UNITED STATES SOYBEAN QUALITY

Annual2023
Report14 November 2023
For international use only. Not intended for domestic (U.S.) distribution
Seth L. Naeve and Jesse Christenson

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2023 Quality Report ............................................................................. 1
References ......................................................................................... 14
Figure 1: US Soybean Planting and Harvest Progress ......................... 15
Figure 2: US Soybean, Corn, Wheat Harvested Area .......................... 16
Figure 3: US Protein and Oil State/Regional Summary……………………. 17
Table 1: Production Data for the United States, 2023 Crop ................ 18
Table 2: Quality Survey, Protein & Oil Data ........................................ 19
Table 3: Quality Survey, Seed Data ..................................................... 20
Table 4: Quality Survey, Amino Acid Data .......................................... 21
Table 5: Historical Summary of Yield & Quality Data, US Soybeans.... 22
Contact Information ........................................................................... 23

QUALITY REPORT: 2023
SUMMARY
The American Soybean Association, United Soybean Board, and US Soybean Export Council
have supported a survey of the quality of the US soybean crop since 1986. This survey isintended to provide new crop quality data to aid international customers with theirpurchasing decisions.

2023 AREA, YIELDS, AND TOTAL PRODUCTION
Early season soybean planting started rapidly in the U.S., led by a very early start in Illinois
where 40% of the crop was planted by May 1. Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri also got off to avery good start. Early planting bodes well for good yields in these Corn Belt states. Initialplanting in Iowa was on pace with historical trends but the start of planting in Minnesota andNorth Dakota was delayed. Unusually cold temperatures during mid-April delayed the end of
winter and kept farmers in the Northwestern parts of the Corn Belt out of their fields until
early May.

Early May plantings are near ideal for many states in the Corn Belt, and Iowa farmers took
advantage of good weather beginning in May to plant in earnest. While only about 15% of
Iowa soybeans were planted on May 1, by May 14 that number had increased to 69%.
Planting in Minnesota began in early May and only reached 30% by May 14. North Dakota
was most affected by the lingering cold temperatures of winter into the late spring and only
reached 2% planted by this same date. Heavy rains in the Eastern Corn Belt in early May
inhibited planting in Ohio, resulting in a pause in planting during the first week of May.
However, planting then resumed at a record pace and 63% had been planted by May 21.
Overall, U.S. soybean planting progressed at 7-10 days ahead of the average planting pacethroughout the spring.

As defined by the USDA, average U.S. soybean crop conditions began June at a lower level
than recent years due to drought conditions in the Western Corn Belt and crop conditions

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QUALITY REPORT: 2023
were maintained at relatively poor levels throughout the summer (USDA NASS). These poor
crop conditions primarily resulted from a broad and chronic drought throughout much of
soybean producing areas of the U.S. The most severe drought was found in the Western Corn
Belt states. The soybean crop tended to improve after June in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, andOhio; whereas conditions either maintained themselves at low levels or decayed through thesummer in Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Nebraska.

More detail is provided in the weather section; however, broadly, significant to extreme
drought condition persisted all summer throughout the center and Western ranges of theCorn Belt. The states of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Kansas were under
severe drought for nearly the entire growing season. Highly localized rains were able to help
some farmers through the summer months, while other farmers saw very low yields.
Common in the Midwest, farms with heavy and deep soil profiles with excellent water
holding capacity were able to utilize excessive spring rains to maintain yields.

Warm summer temperatures and early planting allowed for a somewhat early soybean
harvest in some states. With few significant weather delays, the U.S. soybean crop was
harvested at a normal pace.

Area planted to soybean was down in 2023 and harvested acres are expected to be reduced
by around 4% relative to the 2022 crop. October 12 yield estimates from the USDA are
identical to those realized in 2022. This leaves the U.S with a crop of 4.1 billion bushels or
112 MMT. Some private estimates are suggesting a slightly larger U.S. crop, so there ispotential for it to grow. The top three soybean producing states of Iowa, Illinois, andMinnesota are each expected to have both fewer acres of soybeans and lower yields. These
three states produce nearly 40% of the U.S. crop and therefore drive total production andaverage composition values. Combined area and yield estimates for 2023 results in a
reduction in production of 2.2MMT from these three states alone when compared with 2022.

