Introduction to the Bean Project (Audrey)

    Hi, my name is Audrey Williams. I grew up in Necedah Wisconsin and I am a junior in Applied Math and Computer Science here at UW-Stout. My hobbies include gardening, being outside, and hanging out with my friends. I am currently working with UW Stout Faculty, Keith Wojciechowski and Tyler Skorczewski, and fellow AMCS Student Anna Hansen to do research for Chippewa Valley Bean. The problem we need to solve for CVB is how much water does it take to grow a hundred weight of dark red kidney beans. They are expanding their farmland into parts of Wisconsin where the soil is sandier, making it harder to manage their water resources. We will be using math and computer science to help CVB solve their problem for the next 9 weeks.

        The first step to solving our problem was to go talk with the experts of Kidney Beans, CVB. We went and toured their bean processing plant with the rest of the Lakes REU group and saw the whole process of cleaning the beans and preparing them to be sent out to be used by different companies. We learned that CVB is responsible for providing 40% of the worlds kidney beans and they are the largest kidney bean processor in the world. One way that CVB processes their beans is by giving them a grade and putting them into categories. Beans that didn't have any cosmetic defects were considered full beans. For those that had some small defects, like missing skin or a partially intact bean, CVB chose to branch out into other international markets to find a way to still make sure all of their beans get used. Because these beans are still nutritious and viable, one option for these beans is to be made into bean paste to be used in Asian confectionary cooking.

 Chippewa Valley Bean striving to become more sustainable is also a reason that we are working with them. The bulk of their farms that are in close range of the processing plant in Elk Mound Wisconsin are in Minnesota. The Vice President of CVB, Charles Wachsmuth, explained to us that they track their trucks in diesel fuel miles. This means that if they wanted to expand more into Western Minnesota and the Dakotas, that they would be paying more for fuel and polluting the environment more by doing so. Mr.Wachsmuth also explained that with the supply chain issues going on, it is hard to find truck drivers and train routes to get the product where it needs to go efficiently and in a timely manner. The sandier soils of Wisconsin make growing kidney beans efficiently a challenge, but the added benefit of being closer to the processing facility makes for a large incentive.

Storage building at
Chippewa Valley Bean

Audrey Williams