In 2013, about 76 million acres of soybeans were planted, with more than 3.2 billion bushels of
soybeans harvested. Soybean farmers in the United States have the choice of planting biotech,
organic, or conventional seeds, and make their choice based on production methods or access to
direct end-use markets. Of those 76 million acres planted, 94% (or more than 70 million acres) of the seeds were biotech. In 2011, organic soybeans were planted on 132,411 acres, comprising 0.17% of the total soybean acres planted that year.

Just over 70% of the soybeans grown in the United States are used for animal feed, with
poultry being the number one livestock sector consuming soybeans, followed by hogs, dairy, beef, and aquaculture. The second largest market for U.S. soybeans is for production of foods for human
consumption, like salad oil or frying oil, which uses about 15% of U.S. soybeans. A distant
third market for soybeans is biodiesel, using only about 5% of the U.S. soybean crop. In 2013,
soybean exports reached record highs, exporting 43 million metric tons to overseas markets. China
remains the largest export market for U.S. soybeans.

Soybean farmers, regardless of whether they plant biotech, organic, or conventional seed, manage
their crops to protect them from pests, weeds, and disease. Herbicides are used in soybean fields to
kill weeds that steal valuable water and nutrients from the soybean plants. Some biotech varieties of soybeans have herbicide resistance built into the seed so farmers can spray herbicides to kill the
weeds in their fields without harming their soybeans.

The origins of soybeans

Until recently, it was considered that soybeans originated in either Siberia, China, the Korean Peninsula, or Southeast Asia. New archaeological excavations and genetic studies have revealed characteristics that are unique to soybeans in each region, which suggests that the origin of the soybean may have been in more than one place. The ancestor of the modern soybean is a vine-like plant known as the wild soybean (Glycine soja; called Tsuru-mame or no-mame in Japan).

This plant can still be found throughout Japan, as far north as the Hidaka region of Hokkaido, which is the northernmost island of Japan. The vine of the wild soybean has a long, thin stem, and the bean is rounder and smaller than the modern soybean. Over its long history as a cultivated crop, the bean has grown larger the stems have become shorter and the soy plant has evolved from a vine-like to an upright plant. The pods containing the beans have also lost their natural tendency as leguminous plants to break off when ripe. Intermediates between soybean and wild soybean have also been found in the regions mentioned above, indicating that the soybean found throughout the world today is not the same as the ancient soybean that evolved through cultivation in China and East Asia.

The main types of soybeans are categorized by seed color: green, black, and by far the most common, yellow, the variety that inspired the bean’s other name, Yellow Legume, Huang Dou.

Like grain such as wheat or barley, mature soybeans are normally harvested dry and hard on the plant. During the Zhou Dynasty (1050–256 BC), soybeans were designated one of the Five Sacred Grains (the others being wheat, barley, rice, and millet). Then the soybean was known as shu, and boiled beans were eaten whole. The leaves of the plant were also eaten. But whole soybeans then as now were hardly considered a delicacy. At that time millet was the preferred grain, followed by rice, wheat, and soybeans at a less than mouth-watering fourth place.

The arrival of soybeans to the U.S.

The soybean, known as a “miracle crop” for its versatility in different climates and the flexibility of its use in by-products, ranks among the United States’ top crops. While the plant traces back to China in the 11th century B.C., the United States emerged as the world’s biggest soybean exporter in the 1950s. But it took a long history of fits and starts for soybeans to become a dominant American crop. The earliest known attempt to bring soy crops to America was in 1765 by a farmer, Samuel Bowen.

Bowen would figure out a way to grow the crop in Savannah, Georgia to use for soy sauce. Following that effort, there were scattered unusual applications. For instance, Civil War soldiers used soybeans as a coffee substitute, calling them “coffee berries.”

Soybeans were also ground up into a wheat flour substitute to use in a low-starch bread alternative for diabetics but were mostly used as cattle feed. They got a boost in 1904 when American agricultural scientist, George Washington Carver, determined that soy offered a valuable source of protein. He also endorsed the idea that rotating crops with soybeans could improve soil quality.

One of the strangest uses of soy was by Henry Ford. Ford was so taken by the crop that, in the 1940s, he planted thousands of acres and directed his company to create a car from soy-derived plastics, but these experiments were halted when World War II began. He also had a suit made out of soybean protein fibers, which he modeled for magazines. Ford called in George Washington Carver to help with those projects.

In the Great Depression, soy was commonly refined and included in human food as an oil. This practice continued and soy became a pervasive hidden ingredient in the American diet when, following World War II, the public paid less attention to its existence. Only instances like a Nixon-era embargo of the crop really ever brought it to the forefront.

