Why U.S. Soy consistency defines swine profitability

15 December 2025

7 minute read

By: USSEC

North America

When pigs face respiratory disease or summer heat, producers know what’s coming: uneven growth, reduced feed intake and the logistical headaches of variable market weights. Behind those challenges lies a question of consistency, not just in management, but in feed formulation itself.

For Dr. Tom D’Alfonso, Worldwide Director of Animal Nutrition at the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), the solution starts in an unexpected place – a U.S. soybean field.

“It is the sustainable farming practices of the U.S. Soy farmer that leads to the consistency and reliability that we’re talking about,” he said.

From soil stewardship to feed mill performance, D’Alfonso believes the predictability of U.S. soybean meal plays a direct role in protecting swine performance when conditions turn against the herd.

The hidden cost of variability

Respiratory disease and heat stress are among the most common causes of performance losses in modern production systems. Each stress event disrupts feed intake and growth rate, but the combination can be even more damaging.

“In cold weather, there’s more incidence of respiratory disease,” D’Alfonso explained. “But there are a number of functional compounds in soybean meal that help to alleviate the symptoms of respiratory disease at the time it happens.”

Later, when the temperature rises, the same pigs that struggled through winter respiratory issues are often more vulnerable to heat stress. Producers try to help them recover feed intake by increasing dietary protein or adding synthetic amino acids, but those interventions often miss the mark.

“They’ll supplement with synthetic amino acids. They’ll boost the protein levels,” he said. “And what the industry has found is that really doesn’t work. Getting the soybean meal inclusion rate up was what alleviated the symptoms of heat stress and brought the economic performance back.”

That discovery, backed by new research, has shifted the discussion from protein percentage to ingredient quality and consistency. According to D’Alfonso, soybean meal derived from U.S. Soy delivers not only digestible amino acids but also naturally occurring bioactive compounds that support pigs under stress which is something synthetic supplements can’t replicate.

Where consistency begins

The uniformity producers see in their barns often begins miles upstream – in the soybean field. D’Alfonso describes U.S. Soy production as a model of precision and stewardship.

“Let’s go all the way back to the soybean farm,” he said. “95% or more of all U.S. soybean farms are family owned and multi-generational. We have soybean farms that are 7th generation. So, there is a real understanding of the soil, the fields and care for the land from one generation to the next.”

That attention to soil and precision input management and long-term perspective drives consistent soil fertility and agronomic practices. U.S. Soy farmers were among the first to adopt precision inputs, targeting only what’s needed for each individual field, guided by satellite and GPS technology to fine-tune nutrient application.

Another key factor is how the beans are dried. While soybeans from some other origins must be mechanically dried exposing them to heat damage U.S. Soy dries naturally in the field.

“This also leads to uniformity in moisture content,” D’Alfonso noted. “Because we don’t have to mechanically dry them, like is very common in Brazil, we don’t see nearly the level of heat damage to the bean.”

Over the past decade, USSEC and research partners have tracked quality indicators from multiple origins.

“We’ve been tracking this for a decade now in great detail,” he said. “The beans from the US have 5X less heat damage than those from Brazil or Argentina.”

That kind of reliability, he emphasized, carries all the way through the feed supply chain.

“Now you have a reliable source, a consistent source of essential amino acids and calories in the swine diet, and that’s going to lead to more uniform animal performance,” he explained.

Why uniformity matters

Uniformity in pig performance isn’t just a management ideal; it’s a financial advantage. Consistent pigs translate into predictable feed consumption, balanced nutrient delivery and fewer partial marketing harvests.

“In all animal production systems, having uniform animal performance is key to putting together a good feeding program,” D’Alfonso said. “Getting those animals to the processing plant uniformly means you’re going to make more money. You’re going to hit the target weight range. You’re not going to need to go in and thin a herd and take the bigger ones out and give the smaller ones a chance to grow more before taking them to market.”

Reducing variability lowers feed costs and labor, while improving plant efficiency. This is all tied to something as fundamental as ingredient consistency. For D’Alfonso, it’s another reason to prioritize high-quality U.S. Soy.

“The best way to do that is to have high inclusion rates of 20% to 30% soybean meal from U.S. Soy in those diets,” he said.

