Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles honored Kentucky’s soybean producers by proclaiming Soybean Week in Kentucky the week of March 9.
“Kentucky soybean producers punch above their weight class,” Dr. Quarles said. “Our soybean growers are tough and optimistic people. I think I speak for everyone when I say our soybean farm families are hopeful for the 2020 season, which also happens to be year that the Kentucky Soybean Association (KSA) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. I congratulate them on this historic milestone and look forward to the next 50 years.”
Kentucky produced an estimated 77.7 million bushels of soybeans in 2019, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported. Kentucky growers achieved an estimated yield of 46 bushels per acre.
Henderson County was the top soybean-producing county in 2019, with more than 4.17 million bushels, followed by Daviess (4.09 million), Christian (3.49 million), Logan (3.25 million), and Union (3.17 million) counties.
“Our soybean growers lead the nation through roles in the American Soybean Association (ASA) and the United Soybean Board (USB),” Commissioner Quarles added. “Clinton’s own Davie Stephens serves as ASA chairman, while Gerry Hayden of Calhoun and Caleb Ragland of Magnolia serve on ASA’s board. Additionally, the USB’s directors include past president Keith Tapp of Sebree, Barry Alexander of Cadiz, and Brent Gatton of Bremen. Kentucky is lucky to have a voice at the national level in the soybean industry.””
“It is almost planting season in the Commonwealth, and that always gives me new hope for the future,” said Kentucky Soybean Association President Fred L. Sipes of Ekron. “We soybean farmers have had tough times in recent years, and we hope that 2020 is the year that things turn around and look brighter. Celebrating the Kentucky Soybean Association’s 50th anniversary causes us to look back at where we’ve been, and while we’ve been through tough times before, we have many successes to be proud of as well. I look forward to seeing what new uses for this versatile crop emerge in the next few years, and wish my fellow soybean farmers a safe and profitable 2020.”
Soybeans and their components, soybean oil and soybean meal, are used for feed for poultry, Kentucky’s leading agricultural commodity Soybeans and their components also are used in livestock feed, biodiesel fuel, industrial applications, and as ingredients in food products, among other applications.