News-Gazette To Switch To Soy Ink

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) _ The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette announced Monday it will begin printing its newspaper June 1 with ink made from soybean oil.

Editor John Foreman said a ''commitment to the farm economy'' was the main factor in the decision to become the first Illinois newspaper to use soy ink full time.

''It's an acknowledgement that we can use a product that's produced in Champaign County and do something to boost prospects for the east-central Illinois economy,'' Foreman said. ''If we can do that and if enough papers do it, it's going to make a difference.''

The newspaper conducted a trial in March, printing its annual farm edition with soy ink, and decided the new product worked at least as well as conventional newspaper ink.

The most recent estimates indicate soy ink will cost about one-third more than conventional low-rub ink, but as the demand for it increases, the price could decrease.

''It should come down as more people use it,'' said Bill Stodola, pressroom manager at the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette. ''And with the oil situation the way it is abroad, who knows? Someday, soy ink may end up being cheaper than petroleum ink.''

The Cedar Rapids newspaper began using soy ink last year, and Stodola said said the soy oil makes colors brighter and helps prevent the ink from rubbing off on readers' hands.

Bill Tiberend of the Land of Lincoln Soybean Association in Bloomington praised the News-Gazette's decision. He said he would try to persuade other newspapers to do the same.

''You're going to be using the soybeans that would be grown by a farmer on about 200 acres if he had 50-bushel yields,''Tiberend said. ''And if every daily in the state ... (the size of the News-Gazette) changed, it would use up 15,438 acres of beans a year.''

Tiberend said the Land of Lincoln Soybean Association will declare the week of June 26 as Soybean Ink Week in the state in its efforts to get every newspaper to try the new product.

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