What the research shows

Recent analyses underscore how U.S. Soy’s consistency pays off when inclusion levels are higher. Because soybean meal is the foundational protein in most swine diets, its uniform nutrient profile reduces overall diet variability.

“When you have a key ingredient in a diet like soybean meal that is of high quality, like that made from U.S. soybeans, then you have less variability of the entire diet,” D’Alfonso said. “And if you have a higher inclusion rate of a low-variance ingredient, you’re going to lower the variance of the entire diet.”

By contrast, stacking multiple alternative proteins, additives or digestive enhancers can actually introduce inconsistency.

“Having many different sources of protein, amino acids and supplements and digestive enhancers is just really adding variance to the picture,” he explained.

The research also points to the importance of soybean meal’s functional compounds, including isoflavones, saponins and other bioactive components, that contribute to animal resilience. To capture those benefits, swine diets need enough soybean meal inclusion to make a difference.

“We’re hoping to see 20% to 30% soybean meal in diets as a common range to see these benefits,” D’Alfonso said.

The economic equation

Feed costs account for roughly two-thirds of the cost of producing pork, so any gain in efficiency or performance has an immediate impact on profitability. D’Alfonso said economic models consistently show a return on investment from using more U.S. soybean meal, especially during periods of stress.

“We’ve done analysis and some others have looked at this, and they routinely see at least a $1-$2 per pig of added revenue or profitability,” he said. “This adds up. In an operation with millions of pigs, that’s $1 million to 2 million.” 

Beyond additional revenue, consistent U.S. Soy can help lower feed costs by reducing reliance on supplemental ingredients.

“By giving the credit of the digestibility and the consistency, we can lower feed costs by $7 to $10 per ton of feed,” D’Alfonso noted. “That comes from lower need for other additives, less need for added fat and less need for synthetic amino acids.”

When both feed savings and performance gains are factored together, the differential widens further.

“If you compare U.S. soybean meal to other origins, just on feed cost savings and consistency, it means that U.S. Soy is worth $25 per metric ton more on average,” he said. “But if you take animal performance into account and you keep those inclusion rates up and you see the benefits in animal performance, particularly if there’s a health challenge, it could be worth $50 per metric ton more because of these advantages.”

For D’Alfonso, the takeaway is simple economics: “So long as animal protein is more expensive than animal feed, seeing benefits in animal performance is going to bring payback.”

Breaking the “crude protein” paradigm

Despite decades of progress in swine nutrition, many still rely on crude protein as a primary benchmark, which is a metric that D’Alfonso believes is outdated.

“The best strategy for managing crude protein is to throw out crude protein as a measure,” he said. “We’re beyond this as an industry.”

The problem is that crude protein isn’t actually measured directly.

“The methods that we use are over 100 years old. We’re not actually measuring crude protein. We’re measuring nitrogen and multiplying it by a coefficient,” he said. “Those are just inaccurate and they’re less important.”

Instead, modern formulations should focus on the nutrients that truly drive performance: digestible amino acids, metabolizable energy and functional compounds.

“It is the essential amino acids, their digestibility, and the various sources of calories in the diet that are most important,” D’Alfonso said. “We need to break this paradigm of looking at crude protein and thinking that’s all there is.”

By recognizing the broader nutritional value of soybean meal not just its crude protein number, producers can fine-tune rations to deliver more consistent results without overspending on synthetic inputs.

A reliable foundation

In the end, D’Alfonso said the case for U.S. Soy comes down to reliability, from field to feed to carcass weight. Each link in the chain contributes to herd uniformity, feed efficiency and economic resilience.

“It makes the choice of U.S. Soy in your swine diet that much easier,” he said.

For producers balancing performance, profitability and predictability, soybean meal derived from U.S. Soy remains more than a protein source. It’s a tool for consistency, and one that proves its worth every time the herd faces stress.

Reference:
Rosero, D. (2025, August 21). Benefits of Soy in Animal Diets: Recent Learnings of Using Soybean Meal in Swine Diets. Slide 23, Summer SBM-based Diet Program: Revenue.; “SoyConnext 2025, U.S. Soybean Export Council, Washington, DC.