U.S. Soybean Measurements

Welcome to the U.S. Soy Measurements pages. Information contained here provides compositional details on the U.S. soybean crop.Data is first sorted by crop year and then specific data set.

View a List of Available Data for Crop Years 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2006.

Introduction
Soybean products are used to the extent that their compositional characteristics compliment the needs of various end users. Yet, our current commodity marketplace values soybeans primarily on the basis of unit mass. USB and many others believe a marketplace which includes composition as a consideration in establishing market price would be of long term benefit to the U.S. soybean complex. Such a marketplace would reward and thereby encourage continuous improvement in the product that U.S. soybean growers are able to offer to both their domestic and global customers. The competitive advantage that this represents would be of benefit to all participants in the U.S. soybean value-chain.

The information presented on the following web pages is intended to stimulate thought and dialogue regarding the creation of marketing systems that value soybeans on the basis of composition in addition to unit volume/mass. It summarizes and presents information developed from samples collected directly from farmer fields by USDA-NASS as part of their Objective Yield survey.

Background
The inherent value of any agricultural crop is associated with the extent to which humans can extract benefit from it. Typically, this benefit is associated with a crop’s compositional characteristics. The greater the benefit realized from a crop’s compositional profile, the greater its inherent value.

Translating a crops inherent value into an economic value is the role of the marketplace. Soybeans are currently marketed through a commodity-type marketplace. A commodity market affixes value on the basis of unit volume/mass. Critical to the function of a commodity marketplace is the assumption of product uniformity.

A commodity marketplace attempts to adapt to non-uniformity by establishing certain measurable thresholds and associating penalties when they are not met.  Product which exceeds minimum thresholds is typically identified and valued as being no different than that which meets the minimum thresholds. As such its true value is “lost” within the context of the marketplace.  Unless somehow captured by an end-user, this additional inherent-value is ultimately lost to society.

If the majority of product moving through a commodity market structure just meets established thresholds, the commodity approach represents the most efficient marketing structure. However, if a significant amount of product exceeds minimum thresholds, enabling its capture may represent an opportunity if the added cost associated with its capture is significantly less than the applied value it represents.

A Component Based Market System associates value with specific compositional characteristics of benefit to end-users, in addition to mass/volume. As such, it provides for a more efficient use of the inherent value of a crop. However, this comes at a cost which must be more than offset by the additional value captured.

As global conditions increasingly strain the world’s food production systems, options for improving efficiency, such as that offered by a component based market system, will be re-evaluated. At the same time, anticipated improvements in technology may lower the cost associated with the capture of such efficiencies.  In addition, by incentifying improved soybean composition, a shift toward component based markets will help to drive improvements in the composition of our domestic soybean crop and its associated competitive value.

Defining and enabling the Component-Market opportunity for U.S. soybeans is the focus of USB’s Soy Measurement process. The purpose of these Web pages is the communication of information generated within the context of this effort.  There are two major components to this effort:

• Defining the Component-Market opportunity within the context of past U.S. soybean crops. 
• Enabling the Component-Market opportunity by bringing forward information regarding the use of analytical tools critical to the implementation of a composition based market.

An initial goal is to use of information to drive a dialogue within the soybean value-chain regarding the Component-Market opportunity. Toward this objective, we proffer the information contained in the following series of pages. This includes:

• Average soybean crop composition for defined multi-county districts
• Estimates of soybean product value from models which utilize whole soybean composition to estimate Gross Processor Margin based on a defined set of prices.

The Component-Market opportunity is associated with the extent to which soybean components vary within our crop. Therefore, in addition to providing average values for each reported geographic unit of observation, we also include ranges (i.e. high value – low value) and standard deviations.

This effort is very much a work-in-progress. We have and will continue to make the best use of the imperfect tools and information at our disposal.   We recognize that a considerable amount to additional work is required to justify a change in market behavior on the scale that will be required to move it from its present commodity focus to one based on composition.

Recognizing that the comprehensive nature of USB’s component market vision requires the participation of individuals throughout the soybean value-chain, we would especially appreciate your thoughts and comments regarding the information presented and its further use. As more information becomes available, it will be added. As feedback is received, we will strive to use it to improve how information is presented.

Disclaimer
All information provided on the U.S. Soy Measurements (USSM) Web pages is provided “as is” and is intended for illustrative purposes only. No warranty, expressed or implied, is provided regarding any information provided on USSM pages. All information is provided on the condition that users must make their own determinations regarding any use of this information and must assume all risk associated with any and all use.