Mayor’s Column February 28, 2026
Rohn Bishop, Mayor of Waupun
Hello Waupun,
What’s that roasting smell??
Late last year, United Cooperative’s Soy Processing facility was given occupancy as outlined in our Developer’s Agreement. The facility is now operating in production mode. The processing plant extracts oil and converts the remainder to a product named Exceller Pro, which is a feed additive given to high producing dairy cows. The plant is currently running 4 days per week. When at capacity, the plant will process around 22K bushels of soybeans per day (7.5M bushels annually) and will operate seven days per week. That amount is roughly 50% of the soybeans that United Coop handles in a given year. The following video provides an overview of the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AckCsIY4F4o
You may have noticed a slight roasting smell at times in the air. There are two things happening at the plant right now that may cause this. One, United has been redrying some corn to get it to proper moisture levels. Second, the soy roasting process naturally produces a slight roasted smell. Many days you will not notice this, but on days where the wind and/or barometric pressure are just right, you may notice it more. Just want you to be aware of contributing factors that may result in that change.
United reports that they have slightly more than half of the people hired for the soy processing operation and will begin their next round of hiring to fill open positions shortly. They also report working with the local schools and have had a very positive reception in the community.
In other news, I was out in Washington D.C. this week along with Steve Brooks from Waupun Utilities. We had meetings with Representative Grothman, Senator Baldwin, and Senator Johnson. It was a great experience and a good opportunity to lobby for Waupun and Waupun Utilities.
Thank you and God Bless,
Mayor Rohn
