By Rae Wagoner, Communication Director

Kentucky Soybean Board

Tuesday, March 23 was National Ag Day, and Kentucky’s soybean farmers are ready to celebrate. We are especially proud of the innovations and technology that we use every day to bring safe, abundant, and affordable food on your tables and our own, along with the numerous uses for soybeans.

While food is the part of agriculture that many people think of first – because everyone eats – we at the Kentucky Soybean Board want consumers to know that soybeans are found in just about everything.

Sure, soy is in your food as soybean oil, soy protein, soy lecithin and more, but did you know that soy is in your food’s food?

The livestock and poultry industries are the soybean farmers’ number one customer for soybean meal, because that protein-rich component of our crop is a key ingredient in feed rations.

Soy is in your fuel, too. Biodiesel made with soybean oil is big business, and while you can find B 20 (fuel blended with 20 percent biodiesel) at many truck stops and some passenger vehicle pumps, there’s up to 5% biodiesel in most every gallon of diesel sold in the United States.

Soy biodiesel is renewable, sustainable, and good for the environment because it burns cleaner than conventional fossil fuel. The use of biodiesel can reduce a diesel engine’s overall emissions up to 75%.

Some of the newer places that soy is popping up include passenger tires, synthetic motor oil, and even asphalt! Soy oil has been used in countless industrial applications, cleaning products and even cosmetics for years, and we can’t wait to see what innovative new uses for our versatile crop that researchers and our industry partners come up with next.

So, now that you’re thinking of National Ag Day, we encourage you to think of more than just food.

Agriculture permeates every aspect of our lives, and farmers across the nation are growing the cotton for your sheets and blue jeans, the soybeans to make foam for your car’s seats and carpet, and the corn for your bourbon!

For more information on soybeans in Kentucky, visit www.kysoy.org.