SUSTAINABILITY REPORT FOR THE U.S. SOYBEAN INDUSTRY: The Past Decade s Progress, Plus Even More Improvements On The Way

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1 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT FOR THE U.S. SOYBEAN INDUSTRY: The Past Decade s Progress, Plus Even More Improvements On The Way By Kimball Nill, Technical Issues Director U.S. Soybean Export Council St. Louis, Missouri The U.S. Soybean Industry s Output, And That Of Our Downstream Customers, Has Become More Sustainable 1 & Leaner (both in terms of environmental footprint and literally, in the case of animal feeding industries) During The Past Ten Years. 1. THE WORLD S PORK BECOMES LEANER Following the lead of the U.S. swine industry, the swine production industries of numerous countries have utilized soybean meal from U.S. soybeans to transform the pork they produce into a significantly leaner product with less fat. 2 Simultaneous with that adoption, their use of that high-quality soybean meal enabled those overseas swine producers to greatly improve their animals feed conversion efficiency. They can now produce one kilogram of pork from less than three kilograms of total feed ration (i.e., as much as 50% improvement in conversion efficiency versus the feed rations used earlier). That increase in feed conversion efficiency was also aided by those industries adoption of improved swine genetics, better swine confinement housing & ventilation systems, etc. often with the technical assistance of advisors provided by ASA International Marketing (ASAIM) or its predecessor organization, the American Soybean Association (ASA). That technical assistance was paid-for by a combination of funds from U.S. soybean farmers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Reducing the amount of feed ration consumed per unit of pork produced also had the environmentally-beneficial impact of reducing the tonnage of swine manure output. Because cropland to spread animal manure upon is scarce in many overseas countries, this volume reduction helps to better balance animal waste volume with the cropland s need for it as a fertilizer. Therefore, maximizing feed conversion efficiency via use of U.S. soybean-origin soybean meal has helped make their agricultural production more sustainable. Plus, during the next half decade, U.S. soybean farmers will begin planting several new varieties of soybeans (i.e., possessing much lower phytate content) which will decrease manure output even more. That is because modern swine producers currently add mined & processed phosphate to their feed rations to enable proper skeleton and muscle growth. That is additional to the natural phosphate already present in conventional soybean varieties, because the phosphate extant in conventional soybeans (and grains) exists in the form of a compound called phytate (i.e., chemically bound with phytic acid). Because monogastric animals such as swine and poultry lack the phytase enzyme needed for digestion of phytate, most of the extant phytate is excreted by the animals, which can sometimes cause environmental problems when cropland to spread manure upon is in short supply. 3 1

2 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT FOR THE U.S. SOYBEAN INDUSTRY: The Past Decade s Progress, Plus Even More Improvements On The Way A number of biotechnology companies are currently working to develop soybean varieties with drastically-reduced phytate content. When low-phytate soybean meal is mixed with low-phytate corn to make animal feed rations, phosphate emissions in swine 2

3 and poultry manure are reduced by approximately half. The iron, calcium, and protein in the ration are also absorbed more completely by the animal, which thereby reduces both anemia and nitrogen excretion POULTRY PRODUCTION BECOMES LEANER Following many years of technical assistance provided by the U.S. Soybean Export Council or its predecessor organization, many of the U.S. soybean industry s overseas customer s: * broiler (meat) chickens reach a weight of pounds (2.5 3 kilograms) at 49 days of age. That compares to pounds ( kg) before their adoption of feeds containing high-quality soybean meal made from U.S. soybeans. * laying-hen chickens average eggs per year, versus eggs/year before their adoption of feeds containing high-quality soybean meal made from U.S. soybeans. As was true for the above-described increase in swine feed conversion efficiency this increase in poultry meat/egg production was also aided by those poultry producers adoption of improved poultry genetics, better confinement housing & ventilation systems, etc. again often with the technical assistance of advisors provided by ASA International Marketing or its predecessor organization. Space in the rations fed to modern poultry is now a major limiting factor, when feedmills attempt to manufacture feed rations that deliver enough nutrition for those poultry to reach their full production potential. 5 Similar to the very high protein training diets eaten by Olympic athletes to achieve their body s full muscle potential, modern poultry production cannot waste the animals fixed stomach room on empty feed ingredients. Additionally, the adoption of high-quality soybean meal made from U.S. soybeans enabled those poultry producers to improve their animals feed conversion efficiency. They can now produce one kilogram of poultry meat from less than two kilograms of total feed ration (i.e., as much as 40% improvement in conversion efficiency versus the feed rations used earlier). Reducing the amount of feed ration consumed per unit of meat produced also had the environmentally-beneficial impact of reducing the tonnage of poultry manure output. Because cropland to spread animal manure upon is scarce in many overseas countries, this volume reduction helps to better balance animal waste volume with the cropland s need for it as a fertilizer. Therefore, maximizing feed conversion efficiency via use of U.S. soybean-origin soybean meal has helped make their agricultural production more sustainable. 3

