The U.S. soybean industry is striving to meet surging global demand even as the amount of available farmland and the number of active farms continue to decline.

Soybeans rank among the most valuable U.S. agricultural exports, and the crop is the second-most-planted field crop in the country after corn, making it a pillar of both the domestic farm economy and global food supply chains. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the nation had roughly 943 million acres of farmland in 2000. That figure has since dropped approximately 7% to 874 million acres. Over the same period, the country lost an estimated 307,000 farms.

At the same time, global demand for American agricultural products — especially soybeans — has climbed sharply. Farmers are pursuing new export markets while intensifying efforts to increase yield from every acre.

Barry Alexander, a seventh-generation farmer based in Cadiz, Kentucky, said soybeans make up about half of the crops grown at Cundiff Farms during the summer months. While he has not personally lost land to urban sprawl, he has watched neighboring farms contract as cities encroach on rural areas.

"Land is going away every day, and that's one commodity they're not going to reproduce," Alexander said. "Whenever that land is gone and gone out of production, it's no longer going to be farmland. The population is increasing, and the demand for food is increasing."

Kentucky's soybean harvest runs from September through October. A portion of Alexander's crop is exported overseas, including to China — the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans.

"A lot of our product is actually for export. We put it on the rivers here nearby, and it ships down to the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans and is actually shipped overseas," Alexander explained.

That river-and-Gulf corridor along the Mississippi River basin is one of the most important agricultural export routes in the United States, handling the majority of soybean shipments bound for international markets.

In 2025, China agreed to purchase 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually. The country initially fell short of that benchmark as President Donald Trump's trade war intensified. The American Soybean Association noted that China subsequently increased purchases as soybean prices rallied.

"We're on a positive trend, but we still got a long ways to go to completely hit the targets that they've agreed to," said Caleb Ragland, chairman of the American Soybean Association. "Obviously, we've had some bumps in the road in our relationship, but they're too big of a customer to just write off."

Ragland emphasized that China consumes more soybeans than every other country combined. Much of that supply is processed into soy protein used to feed pigs and poultry, which are central to the Chinese diet.

"They need our soy protein to help grow and produce their meat protein that their people want," Ragland said.

China currently imposes a 10% tariff on all U.S. agricultural products. Chinese officials have discussed lifting the levy, a move Ragland said would make American soybeans more competitive against South American suppliers — particularly Brazil, which has surpassed the United States as the world's largest soybean producer and remains a dominant force in the global soybean trade.

"That's been a 10% tax that has made us uncompetitive when it comes to the cash price that the Chinese customers would pay for soybeans," Ragland noted.

A portion of soybean revenue is directed into a checkoff program managed by the United Soybean Board, which funds research and market development. Since the Soy Checkoff was created under the 1990 Farm Bill, annual U.S. soybean production has doubled from 2 billion bushels to approximately 4 billion bushels.

"We treat every acre individually, and we treat it to produce the most it possibly can," Alexander said of his farming approach.

Brent Gatton, chairman of the United Soybean Board, said checkoff investments have unlocked new fuel markets — including the rapidly growing renewable diesel and biodiesel sectors, which have become major sources of industrial demand for soybean oil — and supported U.S. soybean trade with more than 90 countries.

"Because of the checkoff, there are thousands of new uses we get. Soy oil is in Goodyear tires and artificial turf, and soy foam is a great success story," Gatton said.

Farmers are hopeful that this year's stronger soybean prices, combined with larger purchase volumes, could help them at least break even after several years of elevated input costs.