Bean to Breakfast with Erik Lightner, Craig Rowles and the Waveland Cafe

It’s National Egg Month — and on The Bean Scene, we’re following the journey of an Iowa soybean from the field to an egg on your breakfast plate.

Erik Lightner, former CEO of Platinum Crush, opens the episode from one of Iowa’s newest soybean processing facilities in Alta, where over 40 million bushels of soybeans are crushed each year into the meal, oil and fiber products that feed Iowa’s livestock — including laying hens. Dr. Craig Rowles, VP of Strategic Projects at Versova Management Cooperative, breaks down just how much soy goes into egg production — and why Iowa’s soybean farmers and egg producers are more intertwined than either may realize. And David Stone, owner of the Waveland Cafe in Des Moines, gives us a peek behind the counter of a 40-year breakfast institution — including the secret behind their famous hashbrowns. Spoiler: soybean oil is involved!

The Bean Scene is brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and the soybean checkoff. 

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Transcript

Maxwell Schaeffer 0:01

Welcome back to the Bean Scene. Brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and the Soybean Checkoff. I'm your host, Maxwell Schaeffer, and I'm glad you're here. May is National Egg Month. And if you're an Iowa soybean farmer, that's not just a calendar note, it's a direct connection to your bottom line. Because here's what most people don't think about when they crack an egg in the morning. That egg exists in part because of soybeans. That egg was laid by a hen, fed with meal from soybeans grown by Iowa farmers in a field not far from here. Today, we're following that whole chain. We're calling this episode Bean to Breakfast. We start in Northwest Iowa with Erik Lightner, former CEO of Platinum Crush, one of Iowa's newest soybean processing facilities, where your beans become the meal that feeds the laying hands. Then we hear from Craig Rowles of Versova, a veterinarian and egg industry leader who makes the case for why Iowa's soybean farmers and Iowa's egg producers are more connected than either may realize. And we finish at the Waveland Cafe in Des Moines, a local breakfast institution that's been hand cracking eggs for more than 30 years. Owner David Stone gives us a peek behind the counter, including a hint at what makes their hash browns famous. Spoiler alert, soy's involved. From the crush plant to the hen house to the griddle, let's get into it. Here's Eric Lightner, CEO and employee number one at Platinum Crush.

Explore Iowa's Soybean Crush Industry with Erik Lightner

Maxwell Schaeffer 1:42 Maxwell Schaeffer 1:42

So you're coming up on your second anniversary of Platinum Crush. Congratulations.

Erik Lightner 1:48

Thank you. We're very proud of the upcoming moment.

Maxwell Schaeffer 1:51

For people who've never heard of Platinum Crush, you know, what do you actually do there?

Erik Lightner 1:55

So we are the newest soybean processing plan in the state of Iowa. So we process about 40 to 42 million bushels a year of soybeans grown regionally, and we process those into three products the protein, which is called soybean meal, the oil, uh, and the fiber products. So 75% of all of the products come out is the is the protein, 20% is the oil, and 5% is the fiber.

Maxwell Schaeffer 2:22

Wow. Okay. So walk me through that process. Uh you know, a lot of farmers put soybeans in the trucks, and there they go. And some of them have an idea where it goes, but walk me through this process when the soybeans come in the door to how they get split into those products.

Erik Lightner 2:38

Sure. So we can receive up to 60,000 bushel an hour in two different independent pits. Then we go through a cleaning process, we then heat them up to condition them to make the beans pliable, and then we break the beans in half, and the halves and the quarters, and then we flake them real thin, almost paper thin, to rupture the oil cell. So that rupturing in the oil cell is why our industry is called the crushing industry. So we're actually crushing that soybean to be able to expose the oil to be able to be extracted. And the hull of the soybean, which is separated prior to the flaking, we can pelletize that or we could send it out in loose hulls. So primarily animal nutrition, but we also use the loose holes for uh poultry bedding, turkey bedding, uh everything else. So there is basically zero waste. A hundred percent of what comes in goes back out.

