The United Soybean Board (USB) Value Task Force is exploring a Value Enhancement Opportunity (VEO) to develop market standards, protocols and technologies that will allow farmers to be paid based on crude oil and protein. The goal is for farmers to seek out varieties that contain levels of oil and protein that will command the highest price and motivate seed companies to focus on those constituents.
The task force outlines the following benefits:
- Soybean value, regardless of region produced, will increase gradually as farmers and seed companies seek out high-yielding varieties with optimal levels of oil and meal and the global market reacts to U.S. soybeans with higher value composition.
- Stronger international demand for higher quality U.S. soybeans.
- Higher protein soybean meal and more value to livestock feeders.
- Improved soybean sustainability.
The task force identifies potential costs:
- Measurement technologies will need to efficiently and accurately measure quality at multiple points along the value chain.
- In some cases, maintaining some degree of “soft” segregation and sorting early in the grain handling and processing stages will be required to preserve value differential.
Reprinted with permission, April 2014, Telvent LLC