The American Soybean Association (ASA) hosted it’s 14th Annual Quality Conference yesterday in Tokyo, Japan, where USDA Secretary Dan Glickman thanked Japan for continuing to be one of the United State’s best customers for soybeans. ASA/Tokyo Country Director James Echle, said, "We greatly appreciate that Secretary Glickman took time during his busy schedule to participate in our quality conference." Secretary Glickman assured the Japanese that the U.S. would continue to be the most reliable supplier of high quality soybeans to Japan. Since the U.S. is the world’s largest soybean producer, a $17.5-billion-dollar-a-year crop for American farmers, "we take our responsibility as a reliable supplier extremely seriously," Glickman said.

Japan’s annual soybean imports amount to about 5 million metric tons – meaning Japan imports about 97 percent of its total supply, with the U.S. being the largest supplier with a 75-80 percent market share. ASA opened its first international marketing office in Japan in 1956, and Japan has been the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans for decades. ASA’s activities to expand international markets for U.S. soybeans and products are made possible by producer checkoff dollars invested by the United Soybean Board and various State Soybean Councils, as well as by cost-share funding provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

One of the factors behind the confidence in American agriculture’s ability to supply the growth in demand for food is the new market-oriented farm program now in place called "Freedom to Farm". The most important effect of this policy is that farmers will grow crops in response to world market demand through price signals, rather than government programs that tell farmers what to plant and where.

Secretary Glickman stressed how the use of biotechnology in agriculture could feed the hungry world. "Biotechnology can improve the disease and pest resistance of plants, increase their adaptability to hostile environments, raise yields, increase shelf life and nutritional content of foods and reduce the need for chemical and fossil fuel inputs," Glickman stated. "Anyone who claims to be concerned about the food supply for billions more people must accept that biotechnology is and will be part of the solution. GMO (genetically modified organisms) accounts for an estimated 20 percent of corn and 30 percent of soybean acreage in the United States."

Secretary Glickman ended by stating "I hope I have conveyed the optimism which we feel in looking to the future. We look forward to working together in partnership with our Japanese friends in the years ahead."