Maxwell Schaeffer 3:36

A lot of soybeans come out of Northwest Iowa. So tell me a little bit about your location and why it's important to be so close uh to those soybean producers.

Erik Lightner 3:46

Right. So we're we're centered in BV County, which is District 10 of Iowa. BV County itself grows just about nine million bushels a year. We crush over 40. So we would need the equivalent of five BV counties. So to put that into perspective for the listener, 40 million bushels is basically 650 to 700,000 acres of soybean production, which is basically if you took a 35-mile radius from the plant and it was nothing other than soybean fields, that is what our plant can consume. So for the state of Iowa, it grows roughly 600 million bushel a year of soybeans. It does have the largest domestic soybean processing or crushing uh capabilities of anywhere uh in the U.S. And we as a state can crush about 500 million equivalent soybeans, so about 90 percent of what Iowa can grow. So putting a processor in the middle of this growing region and the economic value add to the farmers because they have optionality now, I can sell my beans to the cooperatives, I could sell them direct to a processor, has really increased farm values, you know, income, and ultimately, you know, discretionary spending of that. So um you know, we we bring a lot of beans in locally that now don't have to leave where they were grown.

Maxwell Schaeffer 5:09

Your story, you uh uh are a chemical engineer. You know, what drives you? I mean, you live across the street from the plant, so you're here. You're not sitting in an office somewhere else as a CEO. You know, what what drives you and what does that say about the relationship to the thing that you built?

Erik Lightner 5:28

Well I think from a chemical engineer perspective, it's really about process engineering and understanding and being cited about the process and whether that's the process of crushing soybeans or refining oil or anything else that the ag industry has. You know, having spent 20 plus years with ADM domestically, internationally, um spent seven years with with Haskell, who's a project delivery organization, all roads kind of led me back to this into the ag industry that I'm very passionate about, and having the opportunity to take all those experiences and learn from them and put it all together in into one business, one large project.

Maxwell Schaeffer 6:09

So how has that relationship with your local farming community kind of changed since you established the business even a short two years ago?

Erik Lightner 6:18

I think it's evolved tremendously. The way we started the community relations is really through invitations to the Kiwanis clubs or to rotary clubs or anything that they asked us to come, me and individually at the beginning, and then you know collectively as a leadership team. Um and we still do that. You know, you guys ask us questions. What is it now that you want to know about our business now that we've had two full harvests? You know, I think that long term we're off to a good start. There's there's always work to be done, um, but we are readily available uh and always on site.

Maxwell Schaeffer 6:53

So if a farmer's listening now and they really don't think about where their beans go, what's the one thing you want to want them to take away from this conversation?

Erik Lightner 7:02

I would say always look at the where the processor is in relationship to where the farm is. What options exist there? You know, the basis value of the beans, we we pay more for the beans, right? Because there's there's we process them into the products where from the cooperatives they aggregate them, they store them, and then they sell them at a later date, many times to processors like us. Um, the story at the beginning was was our receiving capacity and the and the experience of of the farmer, producer, and hauler that are on the site to get them in and out. You know, there's many long lines at at dump pits, um, the infrastructure that was designed and installed here. You know, we can unload 550, 600 trucks in in a day.

Maxwell Schaeffer 7:47

Really? Wow!

Erik Lightner 7:48

So that I think is is a big driver for why they would want to do business with us. We're focusing on the details, and we're what we always say we're working in the business to make the business better.

Maxwell Schaeffer 8:00

That was Eric Lightner of Platinum Crush, a facility that's already processing more than 40 million bushels of Iowa soybeans annually. And once that soybean meal leaves the plant, a lot of it ends up in front of a laying hen. Our next guest has spent decades on both sides of that equation. As a veterinarian, as a swine and egg producer, and as one of the leading voices in Iowa's egg industry. Craig Rowles is the vice president of strategic projects at Versopa Management Cooperative, one of the largest egg production companies in the country. He's also a past president of the North Central Poultry Association and was there handing out hard-boiled eggs on a stick at the Iowa State Fair last year when they broke the single-day record of 22,000 eggs. I asked Craig to help me understand what happens between the crush plant and the breakfast plate and what that chain means for Iowa soybean farmers. Here's Craig Rowles.

