Innovating NutritionForward Solutions

By Joli A. Hohenstein

If you’re following the news or on social media at all, you’ve likely seen headlines flashing huge projections for world growth – 10 billion or more by 2050! The likelihood is strong, but the larger storyline for Illinois agriculture is that more population means increased demand for protein grown with the help of soybean meal fed to animals.

Today, we aren’t just feeding the world. We're feeding a growing global population that is increasingly urbanized and a middle class that’s trending up across the board. That also means more demand for protein, especially meat.

So how can Illinois soy be part of the solution and stay top-of-mind as countries seek to feed their growth?

Simply put: U.S. soy is the best nutrition-forward solution in the world for animal agriculture.

Now, it’s up to us to tell that story.

Key Challenge – an Overdue Paradigm Shift

As we tell the world about the advantages of U.S. soy, we face one key challenge: the way business has always been done. Huge segments of the world market make purchasing decisions based on crude protein.

In reality, crude protein is far from the best decision point for feed ingredient buyers or their customers.

“I do believe a paradigm shift is overdue,” says Tom D’Alfonso, Director, Animal and Aquaculture for the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC). “Soy ends up in animal diets more than any other use. Animal diets are rarely formulated on crude protein.”

Rather, animal diets are formulated on the consistency and digestibility of essential amino acids and calories. Quality control practices, including the use of near-infrared spectroscopy, allow for this value to be captured at the mill.

Crushers that provide superior soybean meal, and practice superior quality control, then pass on the value of U.S. soy to animal producers. “For example, measuring and reporting values such as lysine and reactive lysine (an indicator of digestibility) brings greater value than measuring crude protein,” says D’Alfonso. “Greater transparency in the supply chain brings value to all players in the supply chain.”

As the world slowly realizes that soy value is based on far more than simple crude protein, they also see that when you wrap in all of the value factors U.S. soy delivers, there’s no comparison.

“If you use U.S. soy, even if you pay more on the front end, your returns will be as good or better at the other end of the cycle, as you’ll see the returns in animals that grow faster and have better uptake of nutrients,” says Todd Main, Director of Market Development, ISA. “We will continue to educate feed millers and producers and other stakeholders on the key benefits of U.S. soy and how they play into global purchasing.”

Key Benefit: Superior Nutrient Bundle

“U.S. soy has a superior nutrient bundle of amino acids and digestible calories, worth more than $25 per ton of soybean meal, on average, with present economics in major animal-producing markets of the world,” says D’Alfonso.

U.S. soy offers better amino acid digestibility for swine and poultry compared to Argentina and Brazil. Higher amino acid digestibility reduces the need for supplementing with synthetic amino acids, in turn reducing formulation costs.

In addition, feed formulations with higher digestible amino acids enable nutritionists to more precisely meet nutrition requirements. This also impacts not only animal performance but also overall profitability.

Energy contribution is another key factor in animal nutrition diets and another area where U.S. soy excels. U.S. soy has superior levels of energy compared to soy from other places, with twenty percent more net energy than soy from Argentina and thirty percent more net energy than soy from Brazil, for example.

Key Benefit: Consistency & Quality

Not only does U.S. soy provide better nutrition for animals, it also provides a more consistent, quality nutrition source, with less variability in amino acids and metabolizable energy than soy from other locations.

“This results in additional lower feed costs and more consistent performance of the animals.”

For example, the U.S. consistently has less whole soybean damage than Brazil that country averages 4-6x more damage. Additionally, U.S. soy's total moisture content is twelve percent lower than Brazil, which results in higher nutrient concentrations that are extremely desirable for feed ingredients.

U.S. soy processing conditions are more consistent than soy from other origins. This, in turn, impacts quality, as well, according to Processing Condition Indicator assessments.

Key Benefit: Sustainability

U.S. soy also leads the world in sustainability. In fact, U.S. soy has the lowest carbon footprint when compared to soy from other countries, an attractive factor for buyers and end users worldwide.

“For customers, locking in U.S. soy into their animal feeds is measurably less costly in carbon footprint, and that can be communicated to consumers and shareholders, who are increasingly interested in these management decisions,” says D’Alfonso.

A study by Blonk Consultants found that the carbon footprint of U.S. soy is only 0.36 kg CO2eq/kg product, compared to 5.50 for Argentina and 5.70 for Brazil. This includes the impact of land-use change, primarily caused by deforestation in the two South American countries.

U.S. farmers, meanwhile, continue to incorporate more sustainability practices into their production strategies. In contrast to global trends, U.S. cropland is decreasing while its forest land is increasing. And U.S. soy has goals of further reducing greenhouse gas emissions per bushel while improving water, land and energy use efficiency; increasing soy production; and improving soil conservation.

Overall, U.S. soy nourishes animal nutrition businesses in both sustainable and measurable ways.

“Pork, poultry and aquaculture are the big growth opportunities internationally,” says ISA's Main. “We are working hard to educate worldwide consumers and to equip them with the best tools possible to make the switch to U.S. soy the clear choice.”

U.S. soy works hard to ensure that every player in the soy value chain and supply chain benefits from greater sustainability, consistency and nutrient composition.

“The end result is that businesses that use more U.S. soy get sustainability and profitability at the same time,” says D’Alfonso. “That’s business sustainability.”