| It’s been called the miracle crop for years. And it’s becoming more miraculous all the time. It, of course, is the soybean. There are now more than 1,000 uses, and counting, for this remarkable crop.�
Once used only as forage for livestock in the U.S., it’s now our second most-valuable cash crop and our No. 1-value export crop. Approximately 72 million acres was harvested in 2003 with an estimated value of nearly 18 billion dollars. Yet most people have only a meager understanding of the crop’s origin and history. So here’s a capsulized summary.� |
| Historians suggest the soybean originated around 5,000 years ago in China. Chinese legend tells of traveling merchants who discovered a climbing, vine-like plant that produced small black seeds. These seeds, filled with protein, little fat and no cholesterol, have been an essential part of Asian diets for centuries. And the Japanese, for example, have one of the lowest cancer rates in the world.�
Europeans were introduced to the soybean when� |
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| Engelbert
Kaempfer, a German botanist, studied the plants in Japan, then importehttps://www.alafarmnews.com/files/0204archive/d them to europe. the soybean was considered something of a curiosity in europe, rather than a viable product, and didn’t become a staple part of the european diet.�
Soybeans arrived in America in the 19th century. According to early records, they were originally brought to the U.S. on a Yankee clipper ship. The ship, sailing from China to the U.S., used soybeans as ballast. Upon arrival in the U.S., the soybeans were dumped to make room for cargo.�
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