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QUALITY REPORT: 2023
Other than North Dakota, the remaining six major soybean production states are expected to
produce higher yields in 2023, than 2022. South Dakota increased both area devoted tosoybean and expected soybean yields resulting in an increase in production of around0.7MMT. Among smaller states, the neighboring state of Wisconsin also contributed to lower
overall production in 2023. Yields in Wisconsin are expected to be reduced by 13% and areaby 17% compared with 2022 levels leading to a reduction in total production of around0.7MMT to exactly cancel South Dakota’s increased production.

QUALITY OF THE 2023 US SOYBEAN CROP
Sample kits were mailed to 3,886 producers that were selected based on total land devoted
to soybean production, so that response distribution would closely match that of soybean
production at a fine geographical resolution. By 2 November 2023, 1,169 samples werereceived. This report will serve as the initial preview of the 2023 U.S. soybean crop. The final
report for the 2023 US soybean crop including late harvested soybean samples will beavailable in the first week of 2024.

Samples were analyzed for protein, oil, and amino acid concentration by near-infrared
spectroscopy (NIRS) using a PerkinElmer DA7250 diode array instrument (PerkinElmer Inc.,
Waltham, MA, USA) equipped with calibrations developed in collaboration with PerkinElmer.
A subset of samples was sent to two commercial laboratories for assessment by AOCSapproved analytical chemical methods in order to validate NIR quality constituent
predictions. Regional and national average quality values were determined by computing
weighted averages using state and regional soybean production estimates, so that averagevalues best represent the crop as a whole.

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QUALITY REPORT: 2023
PROTEIN AND OIL
The 2023 US crop shows a decrease in protein of 0.2 points to 33.9 % and a slight increase inoil of 0.1 point to 19.6% (Table 2) when compared with 2022. For context, the 2022 US
soybean crop had a relatively low protein level, of 33.9% that was 0.3 points below theprevious ten-year average value. The average oil value in 2022 of 19.5% was slightly above
the average for recent years (Table 5).

Compared with the prior ten-year average, 2023 protein was 0.5 points lower, and oil was 0.3
points higher. Despite an intense drought in the primary soybean producing states of the
U.S. Corn Belt, average soybean protein and oil levels were similar to both last year and thehistorical averages.

While average values provide some insight to the overall crop no one produces, trades, orutilizes an average soybean. The drought certainly played a large role in affecting crop yields
and seed quality harvested from those crops at a regional, state, county, and farm level. In
fact, summer rainfall events are very spotty at the local level. This only becomes importantunder drought conditions where localized and timely rainfall events can make the difference
between a crop failure and a very high yielding one. Soybean yields in 2023 varied at anextremely fine geographical level, and soybean seed quality did the same.

At the regional scale, the 2023 crop continued the trend of a geographical flattening ofregional protein and oil levels. The Eastern Corn Belt (ECB) had lower protein levels than thehistorically protein challenged Western Corn Belt (WCB), but these regions were only about
one half point lower than the traditionally higher protein regions of the Midsouth (MDS),Southeast (SE) and East Coast (EC). Due to later harvests and therefore small sample
numbers in the Southern regions, crop descriptions will focus primarily on the three primary
regions in the center and Northern production areas.

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QUALITY REPORT: 2023
Regional changes in protein level were modest. The WCB was 0.1 point lower in protein than2022, and the ECB and MDS were 0.3 and 0.2 points lower, respectively. Within region
variation in seed composition continued in 2023. Nebraska and Iowa had protein levels thatwere 0.6 and 0.5 points higher in 2023, while South Dakota and Minnesota had protein levels
that were 0.5 and 0.4 points lower in 2023. It must be noted that South Dakota andMinnesota had record high protein in 2022, while Iowa had very low proteins in 2022. It is
likely that the widespread and chronic nature of the drought in 2023 produced a leveling
effect on seed quality.

