PATIO PONDERING: WHERE DID THE PROTEIN GO?

This morning I am enjoying my coffee from a commemorative Farm Progress Show mug from 1989 that was held not far from us in Rochester, Indiana. I think it's fitting that my thoughts are directly on soybeans and pigs. In 1989 there were a lot of pig farms in northern Indiana.

I'm writing this with two faces, like the "Ebony and Ivory" video done by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder back in 1982. On one side I'm a swine nutritionist and the other a soybean farmer.

Back in 1989 when feed companies displayed their wares at the Farm Progress Show, their rations revolved around high-protein soybean meal, standardized to 48% crude protein. In many cases at that time the levels of protein were well above that standard and sometimes even in the low 50s.

We were still in the era of Hog Con 40 from the co-op, GM Base from Kent Feeds, and a myriad of other "40% concentrates" for pig feeding. These blends of protein, minerals, and vitamins were standards on Midwest pig farms. Of course the feed companies liked the high crude protein soybean meal because they could add more cheap filler to make their concentrates.

Over my career as a swine nutritionist I have witnessed the decline in soybean meal crude protein content. In some parts of the Midwest the minimum standard for "high-protein" meal is now as low as 43%. There are a few reasons for this: drive for yield over quality by seed companies and the expansion of soybean farming farther north where growing season is shorter.

Recently several well-respected and highly knowledgeable swine nutritionists have been re-examining how soybean meal is beneficial to the pig. Recent trials are compelling in their results showing that the energy value of soybean meal is much higher than previously published. This is good for me as a swine nutritionist since energy, like choice white grease or corn oil, is expensive. If meal has more energy the diet is more energy dense for the pig, a good thing.

But is that just putting lipstick on a pig?

Are we ignoring the bigger issue that should concern soybean farmers and those that promote soybean products: Where did the protein go? After all we are taught soybean meal is a protein ingredient.

A ton of protein from soybean meal was about $425 in July, 1989, today it is about $600. Not a great value when you consider a farm needs more volume of soybean meal to get that same amount of protein in a feed.

If I had a portrait of my Ebony and Ivory, nutritionist/farmer face, both sides would be frowning. For all the successes in soybean production over the past 35 years, maintaining protein content is not one of them.

This isn't just about pigs and soybeans. It's about what happens when one objective is prioritized at the expense of another. Should we accept this and move on, rely on synthetic amino acids and other protein sources to perfect pig feeds? Or should we push back on the research chain to emphasize protein in soybean breeding?

With all the push for renewable fuels from soybean oil you'd think we would want to add value to the meal portion, not return to the days of it being a low-value by-product that needed to be gotten rid of.

Then again, maybe this is a paradigm shift the industry—and I—just need to accept and move on from.

Or maybe not.