‘It works’: SoyFoam is building demand, saving lives 

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This article was submitted by the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council as part of its Transportation Go! sponsorship. It appeared in the March-April 2025 issue of Soybean Business. 

Firefighters have enough dangers to contend with.   

Cancer shouldn’t be one of them.   

Firefighters have double the risk for certain types of cancer and are vulnerable to a higher percentage for many others. Overall, firefighters pose a 14% greater risk of cancer mortality than the general public. These risks can be traced back to foam-based products to curb fire spread. The most common foam used across fire departments is loaded with PFAS, aka “forever chemicals.”  

Minnesota soybeans and the soy checkoff are playing a crucial part in saving lives and improving the environment. A promising venture by Dave Garlie of Cross Plains Solutions, made possible through soy checkoff support, strives to create a safer alternative for first responders. SoyFoam is created using soy flour and can provide the same coverage as traditional foams.   

“There are nine required burns, and SoyFoam can put out all nine burns,” Garlie said during a learning session at the 2025 MN Ag Expo.  

The timing is critical for Minnesota. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has implemented Minnesota’s new law banning nonessential use of PFAS. The state’s new law effective Jan. 1, 2025, makes it illegal to sell or distribute some products with intentionally added PFAS in Minnesota. That follows with a statewide ban on intentionally added PFAS in products, which goes into effect in 2032.   

‘Coming to fruition’  

 SoyFoam is created using soy flour and provides the same coverage as traditional foams. The soy-based product is the world’s only firefighting foam that is GreenScreen Certified Gold, a third-party product certification that measures a product’s health and environmental hazards.   

John Hejl, a North Dakota firefighter and farmer, said his department has used test fires with his team and was impressed with the products to plug into their current systems.   

“It was fantastic to use a firefighting foam where I wasn’t concerned about people standing in people’s yards,” Hejl said. “It works in every system we’ve put it in so far.”  

Garlie is working with the Department of Defense and Forestry Department to gain SoyFoam approval nationwide. The product has passed Underwriter’s Laboratory standard, which is one level of safety checks for products like firefighting foam. It is currently being reformulated to fit the government viscosity requirements to move forward in the approval process. The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association is also urging lawmakers and the Walz administration to support broader use of SoyFoam in the state.  

Dumont farmer Tom Frisch, who chairs the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotional Council, is a longtime volunteer firefighter. Frisch, who also sits on the United Soybean Board’s Executive Committee, said the checkoff’s support of SoyFoam offers multiple benefits. He hopes more Minnesota fire departments will see the same value.    

“Your checkoff investment is helping out the environment and the firefighters who use it,” said Frisch, a member of the Dumont Fire Department since 2000. “It’s a checkoff investment that is coming to fruition and helping build demand.”   

Council Director Glen Groth attended a SoyFoam demonstration in summer 2024 alongside farmers, firefighters and Minnesota regulatory officials. He’s encouraged by its potential.   

“It’s just really exciting anytime you get to see a new product being used and one that we invested our money in,” he said. “I’d really like to see it widely adopted among fire departments, and I think rural departments will be excited to use it.”

Groth donated buckets to his home department of Winona on behalf of the Council. 

‘Planting to Protect’ 

MSR&PC has launched a county-level program encouraging local boards to donate five-gallon buckets of SoyFoam across Minnesota fire departments while highlighting soy’s value-added uses.  

While the donation aspect of the campaign is set to launch this summer, a few departments have already started testing the product. Fire departments in Norman County participated in a controlled house burn and training near Ada, using SoyFoam during this training. According to firefighters who participated, the product worked “too well,” putting out the fire quickly, requiring a switch back to their standard product to prolong the process and continue the training. 

“What I noticed was the wetting agent part of it, the coverage,” said Rick Loveland, Minnesota State Community and Technical College Fire/Rescue Program Manager, who participated in the demonstration. “We sprayed it on some of the bushes before we started, and those bushes didn’t catch on fire at all.” 

NDSC hosts Food & Farm Tour

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This article was submitted by the North Dakota Soybean Council. It appeared in the December 2024 issue of The North Dakota Soybean Growers Magazine.

