What Are Traditional Soybeans?

Many edamame packagers make a point of saying their soybeans are not GMO.

In the simplest terms, traditional soybeans are soybeans that have not been genetically engineered. Soybeans (Glycine max) are native to China, where they have been planted since the eleventh century. Traditional soybeans are the modern descendants of those original beans. Until 1996, they were the only soybeans available for planting. Since 1996, genetically modified Roundup Ready soybeans have been steadily replacing traditional soybeans on American farms.

History of Traditional Soybeans

In China, soybeans have been grown domestically as one of the five major foods since the 11th century. Long a part of the Japanese and Southeast Asian diet as well, soybeans were introduced to the rest of the world during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Traditional Soybeans in the United States

In the United States, soybeans were first grown in Georgia in 1765. Called "Chinese vetch," they grew well in American soil but were a rarity for more than a century. Unlike Chinese farmers, U.S. farmers did not grow the beans for food. The earliest crops were grown as forage and were eaten almost exclusively by animals, not people. Around World War II, soybeans began to be used as an oil crop. Their production moved from the southeastern states to the corn belt of the Midwest By 2001, America was growing 2.9 million bushels of soybeans each year, 75 percent of all the soybeans grown in the world.

Uses

In China and Japan, soy is used for tofu, various kinds of soy sauce and a large variety of fermented, dried and fresh foods. The Japanese eat green soybeans as edamame and process the dried beans into a wide array of soy foods that are central to their diet. In the United States, soybeans are mainly an oil crop. Soybeans account for more than 80 percent of all the food-grade oils and fats consumed in the U.S. Soy oil is also used industrially in paint, varnish and ink. The meal that remains after extracting the bean's oils becomes animal feed. Soy protein becomes an ingredient in processed foods.

GMO Soybeans

1996 was a turning point for soybeans in America. It was then that Monsanto introduced Roundup Ready soybeans, and for the first time in history traditional soybeans were not the only variety of soybean available to American farmers. Roundup Ready soybeans have been genetically modified to survive application of Monsanto's broad spectrum herbicide, Roundup, minimizing the need for cultivation. In 2010, of the 78.9 million acres of soybeans planted in the U.S., 90 percent were Roundup Ready genetically modified beans, not traditional soybeans.

References

• Iowa State University, Department of Agronomy; Origin, History, and Uses of Soybean (Glycine max); Lance Gibson and Garren Benson
• Iowa State University Soybean Extension and Research Program: History of Soybean
• High Plain/Midwest Ag Journal; Roundup Ready Soybean Trait Patent Nears Expiration in 2014; Jennifer M. Latzke