A modest building on Route 45 in Peotone has a little known, but major, role in the production of a popular specialty food.
The Scoular facility at Andres processes soybeans by testing them to ensure they are non-GMO, or organic, to meet the needs of its customers, including House Foods, one of Scoular’s customers.
The beans are measured for moisture content and sifted to remove any pieces of stalks or leaves and the occasional little stone. The beans are washed, dried, and sorted for size and color.
The soybeans will later become tofu, a key ingredient in the plant-based food evolution.
Scoular general manager Eric Kresin and his staff offered a tour of the facility earlier this month to House Foods, and three northern Illinois farmers who grow the specialty beans.
Takayuki “Tyson” Doue, president and CEO of House Foods Holding USA, said the visit was triggered by a 2024 meeting at the Scoular facility.
“During the talks, one of the things mentioned was that the farmers don’t know what their soybeans are turned into, they didn’t know what they became, so when I heard that from Scoular, that’s when I came up with this idea. With that comment, I also thought that I myself have never spoken to farmers, so that’s when I thought it would be good to have this kind of interaction,” Doue said through an interpreter.
“The approach we take at House Foods is that of the value chain concept. We call it the soybean value chain. Farmers and Scoular are upstream of that value chain, House Foods is mainstream, and consumers are at the end of the stream. We always are looking to add value upstream and how we can interact with and work more closely with the different parts of the stream. That’s why communication and direct contact with the farmers are also a big part of the business approach we take.
“Obviously, we have a purchasing department and people in charge of dealing with communicating with folks on the upstream, like Scoular and the farmers. However, as president, I wanted to deepen my understanding and communication with those upstream folks, too.”
Doue noted part of the visit was about emphasizing food quality and integrity.
“The integrity of the food and the integrity of the product from start to finish are so important to House Foods, and a visit like this is definitely the way we maintain the integrity throughout the process,” he said.
“Our company is in the midstream of the value chain, and there’s only so much you can do by protecting just the midstream, so that’s why we put emphasis on maintaining that quality from the upstream and also getting feedback from the downstream – from consumers – to take their feedback and apply it to our future processes.”
Doue said the plant tour and his conversations with Scoular leadership was also an opportunity to work together to identify and come up with solutions to any problems.
“Communicating with Scoular is definitely a big part of that. Food loss is a very big issue in the world right now. Obviously, we have some loss in the processing stage of making tofu and, during the facility tour here at Scoular, we also found out they do have a set amount of loss here, as well,” Doue said. “So, I’m hoping by having more communication between the two we can come up with something we can contribute to solving the problem.”
Doue, who lives in Los Angeles, was undeterred by the single-digit temperatures and the recent snow.
“The scenery just makes me think of Christmas. So, even in this cold weather, everybody has something to look forward to,” he said.
Doue said the farmers and Scoular employees, who are upstream of the production process, also fulfilled a downstream role when they ate various tofu dishes prepared on site by several House Foods research and development team chefs. Some of those dishes featured firm tofu, which is often used in stir fry recipes, and others contained silken tofu that has a very soft, creamy consistency like pudding.
Part of the meeting was devoted to having farmers who grow soybeans eat various tofu dishes so they could experience for themselves the end product made by House Foods, which has four tofu-production facilities in the U.S. – one in California, one in New Jersey, and two in Pennsylvania.
Justin Bolander was among the farmers who ate tofu for the first time. Alex Hopkins, who farms near Malta, and his wife, Anna, are frequent tofu eaters.
Ron Bingham was among the first-time tofu consumers on the Scoular team. “I enjoyed it. It was a good experience. It’s something I’ll repeat,” Bingham said.
Doue enjoyed watching the farmers’ reactions to the tofu samples.
“We came thinking we were going to meet folks in the upstream part of the value chain, but it turns out they fell into the downstream part, too, as a consumer and potential buyers. I always hear Americans prefer more texture, whether it be crunchy food or more crispy textures and more bite. So, I was worried about how they would react to the soft texture but, watching people try it today, it seemed like everyone seemed to enjoy it and a lot of them commented, ‘I want my kids or even my grandchild to eat this.’