From Beans to Birds to Eggs - Soy's Role in Poultry Diets

Maxwell Schaeffer 9:04

Well, May is egg month, and guess what? Iowa's the number one egg producing state. Hello, raise your hand. Isn't that awesome? And uh, you know, for someone who's spent their career in this industry, what does that mean to you to have Iowa be number one as far as egg production?

Craig Rowles 9:23

Well, I think we're really, really proud of agriculture in the state of Iowa. You know, I grew up as a small kid in a small farm, and uh my early passions uh for agriculture were built into my DNA by my mom and dad growing up on a small farm. I mean, my first chores uh as a young kid was to go out and gather eggs in a wire basket. We had pigs.

Maxwell Schaeffer 9:46

How old were you when you did that?

Craig Rowles 9:48

Six.

Maxwell Schaeffer 9:49

Six years old.

Craig Rowles 9:50

I had my first uh swine herd of my own when I was fourteen. All my life has been dedicated to production agriculture in one way, shape, or form, whether it was as a practicing veterinarian, uh as an owner and manager of a swine operation, and now as an egg operation.

Maxwell Schaeffer 10:06

How did Iowa get to number one as far as egg production? Has it always been number one?

Craig Rowles 10:10

Oh, it's not always been one number one. There was a time back in the 60s where a lot of agriculture or a lot of egg production shifted out to the West Coast because that's where the people were. In time, egg producers came to realize that you know we still had some real competitive advantages here. It is much cheaper to grow the grain here. It is much less expensive from a transportation perspective to transport a finished good like a finished egg product, as opposed to transporting feed. And so over time, e producers banded together, and uh our operation is a really good example of that of a number of different families that that joined together and and joined their resources from a capital perspective. We joined our resources from a management perspective and built uh systems that could compete uh very, very effectively, and you know, and we've grown to 40 million layers. And so I in in across the country. But the state of Iowa, because it's the advantages of the natural resources that we have here for corn and soy production, uh being able to do that, you know, very competitively gives us a real advantage in the State of Iowa.

Maxwell Schaeffer 11:25

So what does that mean then for Iowa farmers and communities? Because you had to convince farmers to maybe change their operations a little bit, uh, you know, uh and maybe change what they're growing to serve that operation.

Craig Rowles 11:39

Sure. Well I think agriculture in general has been in a constant state of change for the last hundred years, right? We've we've always we're always looking to squeeze that last ounce of production out of what we do.

Maxwell Schaeffer 11:52

Yeah. From six years old going out and collecting eggs in a wire basket to your first swine herd at 14. Tell me about that progression. When did you know you wanted to be in agriculture your whole life? And then how did you get to veterinary science?

Craig Rowles 12:09

Sure. So, it went hand in hand. Um I have to admit that walking beans was quite a stimulation to try to get a further education in my life. Understand. Understand that you know I always looked at crops as a means to an end. My interests were always in livestock, in pigs, in feedlot, in chickens. That's where my passion lied. And I mean, I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was 12, and everything I did after that was was in that goal. Um and I went to Iowa State, you know, achieved that goal, uh, came back and uh graduated from Fed School in in 82, you know, and really cut my teeth in what I call the last bastion of the James Harriet era of practice.

Maxwell Schaeffer 13:00

I love that. Well I want to talk about soybeans and chickens, because I was shocked at this number, the the amount of soybean meal that's required to feed our laying hands, you know, and our chickens in the state and all across the country. And those numbers are astounding.

