The soy checkoff and the National Oilseed Processors Association partnered on an economic impact study to engage farmers and the agricultural community about the importance of the soybean industry to the U.S. and state economies. Ed Lammers, United Soybean Board Secretary and Nebraska farmer, shares details on the findings in the study.
“As a farmer, sometimes we get in our daily routine and don’t think about the big picture, and this study that USB and the crush industry came together to do showed us some great results and some really eye-opening contributions that the soy sector adds to the national economy. $124 billion per year. That’s a big, big number. We have a lot of jobs that also fall in that economy, with 223,000 paid full-time jobs. So, those are some really big, big numbers and goes to emphasize the importance of the soybean sector.”
He talks about what makes studies like this so important for farmers.
“We get in our daily routines, and we don’t think about that big picture. This kind of brings to attention the importance of what we do every day and how it affects other people and the national economy. The value chain is wide and big. You know, you got fertilizers, you got transportation, you got the crush, you got oil, we got meal, and we’ve got animal foods. It’s a miracle bean is what it is.”
The soybean’s economic impact stretches well beyond the farm, with new innovations for soybeans that are used in over 1,000 products.
“New innovations that are coming out and most people probably are not aware of is this year’s soy foam that fire departments are using for retardants on special chemicals. You know, any food processors where chemicals would not be friendly to the processor, soy is degradable. So that soy foam really has a unique priority to it. Other things are seed lubricants. As soybean producers, we always put some kind of a treatment on our seed to make it flow better so it doesn’t plug up on our rows or whatever.”
Keep up with the latest news from the United Soybean Board at unitedsoybean.org and Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on RFD-TV.