Elevating the Cinderella of grains to princess status

In an ocean of pricey super-foods, soya stands out as being so cheap that its value is often downplayed. Used predominantly for animal feed, soya beans for human consumption faces a significant marketing problem, one which the Cloete family in Mpumalanga are tackling at every opportunity to elevate this humble bean to its deserved spot on our plates. 

- Lindi Botha

Soya mince, hamburger patties and sausages – this is where it all went wrong for soya beans for human consumption in the 1960s. Since then, mention of the ingredient on product labels has quickly seen hands withdrawn from products on supermarket shelves and in fridges as memories of this meat replacement have set an unsavoury precedent.

The negative perception of soya beans is the biggest hurdle the Cloete family of Oja Farms have faced in gaining market traction with their novel soya bean-based products.

Since 2017, Oja Farms has produced a range of products including dry beans, snack bars and beans covered in various coatings like chocolate and yoghurt.

Brothers Martin and Jannie are the fourth generation on the farm, which has seen its land split up over the years between family members. When Jannie returned to the farm after his father’s death in 2017, he realised that he would need to do more than just farm to make the 300-ha property profitable. He saw an opportunity in soya beans to turn it into a product that would be more widely adopted into human diets.

FAST FACTS

• Oja Farms process their soya beans into snack bars and dry beans. 
• Market uptake has been slow due to the negative view of soya beans.
• The Cloetes want soya beans to be marketed in the bean category and not as a meat replacement.

“Meat has 43% protein and contains all nine amino acids that make it a complete protein. There are only two plants that can match that: quinoa and soya beans.