Soya - Feed, Food or Byproduct?

When one considers Soya and other grains fed to animals that become human food, it is necessary to consider the degree to which animal feed is actually a byproduct or whether it is grown specifically to feed animals.  These graphs from the international grains council clearly show that of total grains grown worldwide the vast majority goes directly to animal feed, almost 50%.

The situation varies between countries.  In the US just as much goes to industrial use as to animal feed with grain for food a fraction of these tonnages, while in India the bulk goes to food with very little being fed to animals or used industrially.

Soya presents a more complex picture.  Very little soya is used directly as food or feed.  Soya milk is made directly from soya beans but almost all soya goes to be crushed, a process that separates oil from high protein expeller or meal (46.5% protein).  The crushing process yields about 18% oil and 80% meal.  The latter goes to animal feed while the oil is either consumed by humans or, increasingly, is used as a feedstock for biodiesel.  

The economics of soybean production is dominated by the production of soybean meal for animal feed as can be seen from the last graph taken from the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois:

In summary, there doesn't seem to be any doubt that close to 50% of the world's grain goes to feed animals, while a much higher percentage of soya is grown to feed animals.  Soya bean oil is a byproduct of soya bean meal, not the other way around.

References:

‘International Grains Council’. Accessed 10 September 2021. https://www.igc.int/en/markets/marketinfo-sd.aspx.

Irwin, Scott. ‘The Value of Soybean Oil in the Soybean Crush: Further Evidence on the Impact of the U.S. Biodiesel Boom • Farmdoc Daily’. Farmdoc Daily (blog), 15 September 2017. https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2017/09/the-value-of-soybean-oil-in-the-soybean-crush.html.