SOYBEANS GROWN IN AREA FOR JAPANESE TOFU

ANNA, Ill. -- Maybe they aren't exactly magic beans, but they are different.

The Japanese call them Oozuru, a special soybean bred especially for tofu. They grow to twice the size of their American cousins and have a clear hilum, or eye. The dark eyes of most soybeans cause specks in the tofu, and Japanese consumers like their tofu as white and pure as possible.

Anna's Larry Treece, who oversees Oozuru production for Iowa-based Soil Technologies Corp., said he is ready to declare Oozuru's first year of limited production a success.

Treece, a former vocational agriculture teacher, was Soil Tech's first employee 10 years ago. The company was started by a former Shawnee High School classmate of Treece's. It first produced a line of bio-fertilizer based on one-celled plants, or algae, that adds nitrogen and organic matter to the soil.

The ecologically sound fertilizer attracted Japanese buyers in 1986, including Tomihiro Hayashi, president of Japan Agritech Ltd.

"Tommy is very big into importing soybeans in Japan for animal feed and oil," Treece said. "But Agritech also imports beans to be used for human consumption in tofu. The Japanese consumption of tofu is about equal to the American consumption of chicken."

The Japanese government developed Oozuru five years ago, and Hayashi bought the rights to it. He asked Soil Tech to find American land where he could test the beans. Treece grew them on just a few acres for two years. The tests were positive.

Last year, the first for limited production of Oozuru, 750 acres in Southern Illinois, North Central Arkansas and Western Tennessee were selected. Six farmers in Southern Illinois planted 500 acres, and one Tennessee and two Arkansas farmers handled the rest.

"The farmers were taking a big risk in planting these," Treece said. "We had to offer premiums on a per-acre basis and a per-bushel basis. And I had to have skin tough enough to weather a few jokes when I told them about Oozuru."

The risk paid off. Soil Tech's enticements to the farmers helped earn them about $11 per bushel on Oozuru when conventional beans brought about $5.50 per bushel. The farmers, in addition to receiving their premiums, were allowed to sell to the Japanese whenever they wanted, trying to receive the best market price.

Treece admitted there were a few minor problems with the first year. Oozuru's yields were lower than those of conventional beans. The Japanese beans didn't produce as much fuzz on the outside shell, and that fuzz helps to repel insects.

Also, no one knows how the beans will perform in a drought year. This year's rainfall was close to perfect for soybeans.

Still, Treece is ready to call this trial year a success.

"We're not finished to the point where the beans are in Japan, but they have all been accepted as food-grade soybeans," Treece said. "The future is still a little hard to predict, but I think our 1995 production will be double what we did this year, maybe more than double locally."

If farmers have the same success in 1995, production will double again. Treece already is looking for farmers in Southeast Missouri and other states to grow Oozuru.

And, if the Japanese stay happy with the way things progress, Soil Tech may be the only American company contracted to oversee Oