Soybeans have been grown for thousands of years and continue to feed millions of people around the world. Soy is also an ingredient in feed for livestock. It is a relatively self-sufficient crop, producing its own nitrogen nutrients and is resistant to most diseases. But there is more to this familiar legume than just the simple bean we have come to take for granted. Its cultivation has the potential to reduce environmental impacts from agriculture, energy and solvents. The complex structure of this plant also provides us with the basic building blocks to make hundreds of products for industry and home.

As far back as the 1930s and 1940s, industrialist Henry Ford, father of the modern assembly line, proponent of affordable cars for the masses, spent vast economic resources developing industrial and culinary uses for the soybean. Ford died in 1948 before his prediction came to fruition:

"Soybeans will make millions of dollars of added income for farmers, and provide industry with material to make needed things nobody even knows about now."

"Since the enactment of the Clean Air Act of 1990, many conventional chlorinated, fluorocarbon and petroleum industrial solvents have been regulated out of traditional market applications. Methyl soyate, a soybean-oil-based methyl ester, is gaining market acceptance as an excellent solvent replacement alternative in many applications such as general cleaning, paint and ink removal, parts cleaning and degreasing."

"As a solvent, methyl soyate has important environmental and safety related properties that make it attractive for many industrial cleaning applications. It is lower in toxicity than most other solvents, is readily biodegradable, and has a very high flash point and a low level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The compatibility of methyl soyate is excellent with metals, plastics, most elastomers and other organic solvents."