The first written reference to soy appears in a list of Chinese plants from 2853 B.C.; it is also referred to many times in ancient writings as one of the five grains essential to Chinese civilization. Western contact with soybeans and soyfoods was limited until Asians began to emigrate in large numbers to Europe and the U.S. in the 1800s.
Large-scale development of soybean production and processing in the U.S. began during the 1940s and 1950s spurred on by a rapid increase in both domestic and worldwide demand for protein meal and oil. Harvested acreage for soybeans in the U.S. more than tripled between 1940 and 1955, from 4.8 million acres to 18.6 million, while total production of soybeans increased nearly five-fold, from 78 million bushels to 374 million.
As the number of acres devoted to soybeans continued to grow during the 1960s, the United States became a world soybean superpower and began exporting large quantities of soybeans, as well as meal and oil, to Europe and Asia. Industry growth has slowed in recent years with increased competition, but the U.S. still produces (in the early years of this century) roughly 75 million metric tons of soybeans each year.
