U.S. bison is seeking access to the Japanese market, and importers in Japan are eager for the product. National Bison Association Executive Director Jim Matheson said the bison industry recently had an opportunity to make their case to Japanese officials in a visit to U.S. bison processing facilities made possible by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.
?We’ve been lobbying Japan for access for bison imports for some time now, working with the Foreign Ag Service primarily,? Matheson said. ?And we started the process years ago, and so happened that when we were in DC in September for our fly-in, we were sitting down with the Foreign Ag Service, and they let us know that there’s a Japanese delegation that was coming to Colorado in December. They expressed interest to tour a bison processing plant, which as I understand it is kind of the first step for their consideration of opening up for our products. So fortunately, we have our biggest bison processor based here in Colorado in Rocky Mountain Natural Meats. We met up at Brush Meat Processors in Brush, Colorado, which is their kill plant, and had a great tour of the bison slaughter facility there in Brush. We were able to see some animals being processed.?
The group also toured a bison fabrication facility in Henderson, Colorado and enjoyed some bison ribeyes. Matheson said there is strong interest on both sides of the Pacific in opening up bison trade.
?We are a relatively small sector of American agriculture,? Matheson said. ?We processed about 75,000, head of bison last year here in the U.S., which was a record year for us. That said, you know, we do have members in our association that are seeking to export actively to Japan. At the same time, we have folks in Japan that are seeking bison imports. So, we’re trying to connect those folks of course and show the governments, both US and Japan, that there is significant demand there. There’s virtually no competition for bison from these other countries. You know bison is uniquely American. Literally all the product you’ll see in the marketplace was born and raised in North America.?
More details on U.S. bison are available at BisonCentral.com. For more information, visit usmef.org.
