SoybeansAgMag.qxp_Layout 1 6/2/16 10:43 AM Page 1
Faces of Mississippi’s
Soybean Industry
Kendall Garraway
Jerry Slocum
Hinds County
Coldwater, Batesville, Locke Station
Owner North Mississippi Grain Company
Row Crop Farmer Soybean Commodity Advisory Committee Chair
How many acres of soybeans do you grow? I grow about 1600 acres of soybeans a year on our family farm in Bolton.
Where do you market your crop? Most of our soybeans are sold to a grain elevator on the Mississippi River in Vicksburg so that they can be transported by barge to an end user.
How are soybeans used? Although you would rarely see a soybean unless you like to eat edamame, they have many uses in products that we see and use every day. They are used to feed animals like chickens and fish. They are used to make biodiesel to have clean-burning fuel to power mass transit. They are crushed to get soy oil that is used in cooking. They are also used to make ink to print with and crayons to color with. These are just a few of the many uses of soybeans.
What type of education and skills do you need to be a row crop farmer? Row crop farmers need to be very educated in reading and writing as well as math. Row crop farmers need to be able to adapt to change to produce more crop with fewer inputs and to have a positive effect on the environment. Row crop farmers also must be able to adjust to the weather since our office is outside and is greatly affected by the weather. Row crop farmers need to be able to communicate with others so that they can keep up with the latest information that will affect them. Do you enjoy what you do? I love what I do and feel as though I am truly blessed to be able to farm and grow food and fiber that all people need. I also really like that much of my job is done outside and not in an office.
What is a grain elevator? A grain elevator is a group of steel or concrete buildings where farmers take the grain, like soybeans, corn, wheat, rice, etc., which they harvest from their farms. They harvest the grain with their combines, put it into big trucks and bring it to the elevator, where we unload the trucks and put the grain into the storage buildings. After the farmers sell their grain to us, we put it in big trucks or on a train and send it to people who make animal or human food. What is North Mississippi Grain Co.? Who do you serve? North Mississippi Grain is a family-owned business, with offices and grain elevators in Coldwater, Batesville and Locke Station. We serve farmers in 12 counties in northwest Mississippi.
What type of education and skills do you need to do what you do? I have an agricultural engineering degree from Mississippi State that has served me very well in my 41 years in this business. There are many people who work in grain elevators who don't have a college education but are smart people. Strong math and science skills are important. You need to be a good reader and be able to communicate with people, both listening and talking. You need to develop good people skills, as you will work with the public, have people working for you and probably will have at least one boss. Do you enjoy what you do? I like what I do. There are parts of the job that are stressful, the days can be very long at times and sometimes people can be hard to get along with, but I enjoy the challenges and I enjoy working with our customers. Through 41 years, we have developed a great group of customers, the finest people in northwest Mississippi.
In 1907, at the age of 24, William J. “Bill” Morse went to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Division of Forage Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, in Washington, D.C. Around this time, the USDA was beginning to expand their research on soybeans. Morse worked closely with Charles Piper, who was one of the first to see the potential of growing soybeans in America. The pair wrote a book titled, “The Soybean: History, Varieties, and Field Studies.” This was Morse’s first out of more than 80 publications about soybeans. Morse was also instrumental in founding the National Soybean Growers’ Association, which later became the American Soybean Association. He worked at the USDA for 42 years doing soybean and soyfood research. This issue of Ag Mag is compliments of:
Issues of Ag Mag can be ordered from the Women’s Department by contacting Pam Jones at pjones@msfb.org or 601.977.4854.
g a M g A SOYBEANS
An agricultural newsletter for kids from Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation ®
The United States produces more soybeans than anywhere else in the world.
Soybeans are the number-one row crop in Mississippi and are number three on the list of top commodities in the state.
Soybeans are in the legume family. A legume is a plant that grows fruit in pods that contain one or more seeds. Peas, beans and peanuts are a few examples of other legumes. Soybeans were first cultivated in East Asia. They are called soya beans in Europe.
Soybeans are planted from seeds. Farmers select which variety of seed to plant based on favorable characteristics, such as drought resistance, yield, hardiness, etc. In Mississippi, they are usually planted between mid-April and late-July. When soybeans finish growing, they remain in the field to dry to a certain moisture percentage, which makes their leaves turn brown and fall off. They are then ready to be harvested by a combine. The combine cuts the soybean plants, then separates the beans from the pods and cleans them. After a farmer’s soybean crop is harvested, it is sold for many different uses. Most soybeans are processed for oil and meal. Soybean meal is the fiber that remains after the oil is removed. Animal agriculture is a soybean farmer’s number-one customer. In fact, 98 percent of soy meal is used to make livestock feed for poultry, swine, beef and dairy cattle and to make pet food. A 60-pound bushel of soybeans yields about 48 pounds of protein-rich meal and 11 pounds of oil. A much smaller portion of soybeans is used for human consumption. You may have had soy food products, such as soy milk, tofu, soy flour, edamame or soy sauce.
In addition to animal and human food products, some soybeans are purchased by the seed industry to make seed for next year’s crop. The seed industry is always researching and experimenting with ways to improve the way we grow soybeans. New and improved varieties of seed are always being developed to give farmers an advantage over diseases and pests. These improvements, made through sound scientific research, can also increase yields. In addition to seed companies, independent research by universities is also very important to the soybean industry in Mississippi.