In the ECB, the neighboring states of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan saw decreases in proteinof 0.4, 0.4, and 0.8 points respectively. Wisconsin saw an increase of 0.3 points comparedwith 2022’s very low proteins (Table 2).

As was noted previously, planting date can affect soybean composition. Early planting tends
to favor increased yields over protein concentration in the final seed. Mourtzinis et al. (2017)
and Helms et al. (1998) found seed protein to increase with delayed planting, while oilconcentration decreased at the same rate. While early planting in Illinois may have helped
increase yields and lead to lower protein levels, early planting in Iowa did not have the same
effect. The more significant drought in Iowa likely overrode any yield and quality effects.
Reduced yields, themselves, in Iowa may have led to increased protein levels there.

The tradeoffs between protein and oil and seed yield make estimating soybean yields andcomposition quite difficult. Presence of drought has a large effect on yield and composition,
but severity, timing, and duration of drought further complicates the impacts. Slight
reductions in yield due to stress often result in increased protein and or oil; however, severe
drought tends to reduce yield significantly, and seed quality with it. Iowa saw both protein
and oil levels increase relative to 2022 levels. On the other hand, Kansas, Nebraska, and5

QUALITY REPORT: 2023
South Dakota all had lower protein levels, and only Nebraska showed some compensation
with increased oil content.

Michigan was another unique state, in that both protein and oil decreased relative to 2022.
There, protein declined by 0.8 points, while oil dipped by 0.2. Regional averages for oil
content varied little from 2023. The MDS had the same oil content as 2022, while the WCB
increased by 0.1 and the WCB by 0.2 points. Southern regions tended to have higher oil
content than their Northern neighbors. State-to-state variability was not quite as dramatic asprevious years, which was likely tied to late season drought stress.

Of significant practical importance is harvest moisture. While protein and oil values areprovided here on a 13% basis for standardization, soybean processors effectively utilize
soybeans on an as-is basis. The 2023 crop was not quite as dry as 2022, yet soybean samples
averaged 11.5% with 66% of samples arrived at less than 12% moisture. Soybean moisture
may not affect soybean meal protein levels, but drier soybeans increase meal and oil yields inproportion to moisture content. All purchasers will find as-is protein and oil levels to behigher in 2023 crop soybeans than usual.

SEED WEIGHT, TEST WEIGHT, FOREIGN MATERIAL, AND SOYBEANS OF OTHER COLORS
Seed weight in soybean is important for some food uses but tends to have little impact on
the value of conventionally processed soybeans. However, seed weight does help provide
insight into the production environment and potential yield-limiting phases in crop growth.
Seed weight is an indicator of the relative differences in growing environment in midsummer
vs. late summer. Pre-harvest yield estimates are primarily based on counts of seeds per unitof area. These estimates are not able to include seed weight as this is determined late in thesoybean’s growth cycle. Improved yield estimates would be possible with better estimates ofseed size.

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QUALITY REPORT: 2023
Average seed weight of the 2023 crop decreased by one full gram per 100 seeds. This is a 6%
decrease from the 2022 average of 16.8 g per 100 seeds. With yields estimated to be similar
to 2022, this indicates that the 2023 crop had the potential to be much larger; however, lateseason stresses, primarily from drought, limited this crop’s size. While nearly every state andregion saw a reduction in seed size compared with 2022, The Western and Eastern Corn Belt
regions were primarily responsible for this change (Table 3). Iowa (15.8 g per 100 seeds) andKansas (13.1 g per 100 seeds) saw reductions of around 2 g compared with 2022. Likewise,neighboring states of Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa all saw seed size
reduced by one or more g per 100 seed when compared with 2022. Despite being smaller
than last year, the far northern states of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan
produced near normal seed size. These states may exceed earlier yield estimates that werebased on seed number alone.

Test weight (TW) is a measure of density of grains. It is an important quality factor in cereal
grains, but it affects soybean quality little and is not a good indicator of value to theprocessor. We report it here as it is often measured and reported with little context.
Average US TW increased significantly from previous years when 56-57 pounds per bushel
has become standard. Average TW increased from 57.2 in 2022 to 60.7 in 2023. As withseed size, TW changed most from 2022 in the WCB and ECB. Here TWs increased by nearly 3
pounds per bushel. Missouri produced a whopping 65.7-pound TW (Table 3). The
geographically scattered states of Kansas, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, andIndiana all produced seed that had average TW of greater than the standard 60 pounds per
bushel.

