Using farmland to grow non-food (for which we have entirely suitable alternatives which do not displace food) feels like a really bad plan -- especially at times like now, when there is going to be a terrible shortage of food as it is
We don't have a shortage of farmland, tho. Lots of fallow fields out there that were once productive but have reverted to pasture and forest. And more held in readiness but ideled in government "pay not to produce" programs.
Most farmland that has been abandoned (at least in the US) has been abandoned due to some other imposed restriction (usually water, but in some more marginal land, it could be fertilizer or pesticide).
Having a new use for soya isn't going to move that needle -- but if construction will pay more for soya than food manufacturers will for whatever the most-marginal current crop is, some currently-available food crop will go to road building instead.