On a bustling afternoon filled with fieldwork, Page farmer Jim Thompson graciously opened his combine cab to a group of curious visitors, many of whom had never experienced the soybean harvesting process or stepped foot on a North Dakota farm.

The visitors at Thompson’s farm were part of the North Dakota Soybean Council Farm & Food Tour, which brings together chefs, dietitians, nutritionists, social media influencers, Extension agents, and more to learn about soybeans from farm to fork.

“A lot of them (visitors) have never been on a farm, have never seen a soybean in a field, and most of them have never been in a combine, so the whole experience is quite amazing from the reactions that I get,” Thompson says. “Some of the social media people wanted to do interviews in the combine to get answers to questions they have or, if they’re a blogger, some questions that their readers have. A lot of it is dispelling some myths and just trying to get facts out there about how we produce soybeans, what they’re used for, and the manner in which we do it.”

The Farm & Food Tour featured more than a dozen participants from across the state and country as well as students from North Dakota State College of Science’s culinary program.

“We always include a farm visit for two reasons,” states North Dakota Soybean Council Outreach and Engagement Director Shireen Alemadi. “First, they can meet a farmer and ask them questions about soybeans from planting to harvest and everything in between. Second, they are able to take a ride in a combine and see how harvest actually happens and learn about how updates in technology help farmers.”

In addition to the farm visit, participants also spent time in the classroom and kitchen, receiving updated soy health information from nutrition expert Mark Messina, Ph.D., director of nutrition science and research at the Soy Nutrition Institute Global, and cooking ideas from Soyfoods Council Executive Director Linda Funk. The two-day tour truly gave participants a farm-to-fork experience.

“The participants learned the latest about soy; got to see how soybeans are harvested; learned about processing soybeans to ship to buyers; and, finally, they got into the kitchen to do the hands-on application of incorporating soy products to everyday meals and tasting all their creations,” Alemadi explains.

Educating Educators

Many participants work to educate people about nutrition through dietary counseling, writing, media appearances or community health outlets. Having the opportunity to be on a working soybean farm and later to learn how to incorporate soy into nutritious recipes was a full-circle experience.

“My experience has been really eye-opening,” asserts Tori Lee, community cooking coordinator at Family Wellness in Fargo. “I knew a little bit about soy before coming here, but it’s been a great opportunity to try different soy foods, but also have the opportunity to have that physical application and learn more about the farmers that we have in North Dakota. Living here, it’s important to know a lot about these commodity groups and the different organizations that support them.”

Julie Lopez is a dietitian, chef and author who traveled to the Farm & Food Tour from New Jersey. Like many of the participants, she had never ridden in a combine before.

“This has been a really great experience, especially really learning the farm-to-table story of soy,” Lopez says. “I think the farm tours are such an eye-opening experience because, as a cooking instructor, I like to tell that story through my classes, and this trip has just given me a lot of new ideas to spark how to use soy in my cooking classes and get consumers excited about soy.”

Emily Dudensing is a dietitian from Lubbock, Texas. She’s also a farmer. “My favorite part of the program was going to the farms and riding on the combine,” Dudensing states. “We are farmers ourselves, and so that part was really neat to see how people in other parts of the United States farm, seeing their methods and comparing them to what we do. I think it hits home.”

For Thompson, the visitors may have disrupted his normal fall harvest routine for an afternoon, but the event gave him an opportunity to showcase the care and attention farmers give the food they produce for people of influence.

“I wanted to leave them (visitors) with the peace of mind that we’re out here doing the best we can for the land and for the consumer because it benefits all of us to do a good job of what we do,” Thompson contends. “We’re educating people who have a pretty big audience that they can educate because they’ve learned firsthand from someone, and they’ll have video proof or picture proof and a firsthand account of how we do things, and that speaks volumes.”

North Dakota dietitians, nutritionists, chefs, and other culinary professionals who want to participate in a future Food & Farm Tour should contact Shireen Alemadi at salemadi@ndsoybean.org.

To learn more about adding soy to your diet, visit soyconnection.com or thesoyfoodscouncil.com.