Plans in the US to boost ethanol fuel production using genetically modified (GM) soybeans has raised cautious hopes among local farmers involved in organically grown crops as well as environmental and consumer groups. “Global warming has promoted biofuel production using GM soybeans in the US. We want to use this opportunity to increase the domestic production of organic soybeans for food,” said Yoko Tomiyama, spokesperson for the Japan Consumer Association. Tomiyama was referring to the alarm in Japan over the expected decline in soybean supply from the US where farmers now prefer to grow cheaper, pest resistant GM soybeans for biofuels that can produce environmentally safe energy.

The consequences for Japan, that is dependent on imports of non-GM soybeans from US, are a spike in the prices of tofu, soybean cake, natto (fermented soy beans) and miso (soybean paste), all staples of the Japanese diet. GM soybeans and products, though cheaper, are not popular with Japanese consumers. Reports prepared by the US department of agriculture indicate that almost 90 per cent of the 30 million hectares used to grow soybeans in the country has been reserved for the GM variety — up 35 per cent points from six years ago. The world’s largest producer, the US supplies Japan with more than three million tonnes of soybeans, both GM and non-GM, out of the total of 4 million tonnes imported annually.

American-grown non-GM soybeans, around one million tonnes per year, are less than half the price of domestically-grown beans and are used by Japanese makers of soy products except for oil or sauce and other products such as crackers. “The latest news about ethanol production in the US,” says Hiroshi Ogata of the Japan Tofu Association, “has led to a growing worry that Japanese consumers will have to shoulder the burden of high costs for their humble piece of tofu.” Currently 100 gm of tofu, the highly nutritious, soft soy cake eaten almost daily by the Japanese, costs $1.7 in a local supermarket, but the forecast is for prices to double as imports shrink. For activists though, the latest news could be a silver lining in Japan’s agricultural policy, which they say has long been woefully inadequate when it comes to the protection of the consumer and the nation’s farmland.

Japan has the lowest calorie self-sufficiency rate in the industrialised world — around 40 per cent — compared with 80 per cent in France and 60 per cent in the US. The issue is a bitter one for a nation grappling with international pressure to open up its agricultural market. Prof. Tasuhito Fujimura, an expert on GM food at Tsukuba University, says the choice is hard for the Japanese because apart from the threat posed by biofuels to national soybean supply, China has also lately emerged as a major importer of beans. According to Fujimura the solution lies in either Japanese farmers deciding to increase local production with government support or Japanese consumers tolerating GM soybeans better. — IPS