A new study shows the soybean industry has a major financial impact on the U.S. economy.
The Soy Checkoff teamed up with the National Oilseed Processors Association to commission the 33-page report. They found the soy industry contributes an average of $124 billion each year, which includes around $86 billion from soy production and just under $10 billion from soy processing.
The total wage impact averaged around $10 billion. The United Soybean Board says it is not just the money, soy helps create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“As a farmer, sometimes we get in our daily routine and don’t think about the big picture, and this study that USB and the crush industry came together to do showed us some great results and some really eye-opening contributions that the soy sector adds to the national economy. $124 billion per year. That’s a big, big number. We have a lot of jobs that also fall in that economy, with 223,000 paid full-time jobs. So, those are some really big, big numbers and goes to emphasize the importance of the soybean sector,” said Ed Lammers.
Lammers says studies like this help show other farmers the importance of what they do each day, and he says soybeans are now used in more than 1,000 products.
