Minnesota legislature approves $5 million funding for Soy Innovation Campus

In Minnesota, funding for a soybean crush and biodiesel facility in Crookston is no longer a pipe dream for Minnesota agriculture. Last week, the Minnesota Legislature approved $5 million in funding for the Soy Innovation Campus at the University of Minnesota Crookston. The funding will go into effect in the second half of the biennium budget in July 2020.

The University of Minnesota (UMN) Extension, along with the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC), conducted an economic impact study of a soybean crush and biodiesel facility. The numbers show the Soy Innovation Campus has the ingredients to reignite northwest Minnesota’s agriculture economy, where more than 1.5 million acres of soybeans were harvested in 2018. Soybean production throughout northwest Minnesota has increased by more than 300 percent in the past 20 years; the 11 counties that would benefit from the Soy Innovation Campus produced more than 62 million bushels of soybeans in 2018.