History of soyabeans rolls back 4000 years ago, over 2000 years before the birth of Christ. The first written record of soybean was found in Chinese books that included plants of China described by Emperor Cheng-Nun in 2838 B.C. The exact origin and early history before this date is unknown. Soybeans have been repeatedly mentioned in later records as a most-important cultivated legume crop throughout Asia and particularly in China. The Chinese referred to a group of five sacred grains as "Wu Ku" These crops include soybean, rice, wheat, barley and millet and were considered essential for the existence of Chinese civilization. The record indicates that soybean was sown annually with great ceremony by the emperors of China and poets extolled the virtues of the soybean and its services to humanity.

It has been an important food ingredient of China, Manchuria, Japan, Korea, Malaysia over centuries. Though it originated from South West Asia, now it is grown all over the world. It is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and US among health and diet conscious people.

In India Madhya Pradesh tops the list of soyabean producing states. Nearly 88% of soyabean is produced in the state. Of late, the total soyabean production in the state was about 84.2% of the total produce but since then the production has gone up because of the more agriculture area coverage. Main varieties grown are Punjab-1, Braig, Ankur, Gaurav and Jawahar.