🫘 Two states, two crowns

USDA’s Economic Research Service, listing what let soybeans spread across the middle of the country, includes this item: “a greater number of 50–50 corn-soybean rotations.” Fifty-fifty means what it sounds like — half the ground in corn, half in soybeans, and next season the two trade places. Penn State Extension says why a farmer bothers: “Crop rotation can play a vital role in maximizing profitability of agronomic crops. It increases crop yields by improving soils conditions and reducing weed and insect populations and helps producers use conservation tillage successfully.” The weeds and the insects that learned last year’s crop wake up to the wrong plant.

Basis: USDA Economic Research Service, “Oil Crops Sector at a Glance” (updated August 4, 2025): “A number of factors favored the expansion of soybean acreage—including increased planting flexibility, yield improvements from narrow-rowed seeding practices, a greater number of 50–50 corn-soybean rotations, and low production costs (partly due to widespread adoption of herbicide-tolerant varieties).” Penn State Extension, “Soybean Production”: “Crop rotation can play a vital role in maximizing profitability of agronomic crops. It increases crop yields by improving soils conditions and reducing weed and insect populations and helps producers use conservation tillage successfully.”

The two crops also treat the soil very differently, and ERS says so in one sentence: “Unlike other crops, soybeans can balance their own nitrogen and require minimal nitrogen fertilizer.” You can see it in what farmers buy — “Commercial fertilizer was applied to less than 45 percent of soybean acreage, a much lower rate than for most row crops (e.g., corn and cotton).” Corn arrives hungry. The bean brings its own lunch.

Basis: USDA Economic Research Service, “Oil Crops Sector at a Glance”: “Commercial fertilizer was applied to less than 45 percent of soybean acreage, a much lower rate than for most row crops (e.g., corn and cotton). Unlike other crops, soybeans can balance their own nitrogen and require minimal nitrogen fertilizer.”

Soybeans feel like they have always been out there. They have not. ERS: “Large-scale production of soybeans did not begin in the United States until the 20th century, but since then, area planted to soybeans has expanded rapidly.” It expanded far enough to pull off something startling: “In 2017, U.S. farmers planted a record 90.2 million acres of soybeans, exceeding corn acreage for the first time since 1983.” For one season, the newcomer covered more ground than corn.

Basis: USDA Economic Research Service, “Oil Crops Sector at a Glance”: “Large-scale production of soybeans did not begin in the United States until the 20th century, but since then, area planted to soybeans has expanded rapidly.”; “In 2017, U.S. farmers planted a record 90.2 million acres of soybeans, exceeding corn acreage for the first time since 1983.”

The crop keeps to a tight calendar and a tight region. “Most U.S. soybeans are planted in May and early June, and harvested in late September and October,” and “More than 80 percent of U.S. soybean acreage is concentrated in the Midwest.” The farms behind it are getting fewer and bigger: the 2022 Census of Agriculture found “270,851 U.S. farms raised soybeans for beans in 2022, down by more than 30,000 farms from 2017,” while average harvested acreage rose “from 114 acres per farm in 1978 to 312 acres per farm in 2022.”

Basis: USDA Economic Research Service, “Oil Crops Sector at a Glance”: “Most U.S. soybeans are planted in May and early June, and harvested in late September and October”; “More than 80 percent of U.S. soybean acreage is concentrated in the Midwest”; “Data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture indicated that 270,851 U.S. farms raised soybeans for beans in 2022, down by more than 30,000 farms from 2017. Average harvested soybean acreage increased from 114 acres per farm in 1978 to 312 acres per farm in 2022.”

Almost none of it reaches you looking like a bean. ERS: “U.S. soybeans are either used for domestic crush for oil and meal products or are exported to key destinations like China, Mexico, and the European Union,” crush being “the process of extracting soybean meal and oil from soybeans.” And ERS notes the oil has found a new job: “more of the soybean oil is being used domestically as a feedstock for biomass-based diesel production.” Some of that field ends up in a fuel tank.

Basis: USDA Economic Research Service, “Oil Crops Sector at a Glance”: “U.S. soybeans are either used for domestic crush for oil and meal products or are exported to key destinations like China, Mexico, and the European Union.”; “crush—the process of extracting soybean meal and oil from soybeans”; “While a higher share of soybean meal is going to the export market, more of the soybean oil is being used domestically as a feedstock for biomass-based diesel production.”