WORTHINGTON, Ohio – The Ohio Soybean Council recently launched its first Soy-based Asphalt Sealant Grant Program to promote sustainable road maintenance using soy-derived products.

Funded by soybean checkoff dollars, the grant helps counties and townships in Ohio adopt soy-based asphalt sealants, with the goal of increasing soybean demand, while supporting local infrastructure, according to officials.

“We had done a similar project in 2021 in Hancock County, lead by the Soy Transportation Coalition, with funds from the Ohio Soybean Council,” Julia Brown, Ohio Soybean Council director of communications, told Farm World.

“This time, we brought the program in-house and worked directly with the applicants,” she said. “This program was started to incentivize the use of soy-based road sealants by counties and townships in Ohio.

“When looking at the projects that the council invests in, especially in the infrastructure space, our board makes funding decisions that benefit the entire soybean supply chain,” she added. “This project checks two boxes at one time: the marketing of these new bio-based products, as well as investing in reliable infrastructure in areas where we see a lot of soybean movement.”

According to the Ohio Soybean Council, Ohio soybean farmers and their checkoff are promoting soy-based technologies and improved transportation infrastructure by offering grant funding for counties to apply up to $10,000 worth of soy-based asphalt sealant (covers approximately one mile).

Among the benefits of the program, the council said, soy-based asphalt sealant reduces maintenance costs, increases longevity of roads, and supports local farmers.

“The goal of the demand arm of the Ohio Soybean Council is to invest in programming and projects that lead to increased sales of Ohio soybeans and soybean-derived food and products,” Brown said. “We feel that incentivizing the use of soy-based bioproducts does exactly that, and helps to accomplish that goal that we set.”

In 2021, the Soy Transportation Coalition and Hancock County, Ohio, partnered on a pilot project in which RePlay, a soy-based asphalt sealant produced by BioSpan Technologies (based in Washington, Mo.), was applied on approximately two miles of County Road 84 in the county via a truck-mounted sprayer, according to the Ohio Soybean Council.

“The penetration of salt, water, and other materials into a paved road – particularly in areas with a freeze-thaw cycle – can result in significant damage and diminished longevity,” the council said in a media statement. “The application on an asphalt sealant, like RePlay, can provide a barrier to such penetration, and significantly increase the useful life of the road or bridge.”

Doug Cade, Hancock County engineer, said because RePlay is 88 percent produced from bio-based products, mostly soybean oil, the product is safe to apply and environmentally sustainable; he added the road was able to be reopened to traffic within 30 minutes of application.

“Our ultimate goal in applying RePlay to this section of road is to safely extend our repair schedule by five years,” he said. “This will allow us to allocate taxpayer money to other projects that are in more need of immediate attention.

“The road now dries faster than the adjacent untreated roads since the sealant helps prevent water penetration,” he added. “Applying RePlay also slightly darkened the coloration of the asphalt, which will result in quicker melting of snow and ice during the winter. This will all benefit motorist safety. We have also noticed that skid resistance has been maintained in the road treated with RePlay.”

David Clark, Ohio Soybean Council and the Soy Transportation Coalition board member, and a Springboro, Ohio, soybean farmer, said, “Because our rural roads and bridges are so critical to our success, farmers need to be willing to step up to the plate and help promote solutions to many of our challenges.

“By doing this joint project with Hancock County, we hope to increase the awareness of the one use of soy-based sealants for our rural infrastructure, and encourage it to be a more widely-utilized tool within our state,” he added.

Steve Reinhard, Ohio Soybean Council and the Soy Transportation Coalition board member, and a Bucyrus, Ohio soybean farmer, said, “The use of soy-based asphalt and concrete sealants checks a number of important boxes. It first increases the longevity of our roads and bridges.

“Second, it does so in an environmentally sustainable way,” he added. “Finally, it provides another marketing opportunity for soybean farmers. We hope to encourage greater momentum throughout the country in using these products.”