Product differentiation is important to develop better marketing and pricing strategies. As a raw product, the NC soybeans contain 2% points more protein than the ones produced in the East Corn Belt, one percentage point more than the ones produced in the East Coast, and potentially should contain higher levels of lysine and other essential amino acids. The US soybean meal (SBM) normally contain less protein than Brazilian soybeans, but have higher lysine concentration and amino acid digestibility than South American meals. These traits are used for marketing and could help with NC SBM differentiation strategy. This project seeks to determine the value of the overall nutrient content and quality for the NC SBM in feed formulation for poultry, swine and aquaculture, compared to SBM from the East Corn Belt, US Gulf, Brazil, and Argentina. Parametric cost ranging of SBM by origin and estimation of its shadow prices will be used for this objective. This study will include other nutrients, not only digestible amino acids. We will also evaluate different scenarios where price variability of competitive protein feedstuffs may affect shadow prices for NC SBM. Additionally, this project aims to contribute with new information related to amino acid, trypsin inhibitor, and oligosaccharide content by origin and its variability within the USA, protein quality based on higher concentrations of essential amino acids, and other SBM quality parameters. Collectively, this information should be valuable data for a differentiation marketing strategy of NC soybeans and SBM, contribute to marketing efforts of the US soybeans, and aid on improving understanding of the variability due to SBM origin on feed formulation.

1. To calculate the marginal price change for use, the parametric cost ranging, and shadow price among soybeans of different origins varying in nutrient composition and quality for each one of the main diets for poultry, swine, and aquaculture.

2. To determine the differentiation value for the NC soybean based on overall average nutrient content, quality, and the impact of changes on price of other common protein feedstuffs on shadow prices of NC soybean.

3. To establish potential differences and benefits of NC soybean based on quality parameters such as urease activity, protein dispersibility index, KOH protein solubility, trypsin inhibitor activity and heat damage index.