Free $25 Grain & Soybean Trading Kit
History of Soybeans
Soybeans originated and were first cultivated in China. Asians have been growing soybeans, eating foods made from soybeans and using it for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. In 2853 BC, By the first century AD, soybeans were grown in Japan and China
When soybeans arrived in America in the early 1800's – as a heavy material used to stabilize a clipper ship, they were regarded as a curiosity. It wasn't until 1879 that a few valiant farmers began to plant them as forage for their livestock. The plants flourished in the hot, humid summer weather characteristic of the North Carolina. By the turn of the century, the United States Department of Agriculture was conducting tests on soybeans and encouraging farmers to cultivate them as animal feed.
It wasn't until the 1940's that soybean farming really took off in the United States. Soybean fields in China, the major supplier of the world at that time, were destroyed by World War II. The U.S. farmers in turn, produced the needed soybeans.
American livestock - chickens, cattle, turkey, and pigs - consume about 25 million tons of soybean meal each year. No other high protein animal feed comes close. This boom in the use of soybean meal for livestock feed began in the 1950's and has not slowed down since.
Currently, 31 states in the United States grow soybeans. The top three cultivators are Iowa producing 408 million bushels, Illinois producing 478 million bushels and Indiana producing 274 million bushels in 1998. The state of North Carolina ranks 15th, producing fourty-three million bushels.
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