INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Beginning next year, Hoosier farmers will be among the first nationwide to grow soybeans designed to produce a healthier oil, thanks to a collaboration between the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and Pioneer Hi-Bred.

Introduced last month at the Indiana State Fair, high oleic soybean oil has 0 grams trans fat and 20 percent less saturated fat than commodity soybean oil, according to Pioneer. The company’s Plenish high oleic soybeans contain the highest oleic content – more than 75 percent – of any soybean product under commercial development, Pioneer noted.

ISA President Lynn Teel said Indiana’s soybean growers are happy the state was selected to grow Plenish beans next year,

“Indiana raises some good quality soybeans,” he said. “We produce high-protein beans and there’s also a lot of processing here.”

Pioneer hasn’t disclosed how many acres will be planted or how many farmers might be asked to grow the beans. Teel expects Pioneer to expand the growing area to other states after next year.

U.S. soybean farmers have lost 15 percent of their edible oil market share in the last decade to other oils, according to the ISA. Many fast food restaurants no longer use soybean oil to fry foods because of its high cholesterol content, Teel noted.

High oleic oil could be an important step for the soybean industry as it attempts to recoup that market, he added. “Consu-mers are looking for healthy products and we need to try to satisfy those markets as best we can,” Teel stated. “This oil is just as healthy, or healthier, than anything else and priced to cost not quite as much.”

Teel said he tried some of the foods fried in high oleic oil during the state fair and came away with a favorable impression. The foods were good and didn’t have a greasy taste, he noted.

The high oleic soybeans will be processed at the Archer Daniels Midland facility in Frankfort, Ind., Teel said. In addition to the food industry, the oil could also be used for such products as motor and transmission oils.

As an incentive, Pioneer will pay farmers who choose to grow the beans a premium per bushel, though that amount hasn’t been announced, Teel explained. Farmers who grow them next year will be looking at the yield and how much extra work might be involved, he added.

“They claim the Plenish beans will have the same yield as we get now,” he said. “But farmers still grow crops on yield. And they’ll have to separate these beans from any others, so there is a little extra trouble involved. Farmers will have to ask themselves if it’s worth it.”

A healthier soybean oil offers benefits to the public and to Hoosier farmers, said Brad Lance, business director at Pioneer Hi-Bred.