THE SOYBEAN AND ITS HISTORY

The soybean is a remarkable plant. It is botanically as a legume, but because its major production and marketing processes are the same, it is presently described as an oilseed. it is a bushy, green plant that is related to clover, peas and alfalfa.

Large advances in early soybean production came in the 1930s as a result of a trade embargo with china that cut off imported supplies. At this time the us imported nearly 40 percent of its edible fats and oils from china. The farm policies during that time included acreage restrictions in cotton corn, and wheat to curb over supply as well as stimulate soybean plantings. The production of less cotton reduced the supply of cottonseed oil, once the preferred domestic edible oil, and soybean oil became a logical substitute. The wartime shortages of edible oil restricted trade led to a rapid expansion of the us soybean crop.

Expansion continued at a rapid rate through the early 1970’s and was bolstered by several exogenous shocks in the from of a massive failure in fishmeal production and increased demand from the then soviet union. Production increased at a rapid pace. US soybean production stagnated in the 1980s as declining acreage was offset by higher average yields. The decline in acreage came primarily in southern areas as low yielding soybeans could not compete with other progarm crops with relatively high target prices or with the conservation reserve program ( CRP ).

The stagnation in us soybean production during the was also associated with increased competition from soybean production of other oils, like polm and canola ; and with a slow down in the rate of growth in protein feed demand in the us and europe.

US Soybean acres

planted 192601996

millions

1926... 2.1	1990... 57.8
1936... 7.2	1991... 59.2
1946... 12.4	1992... 59.2
1956... 22.0	1993... 60.1
1966... 37.3	1994... 61.7
1976... 50.3	1995... 62.6
1986... 60.4	1997... 64.3

Soybean production and value

The soybean is the world’s premier of protein meal and vegetable oil. Although it varies from year to year, in general, Iowa and Illinois are the two producing states followed by Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Arkansas, the import growing areas are more concentrated than those of other crops and roughly concide with the central and southern sections of the corn belt, although there are significant delta and southeast soybean producing areas. Soybeans, unprocessed, have little economic value except as fodder from animals, or in some special cases, as edible beans. for most soybeans, the real value comes from their processed products : Soybean meal and soybean oil. Each bushel of soybeans, 60 pounds, yields about 48 pounds of soybean meal and 11 pounds of oil. these yields vary from season depending on the growing conditions, but remain close to that breakdown. The last pound is down between watwer, screening, loss, and other minimal of processing soybeans.