At the Farm GateSoybean: Small Bean with a Big Resume
If I were a crop, I might be a soybean. I’m short, low drama and work best behind the scenes. My mood can shift from tolerant and forgiving (planting season) to an annoying attention to detail (harvest). But chocolate holds it all together. (Soy is the key; I’ll explain).
All of that is really by comparison to corn, the primary crop alternative in Illinois. We live in the Corn Belt. Corn gains name fame for its visual dominance in acres. We find fascination in corn mazes, and the most common consumer-facing farm policy conversations – like ethanol – involve corn.
Unbeknownst to most citizens, Illinois grows more than 20 million tons of soybeans annually and claims the reigning title of No. 1 soybean state in the nation. The achievement reached the heart of Springfield, where legislators voted the soybean as the Illinois state bean in 2025.
Soybeans make a great team with corn as a rotational crop companion and literally bring the muscle with their protein punch. Our FFA chapter packed 4,000 non-perishable meals for local food pantries using soy protein, a budget-friendly, high-protein staple. Soy protein is a common ingredient in meat, both plant-based alternatives and the real thing.
Soybean meal, the byproduct after removing the seed’s oil, is the nation’s top high-protein feed that brings chicken, pork, eggs and dairy to the table.
The average American consumes nearly half a cup of soybeans in some form every day, which could include cooking oil, margarine, soy milk and protein shakes. Soy lecithin keeps chocolate and cocoa butter from separating. Hooray for soy holding together my bite-sized sweet fix after lunch, which likely was a salad that wouldn’t exist without dressing, a soy-dominant lifeline for the fresh greens.
Our farm fuels its tractors and trucks with soy-based biodiesel. Soy oil is a named ingredient in plastics for John Deere and the foam in the seats of Ford vehicles. This month, I will see the bean more than my family as I plant some 300 million of those pea-sized seeds across our farm.
Thankfully, soybeans tolerate a wider range of “good-enough” conditions during planting season. Corn prefers perfection. The tides turn come harvest, when the bean gets moody: moisture content rapidly shifts from too wet to too dry, and the mature, standing crop’s harvestability is notoriously sensitive to weather.
Beyond that, soybeans check the boxes for Illinois: rotational cropping systems, soil types, climate and access to exports in a state literally shaped by rivers. As the top U.S. agricultural export crop, soybeans bring billions of dollars to America’s economy.
Those are some cool beans.
About the author: Joanie Stiers farms with her parents and brother in west-central Illinois, where they grow corn, soybeans and hay, raise beef cattle and operate side businesses related to the family operation.