New Documentary Sheds Light on the Surprising Scope of Soy’s Sustainability Benefits

From food to fuel to plastic, soy is making the Earth more sustainable in thousands of surprising ways. In the years ahead, it might even do the same on Mars.

A new documentary, GroundBreaking: A Story of Innovation, explores the vast scope of innovative and sustainable uses for soy, giving viewers a peek behind the curtain to better understand how soy-based products can improve their lives in a myriad of ways. The feature is available to stream on the A&E app and aetv.com.

Hosted by Emmy-winner Jeff Houghton, the documentary travels to nine states, interviewing15 experts and visiting sites ranging from farms in Indiana and Arkansas to a Mars simulation at the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii, where teams are exploring the potential for soy as a crop that could be grown in Martian soil to support future explorers.

“Throughout my travels, I’ve witnessed the infinite opportunities that soybeans can create,” said Houghton. “Through this story, we uncovered how something so small could have such a huge impact on the planet, from global trade to the food we consume to the clothes that we wear to the cars we drive.”

GroundBreaking also takes viewers to locations like the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, where Ford built a prototype car using soy-based exterior panels, and Auburn University, where teams are advancing the use of soy as feed for fish in aquaculture, or “fish farming.”

On farms, the documentary captures the wide range of sustainable practices deployed by farmers to produce more soy while using fewer resources.

“As a soybean farmer, our primary goal is to grow a crop that replenishes the soil and nourishes the world through food, feed and other renewable products,” said Jim Douglas, a soybean, corn and pig farmer from Indiana featured in the documentary.

To learn more, visit groundbreaking.ussoy.org.