In 2007, FGIS launched a farm gate assessment to capture soybean quality data at the first point of sale. The total number of samples desired to be collected each year was calculated using a 95% confidence interval and quality data from the U.S. as a whole. After the total number is calculated, the sampling plan was determined by divvying up the total to the various soybean producing states based on each state's production over recent years. FGIS personnel then contacted grain elevators (based on Farm Service Agency records) in soybean producing states to solicit samples to be forwarded to an official agency (selected through a competitive bid process) for analysis. Since 2007, FGIS sent enough materials to participating elevators to capture anywhere from 1,480 to 1,640 samples. FGIS gratefully acknowledges the elevators that provided soybean samples.
The entire data sets for the current and previous years are presented in the Summary section and include the average, minimum, maximum, standard deviation, grade limits, and distribution by grade.
DATA SUMMARIES