UW–Madison’s National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) team recently won top prize in the National Agri-Marketing Association Student Marketing Competition. The championship-winning project centered on a soybean variety that produces a natural red dye based on a beet gene. This red dye, called EssentialRED, can replace the FDA-banned red dye 3 and other synthetic dyes.

Team members were Mark Arndt, Faith Baerwolf, Cate Cherney, Jonathan Chittick, Abby Cortichiato, Grace Holt, Lauren Breunig (leader),  Sarah Kippes, Jenna Kudrna, Anna Martin, Brooke Mitchell, Emma Paulson and Brian Styer.

The team, coached by Sarah Botham, teaching faculty in the Department of Life Sciences Communication, described a system in which a Wisconsin seed company offers soybean growers a premium to grow the soybean variety. The soybeans are then processed to extract EssentialRED, which is sold to food and beverage manufacturers looking for alternatives to synthetic red dyes.

This work was based on research from CALS scientists, and the students were able to tour the Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center to learn more about the “red soybean.” The Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board posted video updates about the team on social media platforms throughout the week.