Foreign material (FM) in soybeans sampled at the farm level continues to be very low in the
US. Average FM level in US soy was 0.2% in 2023 (Table 3), 0.1 point lower than in 2022.
Of 1,169 samples, only 15 had FM levels of greater than 2% and 39 had FM levels between 12%. Contamination with FM was less than 1% in 96% of samples (1,118 of 1,169).

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QUALITY REPORT: 2023
SUCROSE
Soybean meal provides not only protein, and therefore amino acids, for animal feed, but it
also adds to a ration’s energy (Stein et al., 2008). Sucrose in soybean and soybean meal
contributes to total Metabolizable Energy (ME) in livestock feed. Although soybean meal isan important contributor to a ration’s total ME, nutritionists often use ‘book values’ forenergy from soybean meal that does not differ across soybean origins. Our work highlights
the potential variation in ME in soybean meal based on varying sucrose levels in soybeans.
This variation tends to have a strong geographical basis to it. We have found that soybeansfrom the US have higher sucrose than soybeans from Brazil (Naeve, unpublished data), which
is desirable since sucrose is positive for ME. In studies of soybean meal quality by origin, theapparent ME in US soybean meal was significantly higher than that in meal from Argentina
and Brazil, and the higher sugar level in US soybean meal is likely a primary driver ofdifferences in metabolizable energy (Ravindran et al., 2014).

Average US sucrose levels, at 5.4% in 2023 (Table 3), were significantly higher than those in
2022 (4.5%). Similar to large-scale differences between tropical and subtropicalenvironments found in Brazil versus the U.S., we have found that soybeans produced incooler regions of the U.S. also have lower protein without offsetting increases in oil, buthigher sucrose levels. This trend was noted again in 2023. Far North states of North Dakota,
Michigan, and New York had the greatest sucrose concentrations. Sucrose certainly showssome trade-off with protein, expressing higher concentrations where protein is lower.
Sucrose followed the same flattening of the normal West to East gradient in protein noted
this year; whereby sucrose was not significantly higher in the West than in the East.

AMINO ACIDS
Amino acids are the “building block” organic compounds linked in various combinations toform unique proteins. Optimal animal performance occurs when the feed protein contains an

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ideal amount and proportion of all essential amino acids (those amino acids which cannot be
produced by animals).

In whole soybeans, lower crude protein translates to a higher relative proportion of the five
most critical essential amino acids (lysine, cysteine, methionine, threonine, and tryptophan),indicating that meal made from those soybeans will likely be of higher feed quality for a given
feed ration than meal made from higher crude protein soybeans (Thakur and Hurburgh, 2007;
Medic et al., 2014; Naeve, unpublished data). We have even detected this relationship in thethousands of samples from highly variable US regions, varieties, and management tactics.

The relative abundance of lysine (expressed as a percent of the 18 primary amino acids)
within the soybean protein fraction decreased only slightly from 6.9% in 2022 to 6.8% in 2023
(Table 4). Both WCB and ECB regions decreased by 0.1 point from year to year. There wasmuch less variation in the relative abundance of Lys in 2023. All states averaged 6.8%.
Similarly, the sum of the five essential amino acids (5 EAAs, expressed as a percent of the 18
primary amino acids) decreased from 14.9% in 2022 to 14.8% in 2023. As with Lysine, this isa simple reversal of the change from 2021 to 2022. There was relatively little variation
between states or regions for this measure of protein quality. More northern states tended
to have slightly higher levels in years prior to 2022. The flattening of geographical variationin amino acids follows the same trend noted with sucrose, protein, and oil over the past two
years. Certainly, the large scale and chronic drought experienced in the past few years has
led to an increase in the homogeneity of soybean composition in recent years – at least at
the state and region level.

