Farm Policy and the Brief Saga of Soybeans, Part 2

Congress appears to be starting the New Year much as it ended the old one: barreling towards another potential government shutdown while haggling over a bill extending the continuing resolution, this time from January 19th and February 2nd to March 1st and 8th (Yilek, January 16, 2024; Emma, January 18, 2024, Foran, et al., January 18, 2024; Scholtes, Beavers, and Carney, January 18, 2024). Among many other things, each extension of the continuing resolution is likely to delay a farm bill reauthorization effort further into the spring. In the interim, this article continues the series exploring the nation’s second largest commodity crop and farm policy’s third largest program crop: soybeans (farmdoc daily, November 30, 2023). American farmers have planted soybeans for over 100 years. Congress has authorized direct assistance to farmers of some commodities for more than 90 years (since 1933 AAA), however, soybeans were added only just over 20 years ago (2002 Farm Bill). The lack of a farm program or the potential for payments did little to deter American farmers from planting the crop in increasing amounts, especially after World War II. This article reviews the adoption of soybeans across different regions of the country to add further perspective.