9/1/2007 (soyatech.com)-- Bloomberg News reports that soybean prices may be headed for the biggest jump in three decades as farmers plant more fields with corn. U.S. farmers are preparing to sow the fewest acres of soybeans in 10 years.

At the same time, demand is rising; creating conditions that traders say may double this yearís average price of $5.98 a bushel and allow soybeans to replace corn as the best-performing farm commodity.

Higher prices in the United States will boost costs globally because soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade are the benchmark from Sao Paulo to Tokyo.

Global soybean supplies grew faster than consumption as new drought-resistant seeds boosted production in the Midwest, and farmers in Brazil and Argentina expanded cultivation into wild grasslands.

Bloomberg News notes that grain processors and speculators are betting soybeans, used in about 60 percent of the processed food consumed by developed nations, will outperform corn during the next 11 months.