Craig Rowles 13:19

Yeah, it's it's really interesting. Uh an average chicken, right, on an annual basis will consume a bushel of corn and 18 pounds of soybean meal. That doesn't sound like much at first blush, right? But then take it times 320 million and and suddenly, you know, it's a bigger number.

Maxwell Schaeffer 13:38

Well, and and then you translate that to the number of acres of soybeans needed.

Craig Rowles 13:43

Right. So our company has 40 million layers across the United States, and our sustainability report just said that we consumed 200,000 acres of corn and 300,000 acres of soybean meal last year. Wow. Yeah. It's listen, as a little five-year-old, six-year-old kid putting eggs in a wire basket to this was is still enlightening to me.

Maxwell Schaeffer 14:08

You know, uh I think as somebody who has farming in my family but didn't grow up on a farm and never farmed, these statistics always stun me. And I think for the layman, the person that's trying to understand where they see headlines in the news about soybean prices, you know, how it can move just pennies, when that soybean meal price moves, how does that directly affect the chain?

Craig Rowles 14:33

Well, it affects the chain all the way up and down. You know, a small move in in soybean meal costs obviously raises our cost of production. But I mean, soybean meal is such an important ingredient in what we use. It's really basic for what we're trying to accomplish that we can convert soybean meal into a protein for human consumption. I mean, there's something really noble uh in the task of driving that change, right? What I've always said was well, it's just an im a a means to an end, right? But it's more than that. We're actually feeding people. And that whether you're small or big, that passion, that focus, that responsibility, that privilege is still there.

Maxwell Schaeffer 15:18

You know, I always think uh that eggs, in spite of the price rises and it's still such a staple, a protein for people, and we almost take it for granted. Um and and it surprises me too to learn that, you know, pretty much every person in the United States, that there's probably one laying hen per person. You know, hundreds of millions of laying hens, and we rely on a dozen eggs every week or two dozen eggs every week. And how soy fits into that is fascinating. I know um that you work at the Iowa State Fair, you work with the Iowa Council, and especially one of the biggest things is the free egg on a stick.

Craig Rowles 15:57

Oh, yeah.

Maxwell Schaeffer 15:57

And people go and line up to get to be the first people in the fair on the first day just to get that egg. That's the first thing they do.

Craig Rowles 16:05

It's incredible. I mean, we gave out last year 180,000 eggs on a stick, and the record day was 22,000 on one day, and I worked that day. And I got to tell you, guys, that is a load it it's a load of work to get done.

Maxwell Schaeffer 16:26

I just want to know how you get the shell off. I mean, that's a lot of work just to get the shell off. Is there a secret?

Craig Rowles 16:31

You know, we provide the eggs. There are companies that then hard-boil the eggs, hard cook the eggs, and there's machines that actually remove that shell and they come in big bags that we we physically have to put them on the popsicle. So that's what I got really good at was putting on the stick.

Maxwell Schaeffer 16:48

Well, you can mess that up, you know.

Craig Rowles 16:50

Oh, absolutely. But you know, think of that's the that's the only free food that you can get at the Iowa State Fair. Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. Right. Trevor Burrus And it's food that's packed with nutrition. I mean, it's it's a it's absolutely the right thing for us to do. And I'm we're just grateful that we have the opportunity to do that for the State Fair.

Maxwell Schaeffer 17:07

So uh apart from stabbing eggs with sticks for people at the State Fair, you know, what's your what is your favorite thing about working with the Iowa Egg Council and your role with the Iowa Egg Council?

Craig Rowles 17:19

Sure. So um I have to admit that my role is more in the policy arena. Okay. And so um and you have to remember that the the Iowa Egg Council is the is the checkoff funded. So its role is in marketing and promotions. I've been more on the policy side, the regulatory side, and working with that side of the of the equation, which is the now called North Central Poultry Association. And we work to work with state and regional governments to to make sure that our political work is taken care of and to work with regulators to make sure that we're all doing the right thing day in and day out.

