The soybean, agriculture's jack-of-all-trades, is gaining ground across Canada - ARCHIVED

Until the mid-1970s, soybeans were restricted by climate primarily to southern Ontario. Intensive breeding programs have since opened up more widespread growing possibilities for this incredibly versatile crop in Canada: The 1.2 million hectares of soybeans reported on the Census of Agriculture in 2006 marked a near eightfold increase in area since 1976, the year the ground-breaking varieties that perform well in Canada's shorter growing season were introduced.