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Life Cycle of a Soybean
Soybeans have an interesting life cycle! Let's learn about how Sam the Soybean and his friends grow.Life Cycle of a Soybean
Soybeans begin as a seed, and they must be planted in soil. The seeds need to be given water and sunlight in order to grow into a soybean plant.
The seed goes through a process called "germination," where the soybean seed grows roots.
Next, the seed becomes a seedling. This is where the seed starts to look like a little plant.
The seedling grows into a plant and now has a tall, long stem and many leaves.
The plant grows a beautiful purple flower, also known as a blossom.
When the blossoms self-pollinate, pods of soybeans eventually begin to grow.
To eat the pods, they should be harvested while they are still green.
For processing, pods are harvested when the plant dries out, turns brown, and the leaves fall off.
The soybeans can still be eaten, but their flavor is not great.
After the soybeans are harvested, they go to the Shell Rock Soy Processing Plant! SRSP employee Scott Little says they "crush about 110,000 bushels of soybeans a day."
One bushel is around 60lbs, meaning they crush more than 6.5 billion pounds of soybeans each day!
Two bushels of soybeans.
Here is another image explaining the life cycle of a soybean.
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