The History of Soybeans:
The soybean is one of the most valuable cash crops in the world. The oil and flake that come from a soybean are the derivatives of most of the food we consume, materials we use, and feed for our livestock, but where did it come from and how did it become so valuable? How did the USA become the top soybean producer of the world?
The very start of the soybean itself is said to have originated in (at least) 11th Century BC, Northern China, and were one of the first crops grown by man. The ancient Chinese honored the soybean as one of the five sacred grains essential to the Chinese civilization. It was utilized for both food and medicine, then eventually domesticated from being a wild-bean-plant.
By the beginning of first century AD, the soybean had spread to central and southern China, then to Korea. In the seventh century, documentation shows they had migrated over to Japan, then northern India, Philippines, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, and Vietnam. Then, in the 17th century, European people decided to start moving East and became intrigued by the unfamiliar bean that brought many of use to the Asian culture.
The earliest, documented introduction of soy on US soil was in 1765, by Samuel Bowen, a Savannah, Georgia farmer. His goal of bringing the soybean to the states was to harvest for soy sauce. Then, in 1770, Benjamin Franklin took a trip to England and sent soybean seeds to a botanist friend in America. As time went on, the crop started spreading across the United States.
Soybean is one of the most versatile crops in the world- in fact, during the Civil War, soldiers used the bean as a substitute for coffee, nicknaming them “coffee berries.” Then, in 1904, Agricultural Scientist, George Washington Carver, found that soy contained a valuable protein source. He also began encouraging farmers to rotate crop with soybeans to improve quality of soil, which is why we now rotate our crop every year.
The way Americans eat soy started changing during the first World War, when the US Government decided to send a Chinese-American citizen, Yamei Kin, to investigate tofu in China. The meat sources were scarce and we were in need of a protein and meat substitute. Soybeans were tough to cook, but the US found recipes for hash and loaves. Adventist Church Christians started to offer imitation soy meat in the 1920s and soy milk in the 1930s. During the Great Depression, Soy was often refined and used as a culinary oil. In 1929, the soybean production in the United States had grown to 9 million bushels. That same year, William J. “Bill” Morse brought 10,000 species of soybeans to the US.
By 1940, the US soybean crop had grown to 78 million bushels and harvested over 5 million acres! This led into a decade saw even more avenues for soy, as Henry Ford became a huge advocate for the soybean crop. He planted thousands of soybean acres to build a car derived from soy-based plastic, which ultimately came to a halt at the start of WWII. Remember George Washington Carver? Well, he and Henry Ford also came together to make a suit made out of soybean fibers. This project modeled modern day magazine pages. Following the second World War, soy oil started becoming a hidden ingredient in America’s daily diet.
Bean meal became a low-cost, high-protein feed ingredient in the early ‘50s. This fueled a skyrocketing jump in livestock and poultry production in the United States. This amount of growth led to the USDA-Foreign Agriculture Service and the American Soybean Association to open its first international office in Japan- getting us closer to the soybean’s native home of China.
Chinese food began to regain popularity in the ‘60s and ‘70s, due to non-asian hippies encouraging tofu as a politically conscious alternative to meat protein. The ‘80s saw tofu as a go-to meat and milk alternative that offered aid to those in need of a cholesterol-free diet. In the ‘90s, soy, itself, became an essential, health-fueled food. It brought an array of market options, such as: soymilk, soy-based supplements, soy-based food alternatives, and more. Between 1976 and 2005, the United States increased planting by 50% and yields nearly twice as much.
Today, the soybean is being promoted in over 80 countries, by ASA International Marketing.