CORRELATIONS
Understanding how soybean compositional factors are related to one another can help us
understand not only the trade-offs between attributes, but it can also lead to a better
understanding of the fundamental biology behind these factors. The relatedness of two

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factors can be measured by the Pearson correlation coefficient expressed as a number
between +1 and -1, where 1 is a perfect positive linear correlation, 0 is no linear correlation,and −1 is a perfect negative linear correlation. Correlations do not demonstrate causation.
Correlations between factors can be found in the correlation matrix on page 11.

Because most of the attributes that we describe here are expressed on a percentage basis,
trade-offs between factors naturally result in negative correlations. As expected, protein andoil were negatively correlated (r = -0.5), but because this is not a perfect correlation, it ispossible to find soybeans that have both high protein and oil or that are low in both. As isoften the case, the sum of protein and oil was much more highly correlated with protein thanwith oil. Numerically, protein has a greater opportunity to drive this sum value. However, itappears that the greater variation in protein over all environments is the root of these
correlations. Variation in protein leads to variation in the residual (mostly carbohydrate)
fraction of soybeans.

Sucrose is part of the residual fraction in soybean and therefore tends to be negatively
correlated with both protein and oil. Soybeans that are lower in both protein and oil tend tohave higher sucrose levels. In 2023, sucrose was negatively correlated with protein and oil at
r = -0.2 and -0.45, and highly negatively correlated with the sum of the two constituents (r = 0.6).

Historically, we have noted that the 5 EAAs value is negatively correlated with protein. This
has also been supported by experimental research (Pfarr et al., 2018) where lower protein
soybeans produce protein that is enriched in these five essential amino acids. There is clearlya trade-off between protein quantity and quality. In 2023, protein was correlated with 5
EAAs at r = -0.6, and lysine at r = -0.8. Lysine is correlated with the 5EAAs at r = 0.6, so while
it is a mathematically big contributor to the sum of these five amino acids, the other fourcertainly play their own independent roles.

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QUALITY REPORT: 2023
In previous years we have found TW to be moderately negatively correlated oil and positively
correlate with sucrose. But in 2023, we did not see any correlation with any factor that wemeasured. Surprisingly, seed size does not correlate well with any of our measured seed
constituents. This indicates that factors driving seed size do not differentially affectdeposition of protein, oil, or any secondary constituents. Seed size is slightly positively
correlated with sucrose levels (r = 0.16).

Correlation Matrix

Protein
(13%)
Oil
(13%)

Protein
(13%)

Oil
(13%)

Protein +
Oil
(13%)

Sucrose(db)

Lysine(%18AA)

5 EAAs(%18AA)

TW(lb/bu)Seed Weight(g 100 seeds-1)

1

-0.49

0.66

-0.23

-0.84

-0.60

0.04

-0.04

1

0.32

-0.45

0.35

0.22

-0.03

0.03

1

-0.63

-0.61

-0.47

-0.02

-0.02

1

0.25

0.19

0.06

0.16

1

0.60

-0.06

0.05

1

-0.06

-0.08

1

0.04

Protein + Oil(13%)
Sucrose(db)
Lysine(% 18AA)
5 EAAs(% 18AA)TW(lb/bu)Seed Weight(g 100 seeds1)

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WEATHER AND CROP SUMMARY
The overarching story of 2023 was historic (and chronic) drought, an issue that has impacted
yields since 2020.