Maxwell Schaeffer 18:05

Wow. Look, and I think that's important to let people know that. I appreciate that. I would say terminology that people are really into, the consumer when they go out and purchase eggs is cage-free. Cage-free. What does that mean exactly?

Craig Rowles 18:20

I'm curious. Explain that. Right. So over the last 10 years, you know, one of the major changes that has come into our industry is the transition from cage to cage-free production. You know, some of it was driven by state-related mandates like the State of California. Uh some of them were market driven by retailers, for instance, that made commitments that they said, we're gonna we're gonna switch to cage-free. It has been a learning experience. That's been one of the focuses that I've been on for the last 10 years, is to try to figure out how to do cage-free in scale. By definition, cage-free means that they're literally not in a cage. They're still in a building. All right. They're still protected from the outside elements, but they can run around in a in a space that's, you know, 150 feet long by 80 feet wide. And in these systems, we have what are called aviary systems. So there might be three different levels that the birds can hop up and travel and move about around on.

Maxwell Schaeffer 19:20

Just like a chicken coop.

Craig Rowles 19:23

It is. The second level oftentimes has a chicken nest box in it. Okay. That will be feed at different levels, and then usually up the upper level are just like bars where the birds can go and perch because their natural inclination at night is to go up and get away from predators, right? So they literally go up. Uh and so all of these systems were designed with kind of the bird's natural behaviors in mind. And it's really been a fascinating journey to develop systems that, you know, we're taking the best engineers, the best ventilation, and the best lighting and the best equipment, and to make it work in scale so that we can still provide it in a way that is cost effective for everybody. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Maxwell Schaeffer 20:07

That's fascinating to me. I I think that's really great. Well, and of course, they're eating that delicious soybean meal, which is what you want them to do, right? Um, what is one thing uh that you want soybean farmers who are listening to this right now to basically take away when it comes to the relationship between their crop and the egg that I'm going to eat for breakfast tomorrow morning?

Craig Rowles 20:32

Well, sure. It's a I mean first of all, it is like a fundamental ingredient for us. I mean, we need energy in the corn, we need protein in the soy to produce the product that we want to produce. That's fundamental. But don't forget that we're also doing a whole b bunch of recycling along the way because there is a byproduct. There is chicken litter that comes out. I mean, I talked about the 200,000 acres of corn and 300,000 acres of soy. We'll produce 360,000 tons of litter a year. That is a good, great product.

Maxwell Schaeffer 21:10

And that's from the holes of the soybean, right?

Craig Rowles 21:12

No, that's from the poop of the chicken.

Maxwell Schaeffer 21:14

Oh. Oh my gosh, I didn't think of that part of it.

Craig Rowles 21:18

Right! And so what do we do with that? So it goes into a variety of different uses. The primary use is to go back to a farm field and provide fertilizer for next year's corn crop.

Maxwell Schaeffer 21:30

And that's a big deal right now, as people are talking about nitrogen problems and not getting having enough fertilizer.

Craig Rowles 21:37

Absolutely. Chicken litter is one of the best organic natural fertilizers that you can use to start next year's corn crop. So, I mean, if you think about it, we are the ultimate recyclers. You know, we are taking the soybeans and feeding that to the bird to create a protein, and then we're taking that same nutrient, that same recycling. Recycled litter and turning it into the next crop of soybeans to come back to the chicken.

Maxwell Schaeffer 22:06

That's uh that's fantastic. So you spent most of your career in Western Iowa. And what keeps you rooted here? I I mean, with all your experience going to Washington to navigate all the policy and leading uh an industry, being a veterinarian, why stay here? Why stick around? I'm sure people try to lure you away.

Craig Rowles 22:32

Well, first of all, uh I am still an Iowa farm boy at heart. And we've raised our family here, and now we have the next generation coming here. Five of our six grandchildren are here, and that's going to keep us here. The passion for agriculture continues to burn. While I'm approaching, you know, retirement or w whatever the next phase is for me, uh my interest, my focus on agriculture will not change. I just think that what we do in providing food for people is a noble profession.