Chinese food was popular in the U.S. beginning in the early 20th Century and reigniting in the 1970s but is often overstated for its role in leading the establishment of soy in the American diet. That honor goes to the counterculture.

Soy foods did not cross over into the mainstream until the 1960s and 1970s when non-Asian hippies popularized tofu as a politically conscious vegetarian food, In the 1980s, tofu built a reputation as a cholesterol-free meat and milk alternative among health-obsessed yuppies, who flocked to Tofutti and similar products. By the 1990s, the discovery of phytochemicals in soybeans – thought to combat certain forms of cancer – lent soy, itself, the aura of healthfulness, helping to drive a market in soy milk, soy-protein bars, and a growing array of health foods.

In 2018, the soybean ranked among the top 10 crops in the United States, with 300,000 producers nationwide. Because of the dominance of the crop in the country and the fact that China consumes more soybean products than any other nation, it also became a prime target for tariffs.

The facts about soybean

Soybeans are a high-protein plant food that people can prepare and eat in a variety of ways. They belong to the pea family. Soybeans come in many colors, including:

• Green soybeans: Young green soybeans are also called edamame. People can steam them and eat them out of the pod as an appetizer. Shelled edamame is also available in salads, stir-fries, and soups.
• Yellow soybeans: Producers typically use yellow soybeans to make soy milk, tofu, tempeh, and tamari. They also play a role in the production of soy flour for baking.
• Black soybeans: Several Asian food cultures use simmered or fermented black soybeans in traditional dishes.

Soybeans also provide soy oil, which people can use for cooking or as an ingredient. After removing the oil from soybeans, people can use the remaining material to make food for farm animals and pets. Some manufacturers make protein powder and isoflavone supplements from soy. Isoflavones are plant compounds that have a similar structure to estrogen.

Soy is a complete protein. This means that it contains all nine essential amino acids. It is an important source of protein for many people, especially those who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 100 grams (g) of cooked green soybeans without salt contains:

• 141 kilocalories
• 12.35 g of protein
• 6.4 g of fat
• 11.05 g of carbohydrate
• 4.2 g of fiber

Soybeans are low in saturated fat and high in protein, vitamin C, and folate. They are also a good source of:

• calcium
• iron
• magnesium
• phosphorus
• potassium
• thiamin

The rise of GMO soybeans

Soy is the most commonly grown commodity crop in North America today. In 2022, American farmers planted more than 100 million acres of soy — more acreage than any other single crop. That’s a lot of soybeans, but not necessarily a lot of food. In fact, most soy isn’t used in human food at all.

According to the USDA, just over 70% of soy grown in the U.S. becomes animal feed and another 5% becomes biodiesel. Roughly a quarter of the soybeans end up in food for human consumption, primarily as highly processed ingredients such as oils, ground meals, and starches with little nutritional value. The agrichemical corporations that make and patent GMO soy have grown tremendously rich and powerful by prioritizing profit over all else. GMOs create wealth for shareholders way more than they offer a meaningful benefit to the consumer, the farmer, or the planet.

Roughly 95% of soy grown in the United States is genetically engineered to withstand weedkillers, a GMO trait known as herbicide tolerance. The first herbicide-tolerant GMO soy was created by inserting DNA from a glyphosate-resistant bacteria into the soy plant so farmers could apply weedkillers to their fields without damaging their cash crops.

When herbicide-tolerant GMOs were introduced, the biotech industry promised the new technology would reduce pesticide application, but data shows the reverse is true. Since the 1990s, glyphosate use has increased 15-fold. While glyphosate was initially marketed as a “safe” weedkiller, in 2015 it was deemed a “probable human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Herbicide-tolerant GMO crops, including soy, have led to the rise of herbicide-resistant “superweeds.” Superweeds emerge through natural selection. Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that will kill off most weeds, but because nature is diverse and resilient, a few weeds survive. The survivors generate seeds and pass their resistance on to the next generation.

Today, glyphosate-resistant weeds such as ragweed, horseweed, and rigid ryegrass are common across the U.S. The Non-GMO Project’s headquarters state of Washington is also home to 14 unique herbicide-resistant weeds.

Superweeds are a growing problem. Once herbicide-resistant superweeds emerge, farmers must apply more or stronger herbicides to remove them. The soy farmer’s weapon of choice is usually the notoriously volatile herbicide dicamba.