“Overall, it was a very positive feedback, so it was a very good surprise.”
Eric Kresin said the visit represents the end-to-end supply chain with Illinois farmers growing soybeans and delivering them to Scoular’s Andres facility, Scoular processing those beans for delivery to House Foods, and House Foods making the tofu that ends up in grocery store refrigerator cases across the entire country.
“Consumers and producers think of a soybean that’s going to a crush plant or going to go on a barge that’s going to go down to the Gulf and then get exported to some country in southeast Asia. I don’t think most U.S. consumers think of soybeans as a food they’re going to eat every day. One of the things that’s helped change that a little bit is soy milk, which has different taste characteristics than traditional dairy milk. Now, more consumers are thinking, ‘What else is there from soybeans we could try?’
“The adoption of tofu has been slow, but it’s continuing to grow.”
Kresin noted that “probably 3 or 4 percent of all U.S. production might be non-GMO, and a fraction of that would be organic.”
He also noted the soybeans processed at Scoular are “Illinois beans being processed in America for American consumers. So it is a U.S. process from start to finish.
“So, if there’s a trade war with any country or if China is not buying our soybeans, it doesn’t affect the farmers who are growing these, what we call IP soybeans – non-GMO, identity preserved soybeans. That’s our market here in the United States, so whatever’s happening in world politics doesn’t really affect the farmer that’s growing for Scoular.”
Asked if he’d like to see more area farmers growing non-GMO or organic soybeans or if supply and demand are in balance right now, Kresin replied, “I would love to have more farmers grow organic soybeans here in the U.S. Right now, we import roughly 60 or 70 percent of what’s needed in the U.S., from an organic standpoint, from other countries.”
Kresin noted farmers who grow the specialty soybeans receive a premium for their crop because there’s more work, more testing, and higher standards involved.
“There’s a testing process when it comes into our facility…There are certain parameters the producer has to meet in order to receive the premium. If you’re going to put in the effort to grow the non-GMO soybean or grow the organic soybean, you want to make sure it passes when it gets to whatever plant is going to touch it next. And we want to make sure that passes… because we’re contracting this six or eight months in advance, so if the producer has an issue and it doesn’t meet the spec, then we have to go try to buy it from somebody else. In this type of market, it’s hard to go out and replace it, so we want the farmer to succeed.”
“I think the biggest thing is we’re here to help support our farmers in Will County and surrounding counties. We don’t succeed without the farmer succeeding. A company like House Foods doesn’t succeed without the farmer and Scoular succeeding. So, it’s really important to show appreciation for farmers who are the backbone to what we do here and allow us to operate the business and sell our products.”
Ron Bingham, senior vice president and Grain Division general manager for Scoular’s Overland Park, Kansas, office, said Scoular’s plant in Andres is unique among grain-processing facilities because it processes only non-GMO and organic soybeans.
“Of all the facilities I get to lead for the grain division – there’s 65, maybe a few more facilities – this is the only one like this. It’s amazing. It’s the leadership and safety rating of this team, the quality and cleanliness of the facility,” Bingham said, adding that production of non-GMO and organic soybeans is “a small segment in the grand scheme of all the business, but it’s a growing segment.”
“Scoular plays a big role in supplying House Foods with the uniform, super-clean soybeans that meet the tofu manufacturer’s quality standards
“We so appreciate having that relationship and opportunity,” Bingham said. “We’ve got a tremendous team delivering on that, too.”
Founded in 1892, Scoular has been defining what’s possible in agribusiness supply chains for customers and partners around the world. It has grown to $7.3 billion in sales by providing reliable and diverse supply chain solutions for end users and suppliers of grain, food ingredients, animal feed ingredients, pet food ingredients, and biofuel products with our networks and innovations in international trade and transportation. Its more than 1,250 employees operate from more than 100 offices, grain elevators, and processing facilities worldwide, with a commitment to innovation and integrity in the business of buying, selling, storing, handling, processing, and transporting grain and ingredients.