Maxwell Schaeffer 23:12

How do you feel about the new crop of soybean producers and the young people coming up you know from 4-H and FFA and uh what do you think about it?

Craig Rowles 23:22

I am so grateful that we have another generation that wants to come. Right? It's hard to get into agriculture. It's hard to get into farming. People don't grow up on egg farms, right? And so we're trying to develop scholarship programs and mentorship programs and and opportunities for internships so that we can develop the next generation of egg farmers. And likewise, you know, people that are rooted in in soy and rooted in corn, you know, those that generation, it's hard to bring young people in. And I think we have to continue to look for ways to uh search out that next generation and be a mentor for that next generation so that they can have an opportunity as well.

Maxwell Schaeffer 24:15

That was Craig Rowles of Versova, a guy who spent his career thinking about what goes into a laying hen so the rest of us don't have to. We've covered a lot of ground today. Now we get to the part of the chain that most of us actually see - Breakfast. The Waveland Cafe has been a Des Moines institution for more than 40 years. Owner David Stone, better known as Stoney, has been behind it for more than 30 of those. He told us they serve 300 dozen eggs each week, with every single one cracked by hand. Don't get him started on that powdered egg stuff. Plus, we learned a little known secret about his best in the galaxy hash browns. Here's Stoney of the Waveland Cafe.

The Best Eggs and Hashbrowns in the Galaxy

Maxwell Schaeffer 25:04 Maxwell Schaeffer 25:04

You know, I hadn't really thought about when you took over the place. That was 1990. So, you know, this you've been here, you've owned it for more than 30 years. It's been here for more than 40 years.

David "Stoney" Stone 25:16

Correct.

Maxwell Schaeffer 25:16

How would you describe Waveland Cafe to somebody that has never been here, maybe has heard of it, but doesn't know?

David "Stoney" Stone 25:24

It has a great hometown atmosphere in a big city. It's kind of like the cheers of a bar. I'm blessed, I can't get rid of my help, so they stick around forever. So they know everybody that walks in the door. They usually can tell you, you know, they'll ask them how their kids are. They'll make recommendations of food items that they should eat. And some people they'll see them drive up and they've already got their food order in the window uh for the cooks to get it going, and coffee sitting out for them because it and it's always busy. So people go where other people go, and that's what this place has become.

Maxwell Schaeffer 26:04

There aren't many places where people stand in line on a Saturday morning to go in and have there's been times when they're standing down all the way down to the corner to wait and get in here. And the turnover, the turnover's quick though. I mean, you can get in and out and have a great breakfast.

David "Stoney" Stone 26:22

Well, this store, you know, people in Des Moines are in a hurry. So we don't have TVs in here. There's one in the kitchen for the cooks. Uh the music is in the kitchen for the cooks, and we don't have alcohol here. So people just eat and go.

Maxwell Schaeffer 26:39

Absolutely. The one thing you do have, Stoney, is eggs. Lots and lots of eggs. I you know, we feel like eggs are kind of your engine.

David "Stoney" Stone 26:48

They are. That that and hash browns, but certainly eggs.

Maxwell Schaeffer 26:51

Oh, I want to talk about the hash browns, that's for sure. How many eggs do you go through here?

David "Stoney" Stone 26:55

Well, in a week, we go through 300 dozen.

Maxwell Schaeffer 26:58

300 dozen?

David "Stoney" Stone 26:59

Yes.

Maxwell Schaeffer 27:00

Okay. Now, where do they come from? Where do you source those?

David "Stoney" Stone 27:02

Well, I get those from my food distributor.

Maxwell Schaeffer 27:05

Okay.

David "Stoney" Stone 27:05

Uh, we tried using brown eggs, but the shell is so brittle, uh, and we pan cook all of our eggs in our omelets instead of using the flat. And half of those you'd have shells, and so you'd have to toss the eggs and start over with different eggs. So we never got much momentum going forward on the farm fresh eggs.

