A Tale of Two Oilseeds: Soybean Saga, Part 3

Flowering plants producing pods of peas or beans are legumes; key sources of plant-based protein, legumes can also help improve soil fertility because the plants biologically fix atmospheric nitrogen. Oilseed crops are legumes the seeds of which have relatively high oil content and are a source of vegetable oils for cooking. Soybeans and peanuts are two of the main oilseed crops in the United States, with peanuts being notable for producing seed pods underground and also known as groundnuts (Singh, Chung, and Nelson, 2007; Wolf, 2007; Herridge and Rose, 2000; Potter, 1998; Hoshikawa, 1991; LaRue and Patterson, 1981). As discussed in Part 1 of this series, soybeans were first domesticated by farmers in China possibly over 3,000 years ago and were first planted here in 1765 (farmdoc daily, November 30, 2023). Peanuts trace to South America, likely Northern Peru, possibly more than 8,000 years ago with evidence of cultivation over 3,000 years ago; first cultivation in the U.S. remains uncertain, although some evidence exists of earliest farming of peanuts in the seventeenth century (Hammons, Herman, and Stalker, 2016). Coincidentally, these two oilseeds were first added to the realm of program crops—those crops with base acres and for which farm program payments could be made—by Congress in 2002.