Checkoff-funded research has found that soybean inclusion rates in swine feed have dropped 70% since 1990, in large part replaced by synthetic amino acids and corn byproducts, reports AgriNews.
Given that 70% of soybeans produced in the United States go to feed livestock, and the displaced soybeans pay farmers more than the corn byproducts, this synthetic incursion is costing US farmers millions of dollars in lost revenue. On a global scale, the losses would run in the billions.
It’s the amino acid levels in soybeans — not protein, or oil — that determine livestock feed value. Livestock producers and nutritionists rely on seven essential amino acids to drive animal growth, productivity and profitability.
If soybeans don’t deliver those amino acids, then customers in livestock markets go elsewhere for them.
