Bill aims to make firefighting foam made from soybeans cheaper for statewide fire departments

MADISON, Wis. — Researchers in Wisconsin have developed a way to make Wisconsin-grown soybeans into a firefighting foam, and they want to make grants available to see if even soy can prevent wildfires.

“We know it works, and then two, we eat it right? And we feed it to our livestock,” Dave Garlie said. “So how harmful could it possibly be?”

Garlie developed SoyFoam at Cross Plains Solutions, where he’s chief technical officer.

He’s now joining farmers and firefighters in pushing for Senate Bill 474 — allowing it to qualify for Department of Natural Resources grants for up to 50 percent of the cost of acquiring supplies, equipment and training related to suppressing forest fires.

Because right now SoyFoam can be too expensive.

“The fire departments will, cannot right now fiscally use,