Dicamba is a highly destructive herbicide that has caused catastrophic damage to crops across the United States. As glyphosate-resistant superweeds became more of a problem, farmers looked for another herbicide that could wipe them out. In 2016, Monsanto created a dicamba-tolerant GMO soybean. To frustrated farmers, GMO soy looked like a chance to get ahead of glyphosate-resistant weeds, but the increase in dicamba use had its own downsides.

Dicamba is infamous for its volatility, meaning that under certain conditions, it forms a gas and can drift miles from where it is sprayed, devastating crops and natural areas along the way. Since 2017, millions of acres of crops have reportedly been destroyed by dicamba drift, although the EPA estimates the real damage could be as much as 25 times worse than reports indicate.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the use of dicamba has increased 6-fold in the last decade. During that time, new restrictions and GMOs have entered the market — and newly dicamba-resistant superweeds have appeared in Tennessee and Illinois.

Health effects of GMO soybeans

Soybeans are the second-largest US crop after corn, covering about a quarter of American farmland. We grow more soybeans than any other country except Brazil. According to the US Department of Agriculture, more than 90% of the soybeans churned out on US farms each year are genetically engineered to withstand herbicides, nearly all of them involving one called Roundup. Organic production, by contrast, is marginal—it accounts for less than 1% of total American acreage devoted to soy. (The remaining 9% or so of soybeans are conventionally grown, but not genetically modified.)

Americans don’t eat much of these lime-green legumes directly, but that doesn’t mean we’re not exposed to them. After harvest, the great bulk of soybeans are crushed and divided into two parts: meal, which mainly goes into feed for animals that become our meat, and fat, most of which ends up being used as cooking oil or in food products. According to the US Soy Board, soy accounts for 61% of American’s vegetable oil consumption.

Given soy’s centrality to our food and agriculture systems, the findings of a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Chemistry are worth pondering. The authors found that Monsanto’s ubiquitous Roundup Ready soybeans, engineered to withstand its own blockbuster herbicide, contain more herbicide residues than their non-GMO counterparts. The team also found that the GM beans are nutritionally inferior.

On one hand, it’s rich in nutrients, and diets containing it appear to be linked to health benefits, such as lower blood sugar levels, improved heart health, fewer menopause symptoms, and perhaps even a lower risk of certain cancers.

Yet, on the other hand, some people are concerned about the healthfulness of soy-rich diets. For instance, some fear that eating too much soy may increase the risk of breast cancer, hinder thyroid function, or have feminizing effects in men, to name a few.

Soybeans and foods derived from them have been part of the human diet for centuries. Nevertheless, some people worry about including soy in their diet due to the following areas of concern:

• Estrogen-mimicking effects. Soy isoflavones are often thought to mimic the female reproductive hormone estrogen. Although they’re similar in structure to this hormone, soy isoflavones have weaker and slightly different effects than estrogen.
• Cancer risk. Some people believe that soy isoflavones may raise the risk of breast or endometrial cancer.
• Thyroid function. Test-tube and animal studies suggest that some compounds found in soy may reduce thyroid gland function.
• Feminizing effects in men. Some worry that soy isoflavones may reduce the production of the male hormone testosterone. However, human studies find a weak link between the two.
• Danger to babies. Some fear that soy formula may negatively affect brain, sexual, thyroid, or immune development.
• GMOs. Soybeans are often genetically modified (GMO). GMO soy may contain fewer nutrients and more herbicide residues than conventional or organic soybeans.
• Antinutrients. Soybeans contain compounds that may lower the body’s ability to absorb the vitamins and minerals they contain. Soaking, sprouting, fermenting, and cooking are ways to reduce these antinutrient levels in soy.
• Digestive issues. Animal studies suggest that the antinutrients in soy may reduce the gut’s barrier function, possibly resulting in inflammation and digestive issues.

It’s worth mentioning that not all soy foods are equally nutritious or beneficial. Generally, the less processed a soy food is the more vitamins, minerals, and beneficial compounds it may contain. On the other hand, the more processed a soy food is, the more salt, sugar, fat, and unnecessary additives and fillers it likely contains.

That’s why minimally processed soy foods, such as soybeans, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and unsweetened soy milk and yogurts, are considered superior to soy-based protein powders, mock meats, energy bars, or sweetened soy milk and yogurts. Minimally processed soy foods may also offer benefits beyond those associated with their nutrient content. For instance, they appear more effective at reducing blood sugar or cholesterol levels than processed soy-based foods or supplements.

In addition, fermented soy foods, such as soy sauce, tempeh, miso, and natto, are often considered more beneficial than non-fermented soy products. That’s because fermentation helps reduce some of the anti-nutrients naturally found in soy foods