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RESPECTED ANALYST TELLS SEED INDUSTRY 40 MILLION ADDITIONAL ACRES OF SOY NEEDS TO BE PLANTED WITHIN THREE YEARS
Dec. 9, 2021
Agri-Pulse reports:
U.S. agriculture could be headed into a severe land crunch and a new food vs. fuel battle because of the growing demand for soybean-based biofuels. That's the assessment of economist Dan Basse, president of Chicago-based Ag Resource Co.
In a presentation to the American Seed Trade Association's annual meeting, Basse said that soybean oil production would have to double by 2024 to meet the demand from the renewable diesel production capacity that's planned or coming online.
That in turn would require farmers to increase soybean acreage by an astounding 40 million acres, a number that would be impossible to meet. Farmers harvested an estimated 86 million acres this year.
"If I need 40 million acres, I need to displace lots of other crops," Basse said in an interview with Agri-Pulse. At most, 2 to 3 million acres could feasibly come from corn given the market's need for 15 billion bushels of that crop each year, he said.
"We think we're nearing peak farm land."
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