Worries about soy crop meeting demand

The U.S. soybean crop this year is expected to be big -- but it might not be big enough to meet demand at home and abroad. 

Farmers are expected to plant even more soybeans than last year, but despite the numbers, export obligations could put a strain on the U-S supply. Tim Goodenough is one of the Wisconsin Soybean Association’s National Directors.  He says countries such as China, Brazil, and Argentina are depending on American soybeans.  "If we run that short of beans we could possibly be exporting beans into the country just to supply our supply. So it could get to that point to where it could get really critical."

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the U.S. could possibly drop to a 16-day supply.   Wisconsin Soybean Association’s Goodenough says that could raise the price of a variety of soybean-based products.  "You got a lot of food areas, there’s soy flour meal, gosh I’m trying to think you got tofu, and you’ve got just a host of other different food products that come from soybeans."

But Goodenough says southern states could help increase soybean supply at the end of this season.  He says farmers are wrapping up their wheat crop ahead of schedule, and might be able to double crop that land to grow soybeans.