Palindromes to call Pemiscot County home

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. — Missouri Soybean Association members in District 7 attended a social hour and field tour with Palindromes Inc., along with Missouri’s soybean organizations Thursday afternoon.

Palindromes Inc. offered field tours of the site selected for a new soybean processing plant in Caruthersville.

The plant will serve as a grain aggregator and will provide processing for specialty soy, including non-GMO high oleic varieties developed through soybean checkoff-supported research. A field tour of specialty soybean will also be part of the event.

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From 1p.m.- 2pm, a social hour was held with Kettle Corn prepared in the High Oleic Soybean Oil collected from farmland harvested by Justin Rone.

From 2 p.m. through 4 p.m. guests heard from those involved with naming Pemiscot County home to Palindromes Inc.

The event included hearing from representatives with Palindromes’ executive team, the Pemiscot County Port Authority, and Missouri’s soybean organizations - the Missouri Soybean Association and Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, including executive board member Aaron Porter of Dexter, as well as soybean breeders, farmers, and community leaders.

Those in attendance heard from Karla Klingner, Palindromes Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Pengyin Chen, new soybean breeder with the University, Aaron Porter, with the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, John Ferguson, with the Port Authority in Pemiscot County, as well as, Dennis Prewitt, with the Missouri Partnership, State Rep. Don Rone and Representative Jason Smith.

Mr. Ferguson, with the Pemiscot County Port Authority, welcomed everyone to the event, while announcing the Port Authority was blessed to be welcoming Palindromes.

“After speaking with Karla, I knew we would be able to offer them everything they were going to need,” Ferguson said. “From having the prime farmland here, to being able to offer access by river, rail and roadway, we knew we would be a great choice for them,” he added.

At that time, Ferguson turned the microphone over to Mr. Prewitt.

“This is an outstanding project for the entire state of Missouri,” said Prewitt. “We are not standing on thorny ground or rocky ground here today, we are standing on some of the richest soil in the country. We hope the seeds you plant today will enrich the lives of consumers in the future.”

Next to speak was Mr. Porter, who advised he was in charge of managing the check-off.

Every U.S. soybean producer participates in the checkoff contributing at a rate of 0.5 percent of the market price per bushel, when the crop is first sold. Half of all checkoff dollars collected in Missouri remain in Missouri and are controlled by the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council. The other half is forwarded to the United Soybean Board (USB) where it is combined with funds from across the nation.

At that time, Klingner was introduced. Klingner, Palindromes CEO, thanked everyone for their support in this endeavor.

“I am blown away with the turnout here today,” she said. “I must thank Trent Haggard for making this all possible.”

Klingner spoke briefly about what or who Palindromes Inc. is.

“This project involves grain aggregation,” she said. “What we will do is gather grains from all of the agriculture production states and we take the soybeans and crush them. We gather the oil from the seeds for producing a nonGMO trait for healthy oils that are high in protein.”

Klingner also said she couldn’t be happier with the new location for Palindromes Inc.

“We have river, rail and road access so we can move our product effectively,” she said. “We are super excited about the location and we know we are surrounded and supported by some really great people, which you see here today.”

Next to speak was Dr. Chen. “I would like to thank Mr. Grover Shannon,” Chen said.

Shannon, now retired, was the first breeder to deal with this first line.

“Because of what Dr. Shannon started, we are now seeing farmers have a more productive yield,” Chen added.

Also to speak was Representative Don Rone.

Rone mentioned how the area has some of the greatest farmland available. “With the help from Representative Andrew McDaniel and myself, instead of the $3-million which was earmarked for ports, we are now looking at $10-$11-million to earmarked for ports next year,” Rone said. “We are poised for the next generation to take off.”

Rone said it’s important to continue looking for new ways to market grains.

At that time, Representative Jason Smith addressed the crowd.

Smith spoke about the importance of agriculture and how he is happy to see more infrastructure being added to the Missouri Bootheel.

Palindromes Inc. is known for its agriculture inputs, trade and logistics, premium proteins, specialty meats, port infrastructure, value-add processing and its farm services.

Klingner advised the final stages are being discussed and at that time the infrastructure will be going up at the Pemiscot County Port Authority.