Ms. Thanyapitcha Theraratchanon, Director of the Office of Agricultural Economics Region 2, Phitsanulok (OAE 2), Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE), revealed the soybean production situation for the 2025/2026 planting season in 6 northern provinces: Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Tak, Uttaradit, Phrae, and Nan. As of November 30, 2025, the total planted area was 15,020 rai, a decrease of 6.11% from the previous year. This was due to problems with the limited quantity and high price of good quality seeds, increased labor costs for harvesting, and crop damage in some areas. As a result, some farmers switched to planting other crops that offer higher returns. However, this year's weather conditions are favorable and there is sufficient water. This resulted in an average yield increase from 256 to 264 kilograms per rai, a 2.96% increase. Meanwhile, total production across all six provinces was 4,241 tons, a slight decrease of 1.74% compared to the previous year. Farmers most commonly plant a second soybean crop (dry season), typically planted between November and January of the following year. Harvesting takes place gradually from January to April, with over 90% harvested in March to April. The top three provinces with the largest planted areas are Nan, Sukhothai, and Tak.

Considering individual provinces, Nan has 4,016 rai of planted area and a production of 1,210 tons; Sukhothai has 4,000 rai and a production of 1,064 tons; Tak has 3,406 rai and a production of 1,030 tons; Phrae has 1,551 rai and a production of 417 tons; Uttaradit has 1,402 rai and a production of 364 tons; and Phitsanulok has 650 rai and a production of 156 tons. As for the selling price as of November 30, 2025, the average price of mixed-grade soybeans was 18.97 baht/kilogram. The majority of the production (71%) is sold to local agricultural cooperatives, with the remaining 27% sold elsewhere. Soybeans are sold to collectors for transport to oil extraction plants and agricultural processing plants, with 2% kept as seeds for the next season. At the national level in 2024 (data from the Situation of Major Agricultural Commodities and Trends in 2025 (Office of Agricultural Economics, 2025)), soybean imports totaled 3.50 million tons, an increase of 6.55% from 2023, to meet the demand of the oil extraction, animal feed, and food processing industries. Meanwhile, exports totaled only 280 tons, a decrease of 6.35% from 299 tons in 2023, due to low production and insufficient supply to meet domestic demand.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has implemented measures to promote soybean production in 2025–2026, focusing on expanding planting areas in potential zones, promoting post-rice harvest soybean cultivation, and developing a seed production system to address seed shortages through increased production capacity by the Department of Rice and the Department of Agriculture. This includes supporting communities to establish farmer seed production groups. In addition, it promotes the use of high-quality soybean varieties such as Kasetsart 80, Chiang Mai Super, and PSC1, which yield higher production per acre and are suitable for mechanization. Furthermore, it encourages the application of technologies that reduce costs and are environmentally friendly, following the principles of low-carbon agriculture, such as drip irrigation combined with automated fertilization, the use of bio-fertilizers, the use of drones for spraying bio-pesticides, and the use of agricultural mechanization at every stage to reduce labor, increase production efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It also supports the formation of farmer groups in the form of large-scale farms and cooperatives to increase their bargaining power in terms of pricing. And create sustainable connections with processing plants.

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