Soybeans: Henry Ford’s Miracle Crop

A team of combines harvest soybeans at Ford Farms in Macon, Michigan, in 1936. THF98189

Henry Ford acquired many thousands of acres of farmland in southeast Michigan, collectively known as the Ford Farms.  These farms served a wide variety of purposes, including developing and testing farm equipment and plant varieties; providing garden plots for Ford employees; providing food and work for the jobless; and—of course—growing soybeans to feed the industrial extractors at the Ford factories.