Editing Soybean (section)

=== Production ===
{{main|List of countries by soybean production}}
{| class="wikitable"  style="float:right; clear:left; width:18em; text-align:center;"
! colspan=2|Soybean production – 2020
|-
!  style="background:#ddf; width:75%;"| Country
!  style="background:#ddf; width:25%;"| <small>Production (millions of [[tonne]]s)</small>
|-
| {{BRA}} ||122
|-
| {{USA}} ||113
|-
| {{ARG}} ||49
|-
| {{CHN}} ||20
|-
| {{IND}} ||11
|-
| {{PAR}} ||11
|-
| '''World'''||'''353'''
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | <small>Source: [[Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database|FAOSTAT]]<ref name="faostat19">{{cite web|publisher=United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, Statistics Division, FAOSTAT|title=Soybean production in 2019, Crops/World regions/Production quantity (from pick lists)|url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC/|access-date=8 February 2021|date=2019}}</ref></small>
|}
[[File:PRODUCTION OF SOYBEANS (2018).svg|thumb|<ref name="FAO-2020-production-map" />|alt=Production of soybeans (2018)<ref name="FAO-2020-production-map">{{Cite book|title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2020|publisher=[[FAO]]|year=2020|isbn=978-92-5-133394-5|location=[[Rome]]|doi=10.4060/cb1329en|s2cid=242794287}}</ref>]]
[[File:Soybean fields in the United States.webp|thumb|Soybean fields in the United States]]
In 2020, world production of soybeans was over 353 million tonnes, led by Brazil and the United States combined with 66% of the total (table). Production has dramatically increased across the globe since the 1960s, but particularly in South America after a cultivar that grew well in low latitudes was developed in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cattelan|first1=Alexandre José|last2=Dall'Agnol|first2=Amélio|date=2018-01-01|title=The rapid soybean growth in Brazil|url=https://www.ocl-journal.org/articles/ocl/abs/2018/01/ocl170039/ocl170039.html|journal=[[OCL (journal)|OCL]]|language=en|volume=25|issue=1|pages=D102|doi=10.1051/ocl/2017058|doi-access=free}}</ref> The rapid growth of the industry has been primarily fueled by large increases in [[Western pattern diet|worldwide demand for meat]] products, particularly in developing countries like China, which alone accounts for more than 60% of imports.<ref>{{Cite web|title=OEC - Soybeans (HS92: 1201) Product Trade, Exporters and Importers|url=https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/1201/|website=oec.world|language=en|access-date=2020-05-17|archive-date=April 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404122328/https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/1201/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== Environmental issues ====
{{See also|Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest}}
In spite of the Amazon "Soy Moratorium", soy production continues to play a significant role in [[deforestation]] when its indirect impacts are taken into account, as land used to grow soy continues to increase. This land either comes from [[pasture]] land (which increasingly supplants forested areas), or areas outside the Amazon not covered by the moratorium, such as the [[Cerrado]] region. Roughly one-fifth of deforestation can be attributed to expanding land use to produce oilseeds, primarily for soy and [[palm oil]], whereas the expansion of [[beef]] production accounts for 41%. The main driver of deforestation is the global demand for meat, which in turn requires huge tracts of land to grow feed crops for livestock.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-deforestation |title=Drivers of Deforestation |last=Ritchie |first=Hannah |author1-link=Hannah Ritchie |date= February 9, 2021|journal=[[Our World in Data]] |access-date=March 20, 2021 }}</ref> Around 80% of the global soybean crop is used to feed livestock.<ref>{{cite news |last= Liotta|first= Edoardo|date=August 23, 2019 |title=Feeling Sad About the Amazon Fires? Stop Eating Meat|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/feeling-sad-about-the-amazon-fires-stop-eating-meat/ |work=[[Vice Media|Vice]] |access-date=August 25, 2019|quote=Soy is the most important protein in animal feed, with 80 percent of the world's soybean crop fed to livestock.}}</ref>