After years of waiting, the European Union recently approved DuPont Pioneer’s Plenish high oleic stacked-trait soybean for import, marking the final regulatory approval for all major soybean importing countries. The move clears the way for U.S farmers to plant even more acres of high oleic soybeans in 2018 and meet consumer demand for fewer trans-fats. According to the United Soybean Board (USB), high oleic soybeans are expected to become the fourth-largest grain and oilseed crop in the U.S. The board's goal is for 18 million planted acres, up from just 50,000 acres in 2013 and more than 625,000 acres in 2017. The checkoff has been working with industry partners to improve seed traits and ramp up acreage of high oleic soybean varieties to meet growing demand. Ideally, the industry wants to regain lost share of the edible-oil market they lost to when trans-fat labeling became mandatory in 2006. “Achieving high oleic global regulatory approval enables us to meet end-user needs with a product they want and increase the use of U.S. soybean oil,” says Lewis Bainbridge, United Soybean Board chair and farmer from Ethan, South Dakota. “We encourage farmers to talk with their seed representatives about high oleic soybean variety options for 2018 planting to help keep pace with growing demand for this high-functioning oil.”

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