As the demand for organic food increases, farmers are reevaluating how they produce (and feed) livestock to meet these demands. Although solvent extraction is commonly used for high-volume oil production, the meal left over from this process can’t be used as organic animal feed because of the hazardous chemicals involved. Soybean meal generated from chemical-free…
Why Soybean Meal Dominates the Animal Feed Market
Over the last several decades, soybean meal has become the world’s dominant protein source in animal feed rations. More than three-fourths of the global soy supply ends up in feed formulations every year, more than any other oilseed or cereal grain. But what makes this an essential part of many animals’ daily diets? As a…
Calculating the Growth Potential of Organic Soybean Meal
Although large-scale soybean processors dominate the commodity vegetable oil markets, these solvent extraction plants can’t produce organic products because of the hazardous chemicals they use. So, while small-scale mechanical oil mills may not be able to compete in terms of overall production volume or oil recovery rates, they can differentiate themselves by specializing in organic…
The Trick to Deactivating Soybean Trypsin Inhibitor
As the primary source of protein in most animal feed formulations, soybean is highly valued for its unique amino acid profile as a low-cost nutrient supply. Unfortunately, as nutritional as soybean can be, it also contains some anti-nutritional factors that can harm animals and humans. The most problematic enzyme, soybean trypsin inhibitor, must be properly…
Exploring the Potential for Soybean Biodiesel
Driven by the search for more renewable energy sources, U.S. biofuel production continues to expand. As the demand for biofuel increases, so does the demand for soybean oil—which generates more than 60% of the vegetable oil-derived biodiesel currently produced in the U.S. Biofuel production has rippling effects throughout the agricultural supply chain, so it’s important…