In Delaware, high yield and high oleic soybeans are synonymous. State yield winners in full-season and double-crop soybeans the last two years grew high oleic varieties. Despite tough weather conditions throughout the growing season — dry or wet fields — high oleic soybeans produced the high yields that propelled these farmers onto winning this competition.
“They’ve been very good drought-tolerant beans so we have been happy on dry land, especially, with this year’s crop,” says 2016 double-crop yield winner Kevin Evans, a Bridgeville, Delaware soybean farmer.
That success extends beyond Delaware. Since their introduction in 2013, farmers across the high oleic growing region — from Virginia to Nebraska and 10 states in between — have been pleased with the overall performance of their high oleic variety choices.
“These beans make more money than conventional beans: It’s that simple,” says soy checkoff farmer-leader William Layton from Vienna, Maryland. “They're easy to take care of, and you get paid more for it.”
“If my neighbor is considering making the choice to grow high oleic soybeans, the first thing I do is reassure them that the transition between those beans and commodity ones is fairly simple,” says soy checkoff past-chair John Motter, who grows corn, wheat and soybeans in Jenera, Ohio. “On my farm, the yields are very competitive in comparison to growing regular soybeans.”
On top of that, high oleic soybean contracts come with a processor-paid premium, which was a draw for Mark Collins, who won the Delaware soybean yield contest in 2017.
With the average conventional soybean yielding 50 bushels per acre, the high oleic soybeans Collins grew produced exceptionally higher yields. “If I’m getting 80 bushels or even 90 bushels to the acre from high oleic varieties, and this year they paid me 50 cents more a bushel, that’s $45 more per acre for comparable cost,” says Collins, who grows soybeans and watermelons in Harrington, Delaware.
Elevators offer high oleic premiums because of the profit they can make by selling the oil. As an oil, high oleic is free of trans fat and lower in saturated fat. It’s also more stable, offering a longer fry life and neutral taste profile. This opens multiple new markets in the ever-changing food industry. The high-quality oil is in demand in the food industry, which means increasing profit potential for farmers growing high oleic.
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