Most people are not aware that soybeans were originally introduced in this country as a forage crop. Use of soybeans as hay declined largely because of the difficulty in drying the forage, and grain production gained the emphasis that soybeans have today.
Soybean forage was comparable to alfalfa in protein and fiber concentration across maturity stages. The soybean (Glycine max) is often called the miracle crop. It is the world’s most foremost provider of protein and oil. The bushy, green soybean plant is a legume related to clover, peas and alfalfa.
Farmers plant soybeans in the late spring. During the summer, soybeans flower and produce 60-80 pods, each holding three pea-sized beans. In the fall, farmers harvest their crop for these beans, which are high in protein and oil. A 60-pound bushel of soybeans yields about 48 pounds of protein-rich meal and 11 pounds of oil.
As early as 5,000 years ago, farmers in China grew soybeans. In 1804, a Yankee clipper ship brought soybeans to the U.S. In 1829, U.S. farmers first grew soybeans. They raised a variety for soy sauce. During the Civil War, soldiers used soybeans as “coffee berries” to brew “coffee” when real coffee was scarce.
In the late 1800s significant numbers of farmers began to grow soybeans as forage for cattle.In 1904, George Washington Carver began studying the soybean. His discoveries changed the way people thought about the soybean; no longer was it just a forage crop.
Prior to World War 2, the U.S. imported 40 percent of its edible fats and oils. At the advent of the war, this oil supply was cut. Processors turned to soybean oil.
By 1940, The U.S. soybean crop had grown to 78 million bushels harvested on 5 million acres, and the U.S. was a net exporter of soybeans and soybean products. That year, Henry Ford took an ax to a car trunk made with soybean plastic to demonstrate its durability. The publicity increased the soybean’s popularity.
In the early 1950s soybean meal became available as a low-cost, high protein feed ingredient, triggering an explosion in U.S. and Canadian livestock and poultry production.
One of the great scientific advances in agriculture was the improvement of the soybean in the 1990s to withstand herbicides. This meant that farmers could control weeds without killing the soybean plant. They wouldn’t have to cultivate the fields with steel implements, which meant less soil erosion, less fuel expended, and more yield per plant. This development resulted in new production practices that are gaining acceptance around the world. Farmers in food deficit regions of Africa and Asia are realizing that this technology will feed many more people on the same amount of land. The technology has allowed farmers to become suppliers to the world at a time when global demand for food is reaching unprecedented levels.
Ontario farmers grew 2 million acres of corn in 2016 and 2.7 million acres of soybeans. The U.S. will grow 90 million acres of corn this year and 88 million acres of soybeans.
