Soybean Meal Market Prioritizes Quality

Healthy competition to produce healthier meal

A common goal of all soybean farmers is to run a profitable business. A marker of any successful business is the ability to provide customers with the products and services they need and want. While yield is a top priority for soybean farmers, soybean meal quality is the primary concern for the No. 1 customer of that component: animal ag.

“Livestock producers are always looking for the best and most consistent protein they can buy,” says Don Camden, vice president and Eastern crush regional manager at Cargill in Lafayette, Indiana. “We must provide this commodity competitively and more efficiently than other competing ingredients.”

U.S. soybean meal is recognized as a nutritious, reliable and sustainable ingredient for poultry and livestock feed. According to a study from Iowa State University, U.S. soybean meal has the highest content of five essential amino acids for both poultry and swine feed uses. And those amino acids in soybean meal are also highly digestible.

However, now is not the time for the U.S. soy industry to rest on its laurels. The same study found that Brazil produces soybean meal with the highest protein levels. So continuing to improve the protein content in the U.S. soybean crop is a long-term strategy to keep U.S. soybean meal competitive in a global soybean market.