Date: Sep 26, 2013 Author: Bruce Hotchkiss Source: American Farm (
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QUEENSTOWN, Md — John Schillinger, 75 years old, and limping slightly in the wake of a recent hip replacement, led a group of some 20 farmers into the soybean fields of Schillinger Genetics research farm here.
There, leaning on a cane, he shared his excitement about the soybeans growing on the waist-high plants that surrounded him.
"We are right on the cusp," he said.
The high-protein soybeans, which are going into the commercial marketplace under the brand names of eMerge and Navita, run against a tide.
They are non-GMO.
That means that they have been bred and developed by traditional means, not genetic manipulation.
The traits which they offer have been bred into them, over several years in many cases, not through technological insertion, and that difference makes non-GMO soybean and soybean products highly favored in niche markets here and across the globe.
It was a field day at the Queenstown research station last Tuesday arranged by Schillinger and his research staff here to show off particularly six eMerge varieties which Schillinger predicts will have an impact on the marketplace.
The year 2014 will be launch year for the eMerge brand and Schillinger believes that e3553 could lead the way. The company already has contracts to grow perhaps 60,000 to 70,000 acres of the high-protein bean in 2014.
The Navita brand is for Schillinger non-GMO varieties grown specifically for the aquaculture industry and novita beans are attracting attention as a fish and shrimp food, particularly in China.
Here at home, the poultry industry, in feeding trials, is finding that high protein eMerge beans to promote weight gain and improve digestability.
"We are growing very nicely," Schillinger commented. "We had a 46 percent increase in sales last year, It's starting to happen and we are very excited."
Research at the Queenstown station is supported annually by soybean checkoff funding from both the Maryland and Delaware soybean boards.
