psychology, as Seth stated.
Speaker 4:We put some inefficiencies in the system in order to allow for, more development in
Speaker 3:Well, you're certainly carving out a niche, and I think that's that's an important space in this. And that's probably what some of this that you've learned through your business career as well is that there's no reason to to charge into a crowded space on these projects. And and so I think I think that's that's probably somewhere somewhere in the back of your head as as you were developing some of these plans.
Speaker 1:I think we're, I think we're Yes. It Go ahead.
Speaker 4:Go ahead.
Speaker 1:By the Yeah.
Speaker 4:I know it's it's it's a lot like the example of how to get the most volume into a jar, and you've got large rocks and sand and water. Well, you you start with the large rocks, and the large rocks are ADM, Cargill, Buggy, these large players. But in between them, there is a lot of opportunity and a lot of space for development. And so we're we're positioning ourselves in between them, because there there is something that they'll look to and something that everybody else can fit in very very nicely.
Speaker 3:That's great. So I I think you have a website up there. I know it's Ag Innovation Campus. I don't know the, the specific, URL, but it's I'm everybody can Google now. So I think anybody could find that and and see some nice photos and updates on where you're at.
Speaker 3:And and I think it'd be interesting for people to follow-up a little bit with that journey.
Speaker 1:Exactly. That's what I was Exactly. That's what I was hoping you were gonna say is where where can people go to more defined and and and stay in tune as things progress here, Tom, I guess. That's the point.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Just just Google Ag Innovation Crookston, and it and and it'll come up. And, yeah, there's there it's on a couple different platforms. You'll be able to see what's going on there. This facility is, also one of a kind in the fact that it has a very open platform.
Speaker 4:And as, we will allow visitors to come in to the heart of the plant, which is something that you just can't do at the larger facilities. There's reasons of proprietary information, insurance insurance reasons, work product flow issues that they don't let consumers come in or groups come in and and take a tour of the plant. Ours is being designed so that those tours can happen, really about at any time, and that makes it very unique and an important function for our international trade that often comes through Minnesota in the summertime. And, they're gonna be able to see the quality of the products that our Minnesota farmers, raise right there in real time. They'll be be able to put their hands right there in the with the meal and and see the quality of products that
Speaker 3:they're Trade trade teams will certainly love this. So well, we've taken a lot of your time, Tom, and I know that you've got a lot of work to do to get everything put together. This is a huge meeting in Mankato this week with the Ag Expo coming up. And I know there's a lot of you have got a lot of balls in the air getting all this thing going. So we'd like to thank you for all your time today.
Speaker 3:Really appreciate it. Thanks for your patience with our technology here. And thanks for hanging on with us to the end, and and we really appreciate spending nearly an hour with Dave and I today.
Speaker 4:Well, it's it's important what you're doing with this broadcast and you the work that you two do day in and day out for, today's farmers and tomorrow's farmers. I I I can't thank you enough for, for that work, and keep bringing us new technologies, and I'll keep finding ways to get
Speaker 3:it Sounds like a great partnership, Tom. Thank you. Thank you very much for your time, and I think we'll cut it off. Dave traditionally ends this, so I'll turn it over to him.
Speaker 1:We just wanted to say again, thanks, Tom for joining us. We appreciate that. Hopefully, folks can take an opportunity to visit with you this next week or other times. If they're in the Mankato area, I'm sure that you can update them as well. So again, this has been Minnesota CropCast from the University of Minnesota.
Speaker 1:I'm your host Dave Nicolai with University of Minnesota Extension Educator in Field Crops along with my co host Doctor. Seth Nave, University of Minnesota Extension Specialist in Soybeans. And thank you and we'll see you next time.
