Each year, the U.S. grows 110 million metric tons of soybeans, about half of which is then exported to other countries. As the nation’s largest grower of soy beans, about 25% of Illinois land is dedicated to growing soy beans. Midwest fields feed pigs in China, cows in Canada, and lambs in Egypt. It is traded in Chicago, and then shipped around the world. Its price and its supply is at the center of ongoing struggles between great powers the world over.

But how is it grown? How is it processed? Who decides how much to sell it and where? And how did we get here, where a modest bean occupies such a prominent place in world history?

To answer these questions, Mouse will convenes three experts in different areas of the soy trade: an experienced soy farmer, a soy commodities trader, and a scholar of midwestern soy farming in the Brazilian Cerrado. As with all Mouse events, the audience will be invited to direct conversation with panelists and speak to them at length. Bring your friends interested in economics, ecology, agriculture, finance, and more!