North Carolina · Vietnam · Philippines
Understand demand, find buyers and compare what a better sale could mean for the farmer.
Assess digestible amino acids alongside processing quality, consistency and supply volume. Compare the net return after testing, handling and transport.
The six farm comparisons should cover at least two sourcing areas with different buyer access and transport costs. These are possible starting points, based on county production and published facility locations. Select the farms after confirming their available buyers, grain volumes and delivery arrangements.
Robeson, Columbus and Sampson are candidate counties. Compare a local grain sale or Fayetteville processing route with a possible Wilmington handling route. Confirm who buys the beans before costing an export option.
NCDA&CS on NC processing routes ↗Pasquotank, Perquimans and Camden are candidate counties. Compare an accessible local sale with Chesapeake processing or export connections. Cofield is another contact to check once receiving for the intended delivery period is confirmed.
Chesapeake facilities and contacts ↗For each farm, obtain haul quotes from the actual loading point and allow for loading, queues and unloading. Check available storage, accepted quantities and delivery dates. County totals help locate production; use farm records for yield and saleable volume. Record when several comparisons depend on the same buyer or quote.
USDA county estimates · 2024–2025 data checked October 21, 2026 ↗Compare offers for the same delivery period and comparable payment terms. Use each buyer’s price for the grade and quality they will accept, and include all marketing costs the farmer bears.
Use US dollars throughout. Enter the final bean price per bushel paid for, after price premiums and deductions. A foreign meal price needs a processor/exporter calculation first. Divide each route’s total marketing costs by its paid bushels. Include hauling, storage, testing, segregation, financing and fees only if they are not already deducted from the offer.
The USDA/NCDA cash grain report provides regional context. Check its date, soybean grade, receiving location and delivery period, then ask the buyer for a dated offer, acceptance requirements and payment terms.
Use the cash price in dollars per bushel. The basis column is in cents per bushel and is already reflected in that price. “DLVD-T” means delivered by truck; include the hauling cost you would pay to reach that location.
A higher regional bid does not establish a premium for digestible amino acids. Use the buyer’s offer and your costs for the comparison below.
Ask for the current schedule and a worked settlement for your load. Confirm whether each deduction changes the price, reduces the paid weight or adds a charge, and whether it uses delivered or paid bushels.
In this hypothetical example, both routes receive 50 bu/acre. The domestic buyer pays $10 on all 50 bushels. The alternative quotes $10.25, pays for 48 bushels and deducts $0.12 on each delivered bushel. That $6 deduction is $0.125 per paid bushel, giving a final offer of $10.125. Marketing costs are $24/acre for either route; production costs are unchanged.
The example uses invented terms, not a buyer’s discount schedule. MSU Extension explains soybean settlement calculations ↗
Enter the domestic offer and both routes’ marketing costs to estimate the offer needed. Add an alternative offer to compare returns. Enter zero only where a cost does not apply. Negative or invalid entries cannot be compared.
Net receipts per paid bushel = offer − marketing costs. For each route, multiply this by paid bushels per acre. The difference between routes, less the change in production costs, gives the change in margin per acre. A negative cost change represents savings. This is a partial comparison; it holds other production costs constant. Rejection, delayed payment and supply risks still need to be assessed for a real offer.
First confirm what the buyer requires. An identity-preservation program can document origin and handling, while the buyer and seller still agree the quality specification. Confirm any separate digestible-amino-acid requirement.
Hypothetical example: 1,000 bushels, all saleable with no weight loss. Production costs are unchanged. The domestic offer is $10/bu with $200 marketing costs. The alternative offers $10.50/bu with $450 marketing costs.
If the alternative refuses 200 bushels, assume another buyer pays $9.80/bu for them and extra transport and handling cost $160. The initial $450 cost still applies.
| Sale | Net receipts | Change from domestic |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic sale | $9,800 | $0 |
| Alternative accepts all | $10,050 | +$250 |
| Alternative accepts 800; another buyer takes 200 | $9,750 | −$50 |
Before relying on another outlet, confirm its acceptance requirements, current price and capacity. Check any storage, financing or contract charges as well. These prices, costs and rejected volumes are invented.
Iowa State Extension: questions to ask about grain contracts ↗Record who owes the grower, what triggers payment, when it is due and any amount held until quality results are accepted. Check whether an exporter’s overseas credit terms affect the grower’s own settlement.
If one offer pays later, include the extra borrowing cost or a stated cost of tying up the grower’s own funds over that period. Use the amount financed and applicable rate; divide total interest and fees by paid bushels. Count each charge once.
The comparison uses the costs you enter. It does not automatically adjust for payment dates or estimate losses from non-payment. Assess the buyer’s ability to pay and any disputed-quality terms alongside the result.
North Dakota research found links between regional amino-acid composition and average elevator bids relative to futures. It used district averages, so it cannot tell a grower what an individual load would earn. It also did not measure digestible amino acids or NC prices.
Ask whether the buyer uses regional quality information, tests an individual load or offers a written quality schedule. Compare quotations for the same delivery period and terms before attributing a price difference to quality.
Bullock, Wilson and Thompson (2024) · regional soybean quality and basis ↗Use field results to identify promising supply, then check the grain and meal a buyer would actually receive.
NC trials in 2019–20 examined planting date, maturity group, protein, oil and seed damage. A second study used 2021–22 trials. Both reported protein and oil on a 13% moisture basis after removing damaged and purple-stained seed. Those values describe the cleaned research samples; they do not establish a delivered lot’s composition or digestible amino-acid content.
NCSPA reported initial meal-quality comparisons in 2022. A 2024 conference abstract estimated feed-cost savings from NC meal using predicted nutrients and least-cost formulation. NC State/ARS broiler research also tested amino-acid digestibility across meal types. These findings give the buyer interviews a starting point; current specifications, bids and payment to growers still need to be established.
A January 2026 report for NCDA&CS identifies local soybean processing as an opportunity and cites NCSPA’s 2024 Centrec study of potential extruder/expeller locations. It recommends further assessment of local demand.
For each possible route, establish who would buy the feed product, what quality and recurring volumes they need, and how the processor would pay bean suppliers. Where oil is recovered, confirm its buyer, grade, minimum lot and delivery terms. Estimate oil receipts after preparation, testing, storage and transport costs, using the quantity actually recovered and accepted. Compare the farm return with an existing sale before treating added processing as a better outlet.
NCDA&CS opportunity study · January 2026, pages 29–32 ↗Before proposing a quality sale, match the evidence to the crop year, variety, growing conditions and sample preparation. Establish what the buyer will accept, how processing affects meal quality and whether the purchasing terms improve the grower’s return.
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