4 3. WORLD AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION BECOMES MORE SUSTAINABLE Based on research that was funded by U.S. soybean farmers, and managed by ASAIM and its predecessor organization(s), overseas aquaculture producers now utilize more than five million metric tons per year of soybean meal in the feed rations consumed by their fish. 6 That adoption of feeds using high-quality soybean meal made from U.S. soybeans has made those aquaculture industries, and overall aquatic life in the oceans, more sustainable. Historically, many of the world s aquaculture producers ( fish farmers ) had utilized one of two unsustainable practices for feeding their fish: grinding-up of the many species of ocean fishes that are not commercially marketable for human consumption (e.g., to be served in restaurants, etc.). Recent research has revealed that these so-called trash fish species are a critically important component of the ocean s food chain for a great number of the larger commercially-harvested fish species. 7 Large amounts of fuel and other energy are expended to capture and pulverize them to make meat-based aquaculture feeds. Moreover, when the pulverized fishmeat of trash fish is utilized in aquaculture feeds, it can cause water pollution, poor feed conversion, and can spread diseases in the farmed fish. adding animal manure (e.g., from ducks or chickens grown in elevated wire-floor cages) to aquaculture ponds, in order to have the resultant phosphorous and other nutrient excess thereby induce massive growth in the ponds of algae and/or phytoplankton/zooplankton for the fish in those ponds to eat. Because frequent flushing of said ponds with large amounts of fresh water was required to keep the fish alive under those oxygen-depleting conditions, and such aquaculture ponds inevitably eventually drain into a watershed which drains into a river which eventually runs into an ocean, this manure-feeding aquaculture practice contributes to the dead zone found at the mouth of virtually all of the world s major rivers where they enter an ocean. 8 According to the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), approximately ninety percent of the world s aquaculture today occurs in developing countries. 9 As USSEC-led adoption of feeds using high-quality soybean meal made from U.S. soybeans by those aquaculture industries increases, the above two unsustainable feeding practices will continue to decline BIOFUELS PRODUCTION BECOMES MORE SUSTAINABLE On July 12, 2006, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projected that global biofuel production will climb to 1.2 million barrels per day by 2010, almost double the 2005 production of 650,000 barrels per day. The term biofuels includes biodiesel manufactured from rapeseed oil, ethanol fermented from sugar cane or corn/maize, and biodiesel manufactured from soybean oil. 11 Because the soybean plant is a legume, it fixes its own nitrogen fertilizer out of the air, so the farmer does not need to apply any nitrogen fertilizer to soybean fields. 12 However, other biofuel crops require the application of large amounts of nitrogen 4

5 fertilizer. A significant portion of that applied nitrogen fertilizer gets oxidized into the greenhouse gas known as nitrous oxide before it can be utilized by those non-legume crop plants. Overall, two thirds of the world s annual emissions of that potent greenhouse gas (310 times more effective at trapping heat than is carbon dioxide) come from the crops which require application of nitrogen fertilizer by the farmer. 13 Therefore, in terms of overall greenhouse gas life-cycle impact, soybean oil-based biodiesel is the most sustainable of all the crops utilized to manufacture biofuels U.S. SOYBEAN PRODUCTION BECOMES MORE SUSTAINABLE For many years, the American Soybean Association worked often in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help U.S. farmers grow their soybeans via production methods that are sustainable (i.e., able to be done without net loss of topsoil or of soil fertility; and using the smallest feasible amount of fuel). Toward that end, the ASA & USDA had published a book for U.S. soybean farmers in 1998 entitled SOYBEAN MANAGEMENT & THE LAND: A BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES HANDBOOK FOR GROWERS. Among other farming practices, that handbook promoted: planting of trees in applicable areas (e.g., buffer strips between a given farm field and an adjacent lake or stream). As a result of such USDA, et al programs, and numerous efforts by other industries (e.g., programs by U.S. lumber and paper industries), the U.S. today has more hectares of trees than it did the day that European explorers first landed in America. 15 adoption of conservation tillage practices (e.g., no tillage or low tillage in which plowing/mechanical cultivation for weed control is replaced by use of herbicides in whole or in part). 16 It had been possible for some U.S. farmers (e.g., living in certain latitudes, on farms of some soil types) to adopt conservation tillage practices prior to the 1996 introduction of biotech herbicide-resistant soybeans. However, shortly prior to 1998 (i.e., the first year that a large amount of the biotech soybean seed was available for planting), U.S. adoption of conservation tillage had essentially plateaued. But the arrival of the biotech soybean changed everything for conservation tillage adoption, and adoption rates soared. A 2001 study conducted by the American Soybean Association found that a majority of U.S. soybean farmers had adopted conservation tillage practices since the introduction of biotechnology-derived herbicide-resistant soybeans specifically due to the fact that the biotech herbicide-resistant soybean varieties had made it more feasible. During that time period, use of conservation tillage in soybean fields approximately doubled-- so by 2001, 49% of total U.S. soybean hectares were no-till and an additional 33% of total U.S. soybean acres were low-till. 17 Subsequent to that 2001 study, the fractions of U.S. soybean hectares utilizing both conservation tillage methods and biotechnology varieties has continued to increase. Moreover, the post-1996 no-till soybean acres had a new feature that had generally not been previously seen, which was planting of the soybeans too close together to be able to ever get a mechanical cultivator between the rows. U.S. farmers did this, because on the biotech soybeans they knew that for the first time ever, their weed 5

