Mike Pearson takes a look at why U.S. soybean products are so valuable in the marketplace.

Soybeans are valuable for many reasons. One of which is that for ever 60 pound bushel of soybeans, there are 47 pounds of soybean meal and 11 pounds of soy oil.

Breaking the soybean into parts is the soy crash. When the crush is strong, that means there are more more beans being processed.

As of November 2023, there were were 200 million pounds of beans processed-- that's up 5 percent more than 2022.

There is also more demand for soy oil.

Renewable diesel is also continuing to grow in popularity.

Crude soybean oil production reached 2.325 billion pounds-- up 5.7 percent from 2022.

Refined soy oil production soared to 1.707 billion pounds-- that's up 4.5 percent from 2022.

Refined soybean oil production average is also up 10 percent.

The soybean crush capacity in the USA has included 60 plans and 2.2 billion bushels annually.

By 2026, there are 12 new plants planned to go online and five plant expansions to increase crush capacity. This will help to handle 1.5 billion bushels annually and provide new marketing opportunities for producers.

Farm Progress America is a daily look at key issues in agriculture. It is produced and presented by Mike Pearson, farm broadcaster and host of This Week in Agribusiness.