Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993 TAG: 9304300091
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KAREN HAYWOOD ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: TAPPAHANNOCK LENGTH: Medium
Legend has it the warrior took soybeans wrapped in straw to the battlefield. But in the heat of the fighting, he didn't have time to eat for days. By then, the soybeans had fermented. But the warrior ate - and liked - his days-old meal and natto was born.
Bryan Taliaferro and his two brothers have been growing and marketing soybeans for natto (pronounced not-toe) since 1987 at the suggestion of the Virginia Department of Agriculture. The department had identified a niche for premium soybeans in the $850 million U.S. soybean export market to Japan.
Natto - a mass of brownish beans, stringy with the sugar used to ferment them - is a staple breakfast food in Japan. It is sold packaged in rice straw and wrapped in paper-thin wood, Taliaferro said.
"It smells like rotten beans," Taliaferro said. But, he said, "I kind of like it. It takes some getting used to. You eat it with chopsticks. This little string of fermented sugar hangs on your chin. You have to have a napkin or some good sleeves."
Natto has been profitable for the Taliaferros' Montague Farms. Regular soybeans sell for about $5.70 a bushel, Taliaferro said, while his trademark Vanatto beans sell for about $1 more. The extra dollar is split between the grower, handler and processor.
It's possible to get up to $3 a bushel more for natto beans, said Gil Griffis, Asia director for the American Soybean Association in St. Louis.
But not all of the extra money is profit.
"You've got to have some premium because you're not getting as much yield per acre," Griffis said.
Soybeans for natto are smaller than regular soybeans. Unlike soybeans used in soy sauce or as food for animals, natto soybeans must be handled carefully from the field all the way to Japan to ensure they don't crack or get dusty.
The natto bean that Taliaferro ships to Japan is essentially a perfect product, said Robert P. Rich, director of the Division of International Marketing in the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "The beans are exactly the same size - no cracks or splits, no discolorations. All of those things would make no difference for chicken feed."
Japanese demand is increasing for soybeans grown specifically for human consumption, instead of lower-quality beans cleaned and processed to meet human standards, Griffis said. Farmers in Arkansas had been growing natto beans for at least six years before the Taliaferro family began Virginia's natto industry, he said.
Of the soybeans used for natto in Japan in 1991, 87,000 tons came from the United States, 50,000 tons from China and 10,000 tons were grown in Japan, Griffis said. The Japanese demand for natto beans grew 9 percent over 1990, he said.
Natto exports are a fraction of the 3.9 million tons of U.S. soybeans shipped to Japan last year. The Japanese consumed a total of 5.2 million tons of soybeans in 1992.
In the United States, 59.3 million acres were planted in soybeans in 1992, the Virginia Agricultural Statistical Service said. In Virginia, 520,000 acres of soybeans were planted last year.
Taliaferro is reluctant to say how much acreage he has in soybeans because his Japanese customers might then be able to figure how much he sells to their competition. He said his family handles the exporting for a grower network of 80 farms raising anywhere from 35 acres to 200 acres each. He said there are a few other growers of natto soybeans in Virginia who do not contract with him to sell their beans.
by CNB