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The Great Frederick Fair showcases soy-based dust suppressant
You can never count on September weather. Along with a chance of fair and sunny skies, you’ve got the ever-present threat of cold temperatures, rainy drizzle or even hurricanes. If you’re planning an event, such as the Great Frederick Fair, during that timeframe, September weather could mean the difference between a dust bowl and a mud bog.
To hedge their bets, the folks at the Great Frederick Fair, which runs Sept. 18 to 26, 2009, applied a soy-based dust suppressant to select roads and parking areas. While the product is meant to eliminate dust thrown up by car tires on dirt roads, it also prevents muddy bogs by stabilizing the dirt surfaces.
DustKill, a soy-based product applied by DustKill East of Paradise, Pa., provides a safe, biodegradable alternative to chemical and petroleum dust suppressants. The product penetrates dirt road surfaces down to an inch deep, binding loose gravel to dust and “fines” and creating a compacted surface similar in texture to asphalt, with no tracking of the oil. Because soybean oil is not water soluble, like some traditional dust suppressants, it lasts longer and doesn’t run off into ground water. A full-rate DustKill application lasts about a year and effectively holds down dust, improving air quality and reducing sediment and erosion from roads into streams and waterways.
Maryland soybean farmers sponsored the DustKill treatment as a way to showcase commercial products made from soybeans. Through the soybean checkoff, soybean farmers contribute one-half of one percent of the net market value of their soybeans for research, marketing and education projects. The Maryland Soybean Board is directed by farmer volunteers from throughout the state.