Soy is ubiquitous. Nearly all of us consume the bean in some form on a daily
basis. A common way to conceptualize its accelerating production and consumption has been as a mere natural response to a century-long steady increase in
world demand. Likewise, the standard narrative about the supply side (the rapid
expansion of soybean, referred to in Latin America as sojización) is that it comes
simply as the natural consequence of “rational”, profit-seeking farmers and traders responding to new price relations, where soybeans yield the highest annual
returns (Baraibar Norberg 2022). While partly demand-driven, this growth is
not as straightforward a process as is often proposed. For example, the rise of genetically engineered soybeans did not come as a direct response to consumer
wishes or preferences. In fact, few consumer products have generated as much
opposition as genetically engineered crops, in general, and soybeans, in particular,
given the widespread (and extremely contested) use of the associated weed killer
glyphosate (originally patented as Roundup by Monsanto).