By Brandelyn Twellman
U.S. Soy recognizes the importance of high-quality soybean crops. As quality can be affected by many different factors, a survey is conducted to analyze U.S. Soy food beans each year. Seth Naeve, associate professor and extension agronomist at the University of Minnesota, presented an overview for participants at both the Northeast and Southeast Asia U.S. Buyers Outlook Conferences, hosted virtually in 2020.
Naeve first recognized the impact of weather on this year’s soybean crop.
“As we know, weather has a great impact on yields of crop plants, but it also affects the quality in a big way,” he said.
Late April and early May brought exceptionally warm and dry weather that allowed for early planting. Soybean farmers in Iowa and Minnesota even set the bar for record early planting this year.
Though planting got off to a good start, challenges were faced throughout the growing season. Iowa experienced a severe drought that stretched across much of the central Corn Belt. The same area experienced extreme winds, Derecho, in August. Naeve said these weather patterns did impact this year’s soybean crop. Throughout the 2020 food soybean survey, 267 samples were returned from U.S. soybean exporters. Analysis of the samples showed good protein levels and an increase in oil concentration.
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