A first-of-its-kind soybean processing facility opens this week in northwest Minnesota. Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council CEO Tom Slunecka says this week’s grand opening of the Ag Innovation Campus in Crookston is a culmination of five years of planning that began with Soy Checkoff leaders recognizing a need in the region.
Slunecka says, “And let’s see if we can help not just the products that we’re developing, but products that are being developed in universities all over the country (and) really all over the world. And also products that are being tested and developed by private companies all over the world.”
Slunecka says the facility will produce and test new types of processing equipment, explaining, “We’re going to be educating tomorrow’s process engineers (and) tomorrow’s process operators in this facility.”
Slunecka says the Ag Innovation Campus will be operational just in time for harvest this fall.