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Biotech

A Look at Biotechnology and Soybeans

Current biotechnology methods allow the transfer of a gene from one organism to another. These methods are made up of the same basic scientific processes — crossbreeding and fermentation — people have used for centuries to increase crop productivity, improve the food supply and produce better foods.*

Soybean farmers have made major advances in the way they grow their soybeans. Today, 92 percent of U.S. soybeans are derived from biotechnology. And these improved crops have repeatedly been declared safe by the world's top scientific and regulatory bodies.

Biotechnology helps the entire world eat healthier. It allows farmers to grow the enhanced trait soybeans that produce the improved oils we enjoy today. It prevents crop devastation, helping to ensure that people all around the world have enough to eat. And it allows soybean crops to be grown with significantly less pesticides.

For more on the impact of biotechnology, visit soyconnection.com.

*Committee on Opportunities in the Nutrition and Food Sciences, Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Thomas PR, Earl R, eds. Opportunities in the Nutrition and Food Sciences, Research Challenges and the Next Generation of Investigators. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press; 1994.

Elevator Locator

Welcome! The map feature below provides a quick way to locate processors that receive and/or process soybeans with the low-linolenic or high-oleic enhanced traits indicated on the legend. Farmers, use the Elevator Locations tab to find the nearest delivery location for enhanced trait soybeans. The tool also helps soybean oil buyers pinpoint sources for securing soybean oil offering improved health profiles and increased performance characteristics. Just select a state to get started. 

The Bottom Line

Edible soybean oil has long been a key market for the U.S. soybean farmer. Recently, however, several factors have contributed to a loss of soy oil demand. In an effort to reclaim lost market share, provide a healthier product and drive demand for U.S. soy, the soybean industry has developed a new soybean trait that has the potential to be a game-changer. That trait is high-oleic soybeans.

Reclaiming Lost Market Share
The edible-oils market is by far the largest customer for your soybean oil. Snack foods, salad dressings, baked goods and fried foods all rely on soy oil.

The Bottom Line
High-oleic soybeans can enhance the market value of your soybeans without lowering your expectations in the field.

Enhancing Market Value
The high oleic trait focuses on an end-use customer for soybeans, providing direct benefits to consumers and opening market opportunities for you and all U.S. soybean farmers. It is the first biotech trait with health benefits for consumers and provides an opportunity to increase consumer acceptance of biotechnology. Increased biotechnology acceptance could help increase the demand and price for all soybeans.

High-oleic soybeans provide a healthier, more stable oil for food industry consumers than other competitive oils. High-oleic soybean oil holds the potential to prevent future loss and increase demand soybean oil demand atleast 3.8 billons pounds by 2020. That’s the oil from 341 million bushels of soybeans.

Performance in the Field
Seed companies recognize the need for these new soybean varieties to perform similarly or better than the varieties already planted in your fields. The high-oleic soybean varieties developed by Pioneer (Plenish) and Monsanto (Vistive Gold) followed extensive research timelines so farmers can expect the same or better yields from high-oleic soybeans than their current varieties. High-oleic varieties will include the trait and disease packages you expect and will be developed in several maturity groups with a range of agronomic packages.

The opportunity for U.S. soybean farmers to plant high-oleic soybeans will be based on locations where soybean processors and seed companies develop agreements.
 

Soy Oil Quick Facts

• The edible oils market is by far the largest customer for U.S. soybean oil.
• Soy oil makes up nearly 20 percent of the soybean, but between 25 and 50 percent of its value.
• To help eliminate or reduce trans fat, some companies have switched to high-saturated-fat oils, essentially addressing one problem while creating another.
• The U.S. food industry uses nearly 15 billion pounds of soybean oil annually.
• Soybean oil accounts for 65 percent of all vegetable oil used for human consumption in the United States.
• Since 2001, soybean oil has lost more than 3.5 billion pounds of edible oil demand.

 

The Demand

Edible Soybean Oil Market

Edible soybean oil has long been a key market for the U.S. soybean farmer. Recently, however, several factors have contributed to a loss of soy oil demand. In an effort to reclaim lost market share, provide a healthier product and drive demand for U.S. soy, the soybean industry has developed a new soybean trait that has the potential to be a game-changer. That trait is high-oleic soybeans.

Reclaiming Lost Market Share
The edible-oils market is by far the largest customer for your soybean oil. Snack foods, salad dressings, baked goods and fried foods all rely on soy oil.

In 2006, the U.S. government approved regulation requiring trans fats be labeled on food products. This prompted food companies to begin reformulating their products to eliminate trans fats from their labels, thus removing partially hydrogenated soybean oil from the ingredients list. This shift in oil usage has caused soy oil to lose at least 15 percent of its market share to other oils. The increased use of competitive oils represents a serious threat to soybean farmers’ profitability by threatening market position. The soybean industry looks to take back some of that market share with high-oleic soybeans.

Successful commercialization of high-oleic soybean oil could help soybean farmers capture 3.8 billion pounds of soybean oil market share. This gain in market share would enhance the market value of soybeans, adding to soybean farmers’ profit potential.

Increasing Profit Potential
Maintaining long-term soybean demand has real value and farmers should take that into account when making decisions about which soybeans to grow. If growing high-oleic soybeans produce the same return on investment as growing commodity beans, consider growing varieties that offer the potential to make them the most money in the future. High-oleic varieties developed by Monsanto and Pioneer followed extensive research timelines so that farmers can expect the same or better yields from high-oleic soybeans than their current varieties.

The most significant economic gain farmers can expect to experience from growing high-oleic soybeans will come from the price increases that will result from an increase in demand for soybean oil overall. An increase in demand could spur increased soybean crush, a part of the industry that has seen recent decline in production. Crushing more soybeans could put more meal on the market and lead to decreased meal prices for poultry and livestock farmers.
 

The Traits

New soybean traits, such as high-oleic, address improving soybean oil and making it more desirable to soybean farmers’ No. 1 soy oil customer: the food industry. These traits help meet consumer needs while driving demand for U.S. soy. They address long-term demand for healthier edible oils and positions soy competitively with other oils.

In recent years, soybean farmers have lost considerable oil demand to competitive oils. These traits provide the opportunity for U.S. soybean farmers to reclaim that market share and positively impact profit potential.