Local rancher participates in trade trip to Japan

Recently Justin Iverson, a Potomac rancher, was invited to go on an international agricultural trade trip to Japan. The purpose was to build relationships, study the Japanese market and explore opportunities for U.S. red meat.

As a member of the Montana Beef Council, a beef marketing group, Iverson was part of the 21 member team of beef, pork, soybean and corn representatives, hosted by the U.S. Meat Export Federation, which markets U.S. meat worldwide. The Tokyo office hosted the group of industry representatives Sept. 8-16 and arranged tours of meat processing facilities, a Wagyu beef farm, the Tokyo wholesale meat market, a trade show, a culinary school and several foodservice and retail visits.

Iverson has been on the board of Montana Stockgrowers in the past, which qualified him to be chosen for one of two beef producer seats on the beef council where he is starting his third year of a three year term. As a member he travels to meetings statewide and in neighboring states to help make the budget for beef marketing dollars used nationwide.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation has had an office and trade partnership with Japan since the 1970s. The Japanese community relies heavily on relationships such as these, Iverson said.

Iverson learned that Japan imports 60% of its beef through U.S. and Australian markets. They prefer grain-fed U.S. beef for flavor, texture and quality. Japanese people use grass-fed, Australian beef for ground beef. U.S. beef packing houses process the beef cuts into cryo-vac packaging where the meat is wet-aged on its transport to Japan where it can immediately be processed and put on grocery store shelves.

Japan purchases what's called "sub-primal" cuts such as shoulder cuts, chuck rolls, rib, tongue and large intestine. They prefer quality over quantity, buying less and spending more when the economy drops.

Because Japanese people typically don't have much space in their homes they tend to shop three times a week, Iverson said. The beef cuts are processed in Japan and sold as very thin slices for rapid cooking. The cuts are frequently packaged with a flavoring packet as kitchens don't have room for a cupboard full of spices.

Seafood has become very expensive in Japan, due to overfishing from neighboring countries. Beef is very competitive, price-wise, with locally produced protein.

Iverson was asked In a podcast interview with Lane Nordland, host of LaneCast Ag Podcast, why the U.S. exports and imports beef, rather than keeping it all in America.

"The meat we export are the sub-primal cuts that Americans don't utilize," Iverson said. "The U.S. imports lean meat trimmings to blend with our ground beef. All the prime cuts stay at home. You can't buy a brisket in Japan because we use them all in America."

During a visit to a Japanese culinary school a leading Japanese chef showed students how to cook a one inch thick sirloin steak while the tour participants watched. They had never seen such a cut before, Iverson said.

Due to lack of farmland in Japan, American corn and soybeans are imported to Japan for feeding their beef and hogs. Wagyu, a crossbreed of the main three Japanese cattle types, is the main breed of cattle.

The Japanese were curious about ranching methods and eager to see tour participants' pictures of their farms and ranches in the U.S. Showing pictures of harvesting corn and sharing stories of feeding and breeding livestock all helped with relationship building, Iverson said.

The number of farmers in Japan has decreased from 2 million to 750,000 since 2003, Iverson said. This is due to land use policies that allow only inherited land to stay in production. If a farmer dies without an heir, the land must lay fallow. Iverson said the Japanese could not explain this cultural land use practice although they see the problem with loss of farmers and production.

Iverson is the third generation of his family to be ranching in Potomac.

"In the 1970s Grandpa sold his dairy farm and all the cows in Minnesota and moved to Potomac," Iverson said. "He wanted to raise beef in Montana."

Iverson, his wife Jennifer and cousins Courtney (Iverson) and Jeff Hathaway now run the Iverson Ranch in Potomac as partners, having bought out their parents. They are a cow-calf operation, raising calves every year from their mother cows and selling calves in the fall. Both families work full-time off the ranch.

They cannot expand due to the $20,000 per acre land costs in Potomac, and other jobs make up the difference needed as the cost of living increases for the two couples.

"Working off the ranch is part of how you keep a ranch going anymore," Iverson said. "The rising costs of the ranch and the inability to expand due to competition with land for homes - we have maxed out what we can have."