Maxwell Schaeffer 27:27

300 dozen eggs a week. Yeah. When the market gets tight or when eggs are hard to get for various reasons, and that has happened in the recent past. How did you deal with that? Where did you source them? How did you get them? How did you work that out?

David "Stoney" Stone 27:42

Well, we just paid up, we paid a lot of money for them.

Maxwell Schaeffer 27:46

Right.

David "Stoney" Stone 27:46

You know, it got up to $140 a case of 15 dozen when normally they'd have been in the 20s to 30s. And then the other thing that we did, and we'd never done this, most of the restaurants in breakfast buy what they call as egg wash. And it comes in a bag and it's ready to use. Uh, we don't do that. We crack all of our eggs and we make our own egg wash.

Maxwell Schaeffer 28:11

What's the uh just give us the the trade craft here? What's the secret to the perfect over medium egg?

David "Stoney" Stone 28:20

A perfect over medium egg, the whites are cooked all the way through, and over easy, you can have runny whites around the yolk. So it's just a matter, as far as time-wise, it might be another five seconds in the pan because eggs cook very quick. And we, because we don't put them all on a flat, we have to pan cook them all. Um, so it's a it's a process.

Maxwell Schaeffer 28:49

Your uh your hash browns have been called, " the best in the galaxy". So uh what's the secret to great hash browns?

David "Stoney" Stone 28:58

Um we go through 600 pounds of hash browns a week.

Maxwell Schaeffer 29:02

600 pounds of hash browns. 600 pounds.

David "Stoney" Stone 29:05

So we're close to two tons, a little over two tons a month. You have to well, we use three, a blend of three different oils. You have to have your flat extremely hot. So when I replaced equipment, I bought a flat that had an inch and an eighth plate instead of a half inch, because otherwise it would cool down and we wouldn't be able to keep up. So you put a little oil down on the grill on your flat, and then you put your hash browns down on it. And when they start just browning on the outside, you put a little more oil on the top and you flip it over and then cook the other side.

Maxwell Schaeffer 29:39

I feel like I'm walking away with really important knowledge here. I love this.

David "Stoney" Stone 29:45

I didn't tell you the three oils.

Maxwell Schaeffer 29:46

Can you say - is one of them soy.

David "Stoney" Stone 29:49

One is soy.

Maxwell Schaeffer 29:51

Oh, little wonderful secret there. One is soy. I noticed how he stopped it. One is soy.

David "Stoney" Stone 29:59

The best hash browns in the world are at the Waveland Cafe.

Maxwell Schaeffer 30:02

Have you ever run out of something?

David "Stoney" Stone 30:04

No.

Maxwell Schaeffer 30:05

Wow, so good on good on you.

David "Stoney" Stone 30:06

Oh no.

Maxwell Schaeffer 30:07

I you got the system down.

David "Stoney" Stone 30:09

Well, I should have after all this time.

Maxwell Schaeffer 30:14

That was Stony of the Waveland Cafe, and I'm still craving hash browns. Today we followed a soybean from a processing plant in Northwest Iowa through the feed ration of a laying hen all the way to a griddle on University Avenue in Des Moines. Three stops. Three people who built careers around a chain that most of us never see. But that chain matters. Every egg cracked at a breakfast counter, every carton pulled off a grocery shelf, it starts with a crop. And in Iowa, that crop is soy. Before we go, here's your fun soy fact for the episode. 97% of all U.S. soybean meal produced annually is consumed by animal agriculture and the single largest consumer? Poultry, accounting for 62% of all soybean meal used by livestock. Thank you for listening to the bean scene. Proudly brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and the Soybean Checkoff. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And follow the Iowa Soybean Association on Facebook, LinkedIn, X or YouTube.

Maxwell Schaeffer 31:26

We'll catch you next time - where Iowa Soy Meets Life. Until then, keep growing.