Quality of Canadian Soybean, oilseed-type 2016

Oil and protein content

The average protein content was 40.1% in 2016, slightly higher than what was observed last year (39.6%) and higher than the 5-year average (2011-15) of 39.4%. Samples from the eastern provinces of Canada showed a higher protein content than samples from western Canada (40.6% and 39.3% for eastern Canada and Maritimes versus 38.7% for western Canada). For all grades combined individual producer samples ranged in protein from 29.3% to 43.2%. This protein range was larger than what was observed in 2015 (31.3% to 43.2%). One sample in Ontario graded Soybean No. 2, Canada was particularly low in protein (29.3%) without being high in oil (22.6%). Figure 4 shows the protein content trend since 2000 for Canada and 2008 for eastern (Québec and Ontario) and western Canada (Manitoba and Saskatchewan). The graph shows a decrease in protein content of about 2% between 2000 and 2016. Western averages were consistently lower than eastern averages from 2008 to 2016. Western yearly averages also showed higher yearly variations than eastern averages.

The average oil content was 21.7 (Table 2) for soybean graded No. 1 and No. 2 Canada. This average is very similar to the 21.5% observed in 2015 (Table 4) and also to the 5-year average of 21.4%. There was no significant difference between the oil content averages obtained for the various grades (Table 2). Soybean No. 3 Canada averaged 21.4% and soybean No. 4 Canada averaged 23.7% for oil content, however there were only two samples in this grade, which statistically is not very representative. There was however a noticeable difference between the averages of soybean No. 1 and No. 2 Canada from eastern and western provinces, with samples from the east showing higher oil contents than those from the west (22.0% in the east versus 20.8% in the west) (Table 2). All grades combined, individual producer samples ranged from 19.0% to 24.8%, a lesser oil content range than what was observed for the 2015 soybean harvest (17.4% to 25.8%). Figure 5 shows the oil content trend since 2000 for Canada and 2008 for eastern (Québec and Ontario) and western Canada (Manitoba and Saskatchewan). Since 2000, oil content average has increased with the average being about 1.5% higher in 2016 than in 2000. However, a marked difference could be observed between eastern and western averages due to different environmental growing conditions and varietal differences.

Important variations in protein and oil contents in the top 2 grades could be observed among all provinces and between eastern and western provinces (Table 2). While quality parameters can be strongly affected by environmental conditions, the variety of soybean planted and soil fertility can also affect quality. Noticeably there is an inverse relationship between oil and protein content for eastern and western Canada soybean, the higher the oil content and the lower the protein content.