Rose Acre Farms recently made the decision to suspend crushing of genetically modified soybeans at its oil extraction plant at Acme for the immediate future.

Chief Operating Officer Tony Wesner said Wednesday the decision was made as a result of changes in the market for soybean oil.

“The economics of the business have gotten so poor that there’s no way to make money, and we’re not going to do it for a hobby,” he said. “We’ve been hanging on hoping it got better, because we really value our relationship with the farmers in this area, and we’d do nothing to hurt them.”

Wesner said Rose Acre normally purchases 6½ million bushels of soybeans a year for the plant at State Road 258 and Baseline Road, west of Cortland.

No timetable was given for a return to crushing soybeans, but Wesner said Rose Acre plans to do so whenever the numbers make sense financially.

“If economics get to where we can do it and make a bit of money, then we’ll do it, but to do it as a hobby, it’s gotten very competitive, and our plant is older and smaller than others in the industry,” Wesner said.

The plant, built in 1991, originally had a capacity to process 500 tons or 16,667 bushels of soybeans daily, which in turn produced 7,600 pounds of soybean oil.

The soybean mash is used as a supplement for the firm’s chickens, which produce the company’s main product — eggs. The oil also has been sold to be blended with petrol diesel.

“The price of meal and beans, how they relate to each other and how much you get when you crush the beans, that crush margin has been extremely poor, and you can get by with that if you’re still getting a good oil price, but the oil price has depressed,” Wesner said. “That’s driven some by crude oil. A few months ago, it was at -$14 a barrel. Nobody’s going to make biodiesel out of soybean oil when crude oil is that cheap, so it’s a trickle-down effect.”

Wesner said farmers with soybeans to sell could try other local purchasers including Consolidated Grain and Barge at 100 Mill St., Elizabethtown, or Tampico Grain at 10726 S. County Road 400E, Crothersville.

Rose Acre Farms will be honoring all GMO fall and January delivery contracts made on or before July 17, according to a news release from the company.

Additionally, all 2020 non-genetically modified acre contracts and flat price contracts will be honored and treated as they are normally handled for the 2020/2021 crop marketing year.

For more information, contact Joe Easton at [email protected] or 812-497-2559 ext. 211, or contact Wesner at [email protected], 812-497-2559 ext. 276.