High Oleic Soy Could Deliver Long-Term Demand For Farmers

Dec 02, 2019

By helping find long-term solutions to food-company challenges, high oleic soybeans might open doors for long-term U.S. soy oil demand and farmer profits. And these new varieties performed so well last year, farmers seem to be coming back for more in 2013.

U.S. food companies have shown preference for soy in the past, but turned away in recent years. Now high-oleic soy oil offers food companies even more reasons to return to this home-grown, reliable oil.

The soybean industry expects high-oleic could demand the oil from as many as 16 million acres of U.S. soybeans by 2020, depending on integration in soybean acres throughout the country.

“Soy stands out from other vegetable oils because of its reliable and cost competitive supply,” says Joe Cornelius, who recently retired from his position as quality trait lead with Monsanto. “But commodity soy oil lacks the stability needed by food and industrial end users and its saturated fat content could be improved.”

Although commodity soy oil is relatively low in saturated fats, the new high-oleic oils will be even better. Cornelius says high-oleic soy oil provides solutions to both the stability issue and the need to lower saturated fats.

“The combination of high-oleic and reduced saturated fat, makes it a better performing, more versatile oil,” adds Cornelius. “That versatility will make high oleic soy a very attractive option in food and industrial markets.”

Those efficiencies could mean big demand for U.S. soy oil. And the seed companies know that with high demand comes the need for high-yielding varieties.

“Pioneer has worked on high-oleic varieties for a long time, initially in the 1990s and again at the beginning of the 2000s,” says Steve Schnebley, senior research manager with DuPont Pioneer. “We continue to integrate the high-oleic trait with our best Pioneer germplasm and evaluate it on an ongoing basis.”

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Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?