Jenny Callear, age 11, of Peoria, Ill., for her question:
HOW ARE SOYBEANS USED?
Soybeans grow well in locations where corn grows well. Both plants need the same type of soil, fertility and climate. A fertile loam soil that is warm and well drained works best for soybeans. Drained swamplands, however, also seem to provide a good place for a soybean crop. For best results, planters make sure that the soil contains nitrogen fixing organisms.
Soybeans have been used in China for about 5,000 years. The ancient Orientals used them for food and also made medicine from them.
Today the soybean is a farm crop that supplies animal feed, food for human beings and also many raw materials for industry. The plant is an annual that
belongs to the pea family.
Soybean plants are used for hay, silage, which is winter food for stock, and pasturage, which is green food for stock. The bean, which is extremely high in food values because it has more protein than beef, more calcium than milk and more of a fatty substance called lecithin than eggs, has dozens of different uses.
Most soybeans are used to make oil. About one fifth of the bean is oil. Over 80 percent produced in the United States is used for edible products including margarine, shortening and cooking oils.
Soybeans are also ground into soy flour which is used to make breads, puddings, candy and many other foods. The beans can also be processed into foods that look and taste like beef, pork and other kinds of meats. Vegetarians appreciate many of the imitation meats.
Soybean meal is also used in industry to produce many chemical products. You'll find it used to manufacture paints and fire extinguisher fluids. In addition, you'll find soybean meal used to make paper coatings, adhesives, sizing for cloth, fertilizer, linoleum backing, insect
sprays and scores of other products.
A soybean plant grows from two to three and a half feet in height. The stem, leaves and pods are covered with short, fine brown or gray hairs. Small white or purple flowers grow where the leaves join the stems.
The soybean pods range in color from yellow to shades of gray, brown and black. Each contains from two to four round or oval seeds. The seeds themselves may be yellow, green, brown, black or even speckled.
More than 100 different varieties of soybeans have been developed in the United States. Many new varieties have been produced by crossing varieties of the plant.
By the 1600s, soybeans were taken from China and grown in Germany, England, France and Hungary. In 1804 the soybean found its way to America. Today about three fourths of the world's soybean crop is grown in the United States with most coming from the Middle West.