History of Natto and Its Relatives (1405-2012 - SoyInfo Center

trading company, but he doesn’t recall the name of the tofu
researcher at the university. The trading company is funding
the research and is very forward looking.
The third problem is that the Japanese who buy
soybeans that will eventually be used for making tofu
have a number of strong preconceptions about the way
these soybeans should look–regardless of the amount and
quantity of tofu that can be made from them. They want a
soybean with very large seed size (less than 2,000 seeds/lb),
a clear hilum, and dull-luster–that looks like it is a typical
soybean grown in Japan. If the soybean doesn’t look like
that, they don’t care how good the tofu yield or fl avor are.
The Japanese seem to prefer what are called “Vinton-type”
soybean varieties for making tofu. These include Vinton [a
Midwest variety introduced in 1978 by breeder Walt Fehr
and Iowa State University] and Harovinton (from Harrow,
Ontario, Canada). These are large-seeded clear hilum beans
[perhaps traditionally called vegetable-type soybeans].
“Vinton-type” soybeans now sell (cleaned and in bulk) for
only about $0.80 to $1.75 over the Chicago Board of Trade
(CBOT) price. That is not enough of a premium to attract
Hartz. Hartz has developed on soybean that seems to have
excellent characteristics for making tofu. But the Japanese
don’t want this soybean because it doesn’t look like what
they are used to. It is oblong and not as uniform as usual.
Eddie Brown hasn’t given up on tofu beans; he is doing
a lot of work and making a lot of crosses. Hartz has 40
acres of a variety it will be harvesting in the next 2-3 weeks
and releasing next year that was selected primarily based
on seed size, but also protein content. This line is quite
large seeded, with 1,400 seeds/lb. Yet agronomically, it is
a second or third class variety, so Hartz must charge more
for it to counterbalance its lower yield. It is diffi cult to grow
large-seeded soybeans in the south since it is generally true
for soybeans that the further you go north and the earlier
the maturity group, the larger the seed size and the more
the percentage of clear hilum varieties. Some of this is
genetic and some environmental. Varieties north of Boothill,
Missouri are usually indeterminate, whereas those to the
south are determinate. Determinate plants grow to a certain
height and then start blooming; indeterminate varieties start
blooming when the plants are very small and bloom until
they reach normal plant height.
Keith thinks that true Vinton is not grown much any
more. The new Vinton-types, developed by Midwest
breeders, look like a Vinton but the yield is much better for
the farmer. These Vinton-types sell for about $0.80 to $1.75
over the CBOT price.
One reason the Japanese may be demanding Vinton-type
soybeans having a certain appearance is so that they can
blend our $8/bushel beans with their domestic beans [Nihon
Daizu], which are much more expensive, then sell the blend
as if they were all Japanese-grown soybeans.
Japanese are limiting themselves greatly by demanding
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 455
large-seeded soybeans. Eddie has only 10-15 breeding lines
available to him in large-seeded soybeans compared with
2,000 to 3,000 lines of regular-sized soybeans. Breeders in
the Midwest have a much larger germplasm base to work
with on large-seeded clear-hilum varieties.
Hartz would like to have more of its soybeans grown
organically because they could get a huge premium for those
soybeans–no doubt about it. Hartz is already producing some
organic natto beans, primarily with one big rice grower who
is OCIA certifi ed. His main crop is rice, and he has his own
rice mill, rice bagging, and rice marketing system. Most
rotations in the South are based on either rice or cotton. It
is very diffi cult to fi nd organic acreage in the South unless
you fi nd a rice farmer who is philosophically committed
to organic farming [like Carl Garrich of the Lone Pine in
Arkansas]. Even if Hartz offers farmers a premium of $4/
bushel over the CBOT price they are not interested. It
doesn’t work well with a rice rotation.
Once a soybean seed company makes the commitment
to breed soybeans for tofu, it must develop at least a small
bench-top tofu-making system in order to quantify and
compare different varieties. You need a program and a
systematic way of making tofu and measuring the results.
You must be able to prove that one soybean is signifi cantly
better than others for making tofu–in terms of yield, or
fl avor, or fat content, or genistein level, whatever. This
becomes the basis of marketing the soybean to tofu makers.
Address: 1. Food and Export Manager; 2. PhD, Soybean
Breeder. Both: Jacob Hartz Seed Co., P.O. Box 946,
Stuttgart, Arkansas 72160. Phone: 800-932-7333.
1480. Roller, Ron. 1994. Breeding soybeans to use for
making soymilk in America. Part II (Interview). SoyaScan
Notes. Oct. 13. Conducted by William Shurtleff of Soyfoods
Center.
• Summary: How often does Ron change the soybean variety
he uses? He has several base varieties, which are kept secret
and which he tries to build on. Every year he tries to fi nd
new soybean varieties which are like the base varieties but
which will grow in other geographic areas. Moreover the
acreage for a particular variety must be expanded slowly as
it proves itself both agronomically and from a food point
of view. When Ron contracts with a farmer he contracts
bushels, not acres. That is, guarantees to pay a certain
amount per bushel if the farmer plants a certain number of
acres, never just a certain amount per acre planted. This
way, both sides take a risk: If the farmer has a large yield,
then Ron must buy more soybeans than he wants to. ASP
has been hurt before by contracting acres, when there was a
fl ood or frost. Each farmer must get certifi ed, which pretty
much guarantees that he has grown the soybeans organically.
After a while, ASP knows which growers it can trust, and
they become part of ASP’s steadily expanding grower base
or network.