US Soybean Farmers Meet Global Demand As Farmland Shrinks
U.S. soybean farmers race to satisfy high international demand even as total domestic farmland shrinks by 7% since 2000.
U.S. soybean farmer working in the field during harvest season
Declining Farmland And Rising Global Demand
The United States operated with about 943,000,000 acres of farmland in 2000. That figure dropped to 874,000,000 acres as the nation lost approximately 307,000 farms over the same period.
Barry Alexander, a seventh-generation farmer in Cadiz, Kentucky, notes that urban expansion swallows rural land. "Land is going away every day, and that is one commodity they are not going to reproduce," Alexander stated.
Trade Relations With China
china remains the top customer for American soybeans, using the crop to produce protein for livestock. A portion of the harvest travels down local rivers to the Gulf of Mexico for overseas shipment.
Caleb Ragland, chairman of the American Soybean Association, acknowledged past trade friction. "We have had some bumps in the road in our relationship, but they are too big of a customer to just write off," Ragland said.
Innovation And Production Growth
Farmers rely on the checkoff program established under the 1990 Farm Bill to fund research and expand markets. Annual American soybean production has doubled from 2,000,000,000 bushels to about 4,000,000,000 bushels.
Brent Gatton, chairman of the United Soybean Board, highlighted the success of new industrial applications. "Because of the checkoff, there are thousands of new uses we get, from tires to artificial turf," Gatton noted.
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