INDIANAPOLIS – A recent agricultural trade mission to Japan was a great opportunity to see how Hoosier farmers and producers can fit into Japanese markets, the director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture said.

“There were many opportunities given to business leaders who were on the trip, which was very exciting to see,” Don Lamb noted. “Since we were not able to have any Indiana companies attend this trade mission with us, Drew Sherman, our international trade director, will be connecting Hoosier businesses with Japanese companies we met where the relationship could be mutually beneficial.”

Hosted by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, the June 5-8 trip included representatives of several state departments of agriculture and commodity groups, along with business leaders from across the U.S.

Japan is Indiana’s third highest export country, behind Canada and Mexico, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Annually, Hoosiers export more than $182 million worth of agricultural products to Japan.

In 2021, Japan was the fourth-largest export destination for U.S. agricultural products, importing $14.2 billion, NASS said. The United States is Japan’s top supplier of agricultural goods, with a market share of 24 percent.

Japan is an extremely important trade partner with the United States, Lamb said, as 62 percent of the calories consumed there are imported. The U.S. provides 22 percent of those calories with our products, he added.

Lamb said there were “several important learning opportunities for myself and those on our team, along with some new opportunities to provide value to our Indiana businesses.

“We were able to taste first hand soybeans made into all kinds of products and we were able to learn more about their ports when we visited Osaka,” he explained. “We did chat a lot on cash commodities like corn, soybeans, wheat and beef and pork production.”

Lamb noted some differences in how the Japanese people shop compared with consumers in the United States. “They shop quite differently than we do. Most will go to the grocery store a few times a week because they do not have deep freezers or pantries like some in the U.S. do. So, everything packaged needs to be in small quantities and easily carriable, which is quite different than our big box stores in the U.S.

“The Japanese people place a high value on quality and convenience over price almost always,” he explained.

The trade mission was Lamb’s first visit to Japan. “It was amazing,” he stated. “The people are very nice and it’s a very quiet and reserved culture. The food was excellent. The cities were so clean and nice. We spent three days in Tokyo and were able to meet with business leaders and tour a vegetable farm, an orchard that specializes in peaches and cherries, and participated in trade discussions with other attendees on the trip. We took the bullet train to Osaka, which is a large port city and there we toured an oil company that specializes in using products like soybean oil to make protein foods.”

The mission was led by Alexis M. Taylor, the USDA’s under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs. “As one of the largest world economies, Japan is one of the top and most reliable trading partners for the United States,” she said in a release. “On this agribusiness trade mission, we have many incredible businesses joining this delegation to showcase the strength of U.S. food and agriculture products. Japanese consumers are especially interested in high-quality, health-oriented products, and I am confident that U.S. businesses can meet and exceed these expectations.”