To help international soybean customers with their purchasing decisions and provide new crop quality data, the United Soybean Board, American Soybean Association and U.S. Soybean Export Council support a survey analyzing the quality of the U.S. soybean crop. The report is led by Seth Naeve, Jesse Christenson and Marnie Johansson with the University of Minnesota. Northern Soy Marketing (NSM) relies on the report data to demonstrate the quality of northern grown soy.
The 2024 report was recently released, and Naeve reported on the results to soybean buyers in November at USSEC’s U.S. Buyers Outlook Conferences in Japan and Korea.
Farmers in the top three soybean producing states – Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota – started planting earlier than normal after a dry and warm winter. When the rains came in late April, farmers in these states and several others were forced to stop planting for several weeks. Overall, the soybean planting pace in the U.S. was normal.
Drought conditions eventually hit much of the soybean growing region, which affected the yield and quality. Extended dry conditions in the fall expedited soybean harvest but also led to very dry soybeans.
“I think that the overtly dry crop is an opportunity for bean buyers to get very good processed yields,” said Naeve, who also consults with NSM and its activities. “Meal is not as positive, except with good protein and high oil, meal protein levels should be good.”
The survey results show the 2024 crop to be quite good with slightly higher protein over 2023 at 34.0%. Oil was also slightly higher than last year, averaging 19.9%, six-tenths of a point higher than the previous ten-year average.
Like previous years, the Western Corn Belt region had the lowest protein level at 33.8% but only slightly behind the Eastern Corn Belt at 34.0%, Midsouth at 34.5% and East Coast at 35.2%. Oil levels followed the same pattern, with the Western Corn Belt at 19.7%, just behind the Eastern Corn Belt’s 20.0% and 20.8% in the Midsouth.
Far northern U.S. states (including those that comprise NSM: Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin) continue to have slightly higher concentration of the five essential amino acids. The 2024 data also confirms that sucrose, which contributes to total metabolizable energy in livestock feed, is again higher in the U.S. than some of its South America competitors.
The data in the Soy Quality Report continues to be vital information for the entire soybean industry. Click here to read the entire report.
