View From The Cab

By David Tollefson, Columnist

This is a news release put out from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture after a trade trip to Japan.

Delegation sought new opportunities for Minnesota ag products Sept. 19, 2023

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has recently returned from a business development mission to Japan, joined by a delegation that included state lawmakers and representatives from Minnesota agricultural organizations. Taking place from September 8 through 15, the goal of the mission was to celebrate the rich history of trade and investment between Minnesota and Japan and identify new opportunities for growth for Minnesota agricultural products.

The U.S. is the largest foreign supplier of food and agricultural products to Japan, with Minnesota being the 11th largest U.S. state exporter to the country. Additionally, Japan is Minnesota’s fourth largest export market, representing 8% of Minnesota’s food and agricultural exports (2021) or $752 million. Minnesota’s top export products to Japan include pork, animal feed, soybeans, processed vegetables, dairy products and ingredients, pet foods and corn.

“This mission offered the unique opportunity to learn first-hand about consumer and market trends in Japan and how Minnesota can help fulfill the country’s import needs,” said MDA Deputy Commissioner Andrea Vaubel. “Being able to lead an in-person tour like this is immensely important to maintaining and strengthening relationships and expanding markets for our producers. We’re thankful to the people of Japan for their continued partnership and support of Minnesota agriculture.”

The mission started in Tokyo, where the delegation toured several food retail businesses and met with United States Department of Agriculture Trade Office and Foreign Ag Service personnel at the U.S. Embassy. They also attended the Food Style Japan food service trade show to tour the U.S. Meat Export Federation pavilion, which showcased over 10 companies selling U.S. beef and pork products for the Japanese market.

The group then traveled to Osaka for additional retail tours before concluding the mission, including a food ingredient manufacturer called Sanwa Starch that buys Minnesota corn for their product.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, who were concurrently in Japan for the 2023 Midwest U.S.-Japan Conference, hosted the ag delegation for a reception in Tokyo as well as a luncheon in Osaka. They also joined the MDA group at the Food Style trade show, as did Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Matt Varilek.

The full list of MDA business development mission attendees is as follows:

*Andre Vaubel, Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture, MDA

*Emily Jerve, Marketing Supervisor, MDA

*Jeffrey Phillips, International Trade Representative, MDA

*Rep. Samantha Vang (38B), House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee Chair

*Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura (63A), House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee Member

*Rep. Kaohly Vang Her (64A)

*Adam Ulbricht, Executive Director, Minnesota Bison Association

*Richard Syverson, President, Minnesota Corn Growers Association

*Mark Dombeck, Council Chair, Minnesota Dry Bean Research and Promotion Council

*Gary Wertish, President, Minnesota Farmers Union

*Brian Schwartz Sr., Executive Director, Minnesota Pork Bard

*Joseph Smentek, Executive Director, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association

*Kaitlyn Root, Executive Director, Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association

*Michael Landuyt, Producer, Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association

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I went to visit “Swede” at his farm home in Southwest Pope County to get some of his own reaction to the trip.

He said this was not his first trip to Japan – he was there on a youth trip years ago with the Koinonia Christian organization.

The Minnesota group was led by Paul Kraft, the mission coordinator.

The group stayed in a multi-story hotel, with a panoramic view of metropolitan Tokyo, containing some 37 million people. Contrast that with the entire population of California, America’s most populous state, 39 million!

Syverson said that the Japanese currency is the yen, and right now the numbers are 145 yen to a dollar of U.S. money. This is a slight disadvantage for farm trade right now, but the upside is that Japanese products such as cars, trucks and electronics are a better deal for Americans.

He also said he ran into the Speaker of the U.S. House of representatives, Kevin McCarthy at the hotel. He was surrounded by several body guards, which would be expected of a high-ranking American member of Congress so much in the news these days.

Syverson went into some detail of eating in Tokyo. As you might expect, it is quite different from what we are used to here in the Midwest. He mentioned that SPAM is quite popular there, and I guess is made of pork shoulder meat and ham.

I had to ask if Swede ate with chopsticks, and he said yes, he could handle eating that way!

I was very interested in his description of one place they ate at where choices came by on a traveling conveyor, where you could open the little containers and take what you wanted as the moving belt slowly made its way.

I hope the picture gives the readers some idea of how it works.

It’s an honor for the current president of the Minnesota Corn Growers to be a farmer in Pope County. For those that would like to see a video that the Corn Growers put out that features the Syverson family right on their Hoff township farm this past spring, Swede is pictured giving the young fellow doing the on-the-farm interview right from the tractor cab during corn planting, and also the family’s sheep operation headquartered in the former dairy barn and surrounding fields.

The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?y=T6ovvPK8Uzs.

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Please contact David Tollefson with thoughts or comments on this or future columns at: adtollef@hcinet.net