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Soybean, also soy and soya bean, common name for an annual leguminous (see Legume) plant and its seeds. The soybean probably originated in eastern China and is widely cultivated as a farm crop. It is an erect, hairy plant from 0.6 to 1.5 m (2 to 5 ft) in height, with large trifoliate leaves, small white or purple flowers, and short pods with one to four seeds. On maturity, which is reached from 100 to 150 days after planting, depending on variety, location, and weather, the leaves turn yellow and drop, and the pods rapidly become brown and dry. The seeds, which are almost spherical in shape, are usually light yellow, but some rare varieties are black, brown, or green. They have a black, brown, or yellow hilum (seed scar) and contain about 20 percent oil and 40 percent protein. In the United States, soybeans are grown as a row crop, planted in May or June, and harvested with a grain combine in the fall.

The soybean, an ancient food crop in China, Japan, and Korea, was introduced into the United States in the early 1800s and was grown as a minor forage crop for many years. The development of a soybean-processing industry in the early 1920s gave soybean cultivation a great impetus, and today the soybean is a leading crop in the United States, ranking only behind corn and wheat. The United States produces about 60 percent of the world's soybeans, compared to 14 percent produced by Brazil, 10 percent by China, and lesser percentages by Argentina, Taiwan, Canada, and India. Production in the United States is located chiefly in the Midwest and the lower Mississippi Valley; more than 30 percent of the United States production is exported.

The two basic products of the soybean are protein meal and oil. In the United States, more than 90 percent of the oil is consumed as margarine, shortening, mayonnaise, salad oils, and other edible products; the rest is used in industrial products such as paint, varnish, linoleum, and rubber fabrics. Soybean meal is the major source of the protein supplement used in livestock feeds, which utilize 98 percent of the total meal produced. In the protein-short areas of the world and elsewhere, soybean meal is finding increasing use in human food products.

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