The Ontario soybean industry is trying to figure out how to persuade producers to grow non-genetically modified soybeans when GM beans earn $14 per bushel.
Ontario is one of the world’s major players in the non-GM, or food grade, soybean market.
The province’s farmers have seeded 2.3 to 2.4 million acres of soybeans a year recently, with 600,000 to 750,000 acres dedicated to non-GM beans.
Most of the food grade beans are sold to Japan, where processors use the soy to make tofu, soy sauce, soymilk and other specialty products.
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In an April news release, Grain Farmers of Ontario estimated that Canada has a 38 percent share of the Japanese food grade soybean market, representing $200 million for the Canadian economy.
Thirty percent of Ontario’s soybean crop was non-GM when beans were trading at $8 to $9 per bu., said John Cowan, Grain Farmers of Ontario vice-president of strategic development.
However, Ontario farmers are backing away from food grade beans now that beans used to make soybean oil are trading at $14.
“There’s a lot of requirements (for non-GM beans) … in terms of vacuuming out the planter, having isolation, making sure you can do the traceability back to your variety and vacuuming out a combine, which is never fun,” said Cowan.
He estimated that food grade soybeans have fallen to 25 percent of Ontario’s bean acres because of the production hassle and the need for larger premiums.
“Every exporter has different premiums … but I would suspect for a good yielding variety, it’s probably in the neighbourhood of $1.50 per bu.,” he said.
“If I look at a $1.50 premium as a percentage of $9 soybeans and it’s a $1.50 premium on a percentage of $14 soybeans, yeah, I think we have to be aware of the need to increase.”
Seven to eight percent of the crop is non-GM in North Dakota, where producers usually plant four million acres of soybeans, said Leland Barth, executive director of Dakota Pride Co-operative, which sells identity preserved beans and white spring wheat on behalf of its 200 farmer members.
Dakota Pride, based in Jamestown, N.D., sells identity preserved beans to Japan and South Korea, where demand for non-GM soybeans is increasing.
Barth agreed there is a need to raise the premiums on food grade beans, but added it must be balanced with buyers’ willingness to pay the premium.
“How do you make it attractive enough to get the growers, domestically, and yet be competitive in the overseas market?”
