We are finalizing a very successful campaign that has been funded by the soy checkoff to research and develop a new soy coating to replace the PVOH used in seed treatments. With the culmination of this funding campaign we have a product that is a wettable powder that can be used for the seed treatment and also for a foliar delivery vehicle. Low Mu Tech has been able to develop for sale a product that can perform better than the “industry standard” as a seed treatment for maintaining the chemistry on the seed. Our COTE product has shown, through lab testing at SGS Labs in Brookings, SD, that we can reduce the environmental impact of the off target movement of seed treatment chemicals and we can provide positive plant response with the included amino acids. The funding from the USB to test and develop a brand new product has been challenging and exciting over the last 3 years. We have had a few failures, but they have led us to the development of the retail ready product that Low Mu Tech has available called COTE. We would not have been able to achieve this success without the cooperation of many of the USB and the farmer members of the organization that continue to challenge us everyday to be better than what is currently available. Low Mu Tech has grown from this partnership and you have not heard the last from us as we continue to research and develop new uses of the mighty soybean.

Project Number: Smith Bucklin ID # 2431-101-0201/ USB ID# 24-101-D-A-2-A Project Title: Hydrated Soy Protein as a Seed Coating Adhesive Organization: Low Mu Tech Project Lead Name: Brian Tulley BENEFITS TO U.S. SOYBEAN FARMERS The funding from the USB to test and develop a brand new product has been challenging and exciting over the last 3 years. We have had a few failures, but they have led us to the development of the retail ready product that Low Mu Tech has available called COTE. We would not have been able to achieve this success without the cooperation of many of the USB and the farmer members of the organization that continue to challenge us everyday to be better than what is currently available. Low Mu Tech has developed a new product, COTE, from this multi-year funding agreement with the U.S. Soybean Farmers. This product is being developed for the seed treatment market and will continue to need research for the long term shelf stability of the products required by the seed companies for seed viability. During this research period the farmers will be using the product as an addition to their foliar treatment programs that delivers better in plant movement of the products applied to the target crops. The USB funding allowed Low Mu Tech to develop this product for the industry that no other company had been able to successfully manufacture utilizing soy protein isolate to make a wettable powder. This product opens the market for farmers, to utilize a product they grow, to replace petroleum based materials to deliver plant enriching products with no negative impacts on plant development. The plants have shown the ability to imbibe the included spray component with less stress on the plant due to the amino acids that are components of the COTE material. Every time Low Mu Tech has been developing new products for the row crop markets we have found more exciting synergies between the soy protein and other key components such as biologicals, biotechs, micronutrients, micro algae, and other plant responsive materials. This product has shown us that we can deliver beneficial materials as well as enhance the efficacy of the pesticides and fungicides that are currently being used by farmers for crop protection and development. This spring revealed to us more things about COTE than we knew going into the grant, which is why we do research. Farmers continue to benefit from development of products that can reduce their exposure to known carcinogens when it is economically feasible and a viable replacement. One of the largest hurdles for a new soybean based product is the stigma of “We’ve never done it that way!” and the marketing of USB can assist with that perception. With the recent win of soy-based fire fighting foam I think that we can now have farmers ear to listen about how truly innovative our products have become. Farmers will be challenged to maintain the business return needed for operation for the foreseeable future due to the increased cost of inputs, cash rents, and depressed commodity prices. The development of products from farmer grown crops will continue to increase markets for the crops to enhance the markets the commodities can be sold to. Low Mu Tech maintains the vision of new products built around soybeans to innovate more crop yield while increasing demand for the source crop. We will continue the development that grants from USB have allowed us to start researching. Farmer comments and feedback will continue to assist us in product development and direction.