6 control would be reliable enough to not have to ever fall-back on usage of mechanical cultivation. Previous no till production practices always held risk that inclement weather could lead to a weed escape which would necessitate use of mechanical cultivation between the soybean rows to control escaped weeds. During America s severe drought of 2003, these narrow-row no-till soybeans conserved enough topsoil moisture (because the topsoil was shaded between rows) to still yield a crop, when conventionally tilled soybeans in adjacent fields suffered total crop failure. Therefore, the best available agricultural management practices have been improved via biotechnology-derived crops, and will almost certainly improve even more in the future. Research published during 2000 by G. Phillip Robertson, Eldor A. Paul, and Richard R. Harwood of Michigan State University showed that no tillage methods of crop production reduce modern agriculture s impact on global warming by approximately 88%. 18 The rate of global warming (i.e., the postulated increase in the Earth s average temperature resulting from activities of mankind) would tend to be increased by activities that place more carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas ) in the atmosphere. However, the adoption or increased utilization of no tillage and low tillage methods of crop production which is facilitated by the new herbicide-tolerant biotech crops 17 removes net carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by sequestering it into the soil of cropland. As more of that carbon is added to the topsoil each year, the cropland is able to absorb increasing amounts of rainfall, with a concomitant reduction in runoff. 19 Additionally, the switch to no-tillage or low-tillage greatly reduces a farmer s fuel consumption. BACKGROUND Modern agriculture accomplishes control of weeds either through mechanical cultivation or via the application of herbicides. Weed pressure will vary by location, but the maize and soybean farmers who use only mechanical cultivation (e.g., organic farmers in America) have to cultivate their fields as many as fourteen times per growing season. 20 By contrast, the no tillage and low tillage crop production methods utilize one, and 2-4 cultivation passes-over-field respectively; which decreases soil erosion (due to wind & water) by 90% or more. 21 When a farmer switches from intensive mechanical cultivation to no tillage or low tillage crop production, the population of earthworms subsequently increases in direct proportion to the amount by which mechanical cultivation is avoided. 22 As mentioned above, that same switch in crop production methods also helps remove carbon dioxide from the Earth s atmosphere, because avoidance of over-cultivation allows the natural fungi that grow on plant roots to produce glomalin, a protein that sequesters carbon taken in by plants and keeps it within the soil. Glomalin also helps to improve the fertility of soil by acting as the sort of glue to cause soil particles to properly clump together; for subsurface spaces to be created which allow water, oxygen, and plant roots to permeate the soil. Glomalin is one of the primary differences between fertile cropland soil and lifeless desert sand. 23 A 2005 study published by the United Kingdom consulting firm PG Economics reported that the biotech soybean-facilitated increase in Argentina s no tillage soybean hectares had resulted in a greenhouse gas reduction impact equivalent to eliminating more than 4.7 billion kilograms (10 billion pounds) of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during Argentina s latest growing season. The greenhouse gas reduction impact in the U.S. 6

