BENTON -- It'll be a while before the final word is in on the benefits of a new soybean oil dust suppressant being tested on Scott County gravel roads.

The result will rest with the long-term durability of the oil, but Thomas M. Verry, director of field services with the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council headquartered in Jefferson City is optimistic the product will make the grade.

"Road officials are testing this same type of product in Minnesota," said Verry. "But no test results are immediately available there."

When Verry heard of the Minnesota tests he called the Valley Co. in Memphis, Tenn., which utilizes the soybean soap oil, a byproduct of the refining process of soybean oil.

"We purchase the soybean soap stock from refineries after they finish taking out all the edible oils," said Tom Dixon, industrial products sales manager with Valley. "We make soap...powdered hand soap"

The new dust suppressant product, said Dixon, "is new for us."

Dixon, Verry, Scott County officials, superintendent of the Scott County Highway Department Terry Herndon, Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Larry Bock and other Cape County Highway Department officials were on hand when the new product was sprayed on some area gravel roads Friday morning.

"Scott County was been selected as the first test site in Southeast Missouri for the new dust control agent," said Herndon.

"We're hoping it will work," said Herndon. "The product holds a big cost advantage over other dust products. It's biodegradable, locally grown, and is a renewable resource."

Herndon said he would be doing some evaluations of his own.

"We're talking some big differences when it comes to costs in the soybean oil and other dust oils," said Verry. "We can shoot gravel roads for about 30 to 35 cents a foot, compared to costs of other oils at 75 cents a foot.

"If this works, and we think it will, it will provide a new product for soybeans," said Verry. "And Southeast Missouri is a big soybean producing area."

More than 30 million bushels of soybeans are produced in the southeast area of the state each year.

"That includes two big adjoining counties here," said Verry. He was speaking in reference to Mississippi County, ranked third in soybean production in the state, and Stoddard County, ranked fourth in the state.

Mississippi County plants more than 150,000 acres of soybeans and Stoddard County plants more than 160,000 acres a year. Each county produces more than 5 million bushels of soybeans a year.

Scott County ranks 12th in the state, with 94,000 acres producing about three million bushels a year.