Industry-Wide Life Cycle Assessment Drives Sustainability Insight for United Soybean Board & National Oilseed Processors Association

Executive Summary

The United Soybean Board (USB) and the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) partnered with SSC to conduct a robust Industry-Wide Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of U.S. soybean production and processing.

The goal was to quantify the environmental impacts of U.S. soy across its life cycle and provide transparent, science-based data to support global sustainability initiatives and customer communications.

United Soybean Board’s 77 volunteer farmer-leaders work on behalf of all U.S. soybean farmers to achieve maximum value for their Soy Checkoff investments. These volunteers create value by stewarding investments in research, education and promotion with the vision to deliver sustainable soy solutions to every life, every day across the priority areas of Health & Nutrition, Innovation & Technology, Infrastructure & Connectivity and Exports. As stipulated in the federal Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight responsibilities for USB and the Soy Checkoff.
Learn more: https://unitedsoybean.org/
Organized in 1930, the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA), is a national trade association, that represents the United States’ soybean, canola, flaxseed, safflower seed, and sunflower seed crushing industries.
Learn more: https://www.nopa.org/
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an analytical tool used to comprehensively quantify and interpret the environmental impacts of the entire life cycle of a product or operation. An LCA takes a deeper look at each stage of a product's life, from raw material extraction to end-of-life management.

key findings

This LCA is designed to be used by the United Soybean Board (USB) and the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) to better understand the current state and environmental impact of the U.S. soybean industry’s farming, processing, and oil refining operations. This report documents the methodology, data, details, and results of the LCA on the impacts of soybeans, soybean meal, crude soy oil, and refined soy oil produced in the United States.

Download Life Cycle Assessment PDF