Value-Added Opportunity

VALUE-ADDED OPPORTUNITY

SOY PROCESSOR ADDS VALUE TO IOWA SOYBEANS

BY BETHANY BARATTA

When CHS Inc. announced plans to close its soybean crushing facility in Creston, it was the perfect opportunity for Michigan-based Zeeland Farm Services, Inc. (ZFS) to expand into Iowa.

“When this became an opportunity, it fit right in, plus it gave us another footprint farther west in Iowa,” says Eric Meeuwsen, the plant’s general manager.

In April 2018, ZFS announced its purchase of the plant, a soybean processing facility, soy flour mill, grain elevator and non-GMO soybean inventories. The business now operates as ZFS Creston, LLC.

Founded in 1950 as Meeuwsen Produce and Grain, ZFS began primarily as a produce transportation company, and over the years evolved to include many other agricultural services. In 1996, the company expanded into soy processing when it opened Michigan’s first soy plant. The family-owned company also operates business units in grain storage and merchandising, feed ingredients, biofuels marketing, commodity exports and seed.

Meeuwsen said the company saw potential in the Creston facility.

“We looked at it as a similar-sized processing facility to the one we run in Michigan,” he says. “It’s the same technology and same type of customer base, so it fit into our business model.”

Gavilon Grain, attached to the plant, provides both GMO and non- GMO soybeans for the processor. ZFS processes those beans into soybean meal, soybean flakes and soybean flour for use in a variety of products. ZFS Creston processes 800 tons of products per day.

“We can make soybean meal for animal feed and soy flakes and flour that can be further processed into food products for human consumption,” Meeuwsen says.

“Their customers are making frozen desserts and other products out of soy — things I didn’t know could be done,” says Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) District 8 Director Warren Bachman, who spoke with company officials during a presentation there this summer.

ZFS Creston began production in August 2018 after building its customer base and re-establishing the plant’s connections to customers who had sought other business opportunities after CHS closed.

“It’s a growing business, and plant capacity is ramping up as customer needs are being met,” Meeuwsen says.

Testing soybean samples in the ZFS lab.

Photo: Joseph L. Murphy/Iowa Soybean Association

The attached white flaking system and flour mill are unique to the company’s Creston facility. This broadens the company’s client base, he says.

“We had customers who needed the products, we just didn’t have a way to provide them,” Meeuwsen says. “This plant fit into our existing markets that we just couldn’t serve.”

ZFS Creston serves local and global customers. Some products are provided to livestock farmers for their feed rations, while other products, including non-GMO varieties, are shipped to foreign markets for use in food products. Regardless of the end product, every component of the soybean is used.

The crude soybean oil is sold to other refiners and other end users, who process it into biodiesel or vegetable oil. Crushed soybean hulls are often added back into feed rations as a fiber source.

“We are adding value to the bean by separating it into its elements,” Meeuwsen says.

Rachael Schaefer, lab technician, runs quality tests on soybeans.

Photo: Joseph L. Murphy/Iowa Soybean Association

Local benefits

ZFS Creston supports its local community through employment and value-added opportunities for soybean farmers.

The plant employs 52, and buys grain through Gavilon Grain in Creston. Gavilon buys both non- GMO and GMO soybeans from local growers. It provides a premium for soybean growers who raise non-GMO soybeans.

“It helps the producer get more for their products if they’re growing non-GMO soybeans,” Meeuwsen says. “And it helps add value to each part of the chain.”

Eric Meeuwsen at the Zeeland Farm Services, Inc. plant in Creston.

Photo: Joseph L. Murphy/Iowa Soybean Association

Having a processor in the area helps balance the local supplies, says ISA District 7 Director Bill Shipley.

His cousin ‘feeds’ the plant with non-GMO soybeans grown on his farm.

“Because Gavilon offers a premium to non-GMO growers, there’s less competition and fewer supplies going into the other markets where I send my grain,” says Shipley, who lives in Nodaway, about 40 miles from the plant in Creston.

Production facility at ZFS.

Photo: Joseph L. Murphy/Iowa Soybean Association

Regardless of the type of soybeans being raised on nearby farms, the processing plant is beneficial, Shipley says.

“It’s a way to add value to our soybeans,” Shipley says. “I don’t care if you’re raising GMO or non-GMO, this plant adds value. We need those kinds of opportunities out here.”

Contact Bethany Baratta at bbaratta@iasoybeans.com.