7 would be even larger, because the U.S. soybean growing area is nearly twice as large as that of Argentina, and its similar, more than doubling of no-till and low-till area following the 1996 advent of biotech herbicide-resistant soybeans. 24 Another result of that switch to no till or low till is a reduction in soil compaction, a process in which the soil particles were compressed together. That is both because heavy tillage equipment is no longer driven over the no till field, and because the large topsoil particles are no longer ground-down to smaller size via cultivation/abrasion. Again, this benefit of conservation tillage results in the relevant field absorbing more rainfall, with little or no runoff. 25 For the first time in the history of agriculture, farmers on a broad scale (i.e., millions of hectares) are actually increasing the amount of topsoil in their fields, during a given growing season. This has long been a dream of agriculturalists, but its actual adoption on a broad scale required the arrival of the biotechnology-derived herbicide-resistant soybean (also analogous biotechnology-derived maize and/or cotton, which is grown in a given field during the out-rotation year). References: 1. U.S. Congress "Farm Bill" [Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (FACTA), Public Law , Title XVI, Subtitle A, Section U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service Report, 2006 Feedstuffs magazine, July 3, 2006, page ENHANCED ANIMAL FEED GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, BioScience News & Advocate, February 27, LOW-PHYTATE GRAINS CUT PHOSPHOROUS EXCRETION, National Hog Farmer, December 15, 2000, p 14, and ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PHOSPHOROUS FEEDING, National Hog Farmer, March 15, 2003, p and Biotechnology, November, 1993, p 111, and Pig International, October, 1997, p 11, and Progressive Farmer, February, Feedstuffs magazine, July 1, 1996, page Formal testimony by the American Soybean Association to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, April 6, NORTH ATLANTIC FISH POPULATION SEEN IN RAPID DECLINE (study issued by the Earth Policy Institute), Sparks Policy Report, November 15, 2002, page REDUCING PHOSPHOROUS EXCRETION, INCREASING AQUACULTURE SUSTAINABILITY, Feed International, January, 2005, page Second Session of the FAO Subcommittee on Aquaculture, August, CONVERTING AQUACULTURE FEEDS.. TO UTILIZE SOY INSTEAD OF FISHMEAL, Soybean Review, Spring, 2000 edition. 11. BIODIESEL FROM SOYBEANS MORE USABLE AND BETTER FOR AIR QUALITY, Informa Weekly Update, July 17, 2006, page Associated Press, May 17, IOWA CONSIDERS BANNING MANURE APPLICATIONS ON SOYBEANS, Informa Economics Policy Report, page FARMERS URGED TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE, Agra Europe Weekly, January 30, CARBON EMISSIONS TRADING PICKS UP, Chemical & Engineeering News, December 5,

8 14. BIODIESEL BEATS ETHANOL IN BIOFUEL BATTLE, New Scientist journal, July 10, IT S GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME: 101 GREATEST TRENDS OF THE LAST 100 YEARS, by Stephen Moore, and Julian l. Simon. Page SOYBEAN MANAGEMENT & THE LAND: A BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES HANDBOOK FOR GROWERS American Soybean Association (ASA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 17. ASA STUDY CONFIRMS ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF BIOTECH SOYBEANS, November at and Nonpoint Source News-Notes, (pub. By EPA) January, 2003, p G. Phillip Robertson, et al, Greenhouse Gases in Intensive Agriculture: Contributions of Individual Gases To The Radiative Forcing Of The Atmosphere Science, September 15, 2000, p Soybean Digest, January, 1999, p. 42; and Farm Chemicals, August, 2000, p. 22 and ACHIEVEMENTS IN PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY, 1999, p ORGANIC GROWER SPENDS MANY HOURS ON HIS TRACTOR, Soybean Digest, March, 2000, page Soybean Digest, January, 2000, p 40 and Soybean Digest, September, 1999, p HEALTHY SOIL BOOSTS YIELDS, Corn & Soybean Digest, October, 2003, p and Farm Industry News, March, 1998, p. 40 and Agra Europe, April 7, 2000, pa4 and Seed Today, August, 2002, p NUTRIENT KNOWLEDGE, Farm Industry News, September/October, 1999, p 11 and SCIENTIST CREDITS GLOMALIN FOR SOIL ORGANIC MATTER, and SCIENTIST CREDITS GLOMALIN FOR SOIL ORGANIC MATTER, Seed & Crops Digest, March/April, 2003, p ASA POINTS TO BENEFITS OF BIOTECH CROPS IN REDUCING GREENHOUSE AS EMISSIONS, Press release dated June 13, STUDY DEMONSTRATES NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOIL COMPACTION ON CORN YIELDS, Commercial Agriculture, May, 2001, p. 4 8

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