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April brought cooler to much cooler than normal temps, with Minnesota and the Dakotas on
the colder end. Combined with the cooler temps it was also mostly drier than average,
except in Northern and Central Minnesota and Wisconsin where they saw a late melt ofheavy snowpack. Other plains states including Missouri and Iowa saw a very quick snow
melt, leaving soils that were still too dry. Other regions had more average soil moisture.
Spring planting was delayed in the far northwest, but others had few delays. The very dry
soils to the west continued to be a large concern.
After a broadly moist early spring, May delivered much warmer and drier conditions thanusual, except in the western plains, which were much wetter than normal but only slightly
warmer. Some of the dryness was very severe with widespread areas receiving less than 50%
of average precipitation. There was a rapid increase in ‘short to very short’ soil moisturestatus across the central to eastern Corn Belt, in particular. Spring planting was ahead of the
5-year average, but dry soils continued to be a concern and crop conditions began to reflectthat dryness.
By June the Western Plains was the only area that was not experiencing dryer than normal
conditions and portions of most states were seeing less than 25% of normal precipitation.
There was a rapid onset of drought conditions in the central to eastern Corn Belt, and theNorthern Plains were dealing with much warmer than average temps as well. The rest of theregion also saw warmer temps, except IN/OH which were near to normal or a bit cooler.
Some much-needed rains in the Plains and eastern areas arrived in early July but there wasstill widespread severe dryness, and the central states were the driest. Nearly the whole
Corn Belt experienced below average temps except ND/MN, which were slightly above
average.
Through August, the dryness seen in July spread more west into the plains and most of theregion was well above average for temperature, although the eastern Corn Belt saw slightly
below average temps. The dryness was notable particularly in MN/WI/IA and into the plains.
Most areas were well above average in temperature, except parts of the eastern Corn Belt,
which were slightly below average. MN/western WI/IA had severe deficits in soil moisturewith the entire region worsening. Soybean conditions were the worst to the west and slightly
better to the east.
By the end of August/beginning of September, only areas around the periphery of the Corn
Belt showed slightly wetter conditions. In addition, dry soils and heat stressed the crops in
the end of their season, with the central areas seeing the worst conditions.

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REFERENCES
Egli, D.B., and P.L. Cornelius. 2009. A Regional Analysis of the Response of Soybean Yield to Planting
Date. Agron. J. 101(2):330-335.
Federal Grain Inspection Service. 2004. Test Weight. In Grain Inspection Handbook II (Chapter 10).
Washington DC: USDA-GIPSA-FGIS.
Helms, T.C., and J.H. Orf. 1998. Protein, oil, and yield of soybean lines selected for increased protein.
Crop Sci. 38:707-711.
Medic, J., C. Atkinson, and C.R. Hurburgh Jr. 2014. Current knowledge in soybean composition. J. Am.
Oil Chem. Soc. 91(3):363-384.
Mourtzinis, S., A.P. Gaspar, S.L. Naeve, and S.P. Conley. 2017. Agron. J. 109:2040-2049.
National Agricultural Statistics Service: NASS. 2023. Available at: <nass.usda.gov>
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: National Climate Report,
published online, retrieved October 29, 2023 fromhttps://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/national/202309.
Pfarr, M.D., M.J. Kazula, J.E. Miller-Garvin, and S.L. Naeve. 2018. Amino acid balance is affected byprotein concentration in soybean. Crop Sci. 58:1-13.
Ravindran, V., M.R. Abdollahi, and S.M. Bootwalla. 2014. Nutrient analysis, metabolizable energy, anddigestible amino acids of soybean meals of different origins for broilers. Poultry Sci. 93:2567-2577.
Stein, H.H., L.L. Berger, J.K. Drackley, G.F. Fahey, Jr., D.C. Hernot, and C.M. Parsons. 2008. Nutritional
properties and feeding values of soybeans and their coproducts. pp. 613-660 In Soybeans, Chemistry,
Production, Processing, and Utilization. L.A. Johnson, P.J. White, and R. Galloway, eds. AOCS Press,
Urbana, IL.
Thakur, M., and C.R. Hurburgh. 2007. Quality of US soybean meal compared to the quality of soybean
meal from other origins. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 84:835-

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Figure 1
Figure 1: US Soybean Planting and Harvest Progress -- Source: USDA NASS

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Figure 2: US Soybean, Corn, Wheat Harvested Area -- Source: USDA NASS16

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Figure 3: US Protein and Oil State/Regional Summary

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Contact Information
DR. SETH L. NAEVE
PROFESSOR OF AGRONOMY

Naeve002@umn.edu
University of Minnesota
Department of Agronomy & Plant Genetics
411 Borlaug Hall
1991 Upper Buford Circle
St. Paul, MN 55108
Tel 612-625-4298
Final updated reports will be available at
http:/z.umn.edu/soybean-quality

Funding provided by the United Soybean Board

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