By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia
The soybean is a major crop worldwide. But not in Georgia.
Crops
like peanuts, vegetables and cotton are kings here. University of
Georgia research into a new variety with a “less-beany” taste,
however, could change all that.
“Soybeans are still considered a minor crop in Georgia,” said
Phillip Jost, a UGA Cooperative Extension soybean and cotton
agronomist. “With the potential for drought in Georgia, soybeans
aren’t as economically feasible as other crops.”
L-Star suited for Georgia
But a new variety, L-Star, may help boost soybeans’ popularity
among Georgia farmers and open up new markets.
L-Star was developed by the National Agricultural Research
Organization in Japan. A naturally deodorized soybean, he said,
it doesn’t contain lipoxygenase, the enzyme linked to the
off-flavor, beany taste.
“L-Star is favorable for use in food products,” Jost said.
L-Star doesn’t grow well in the Midwest, he said, where most
of
the nation’s crop is grown. But it could thrive in Georgia, where
it could get the required day and night lengths it needs.
“Soybean flowering is dictated by night length, and the
Midwest’s
night length isn’t long enough to initiate flowering,” he said.
“Even if it were, the frost in that area would kill the buds
before they could bloom.”
UGA food scientists on the Griffin, Ga., campus created two
new
L-Star soybean food products: a soy milk and a tofu. And UGA food
chemist Dick Phillips has developed a test to ensure that soybean
lots are truly L-Star beans.
Fragile pods
There’s still a major obstacle to overcome before the crop can
take off in Georgia. Farmers planted about 200 acres in the state
last year and faced problems at harvest time.
“The beans shatter easily,” Jost said. “With L-Star, when the
beans dry, the pods open and the beans fall out before the
combine can come in the field to harvest.”
UGA researchers are now working to help farmers address the
harvesting dilemma.
Soybean growers, researchers and industry representatives will
gather for an update on the crop Feb. 2 at the Nessmith-Lane
Building on the Georgia Southern University campus in Statesboro,
Ga. The meeting is sponsored by the Georgia-Florida Soybean
Association.
Georgia soybeans
Each year, U.S. farmers plant 70 million acres of soybeans. In
Georgia, the crop comes in behind corn and wheat, averaging
180,000 acres. The state’s farmers devote 1.3 million acres to
cotton and 700,000 acres to peanuts.
Soybeans are very susceptible to drought in the sandy soils of
Georgia’s coastal plain, Jost said. Farmers generally get paid
less for soybeans here than growers in the Midwest get. As a
result, Georgia growers use their irrigated acres for
higher-value crops like cotton, peanuts and vegetables.
Soybeans were first planted in Georgia as a forage crop for
animals, Jost said. Farmers grow them here now primarily as an
oilseed crop.
The beans are harvested and crushed into oil for cooking
products. The meal that’s left after crushing is used as an
animal feed and a food ingredient.
Soybean oil can also be used to produce biodiesel, Jost said.
Experts with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences are conducting biodiesel feasibility studies and
biotechnology research.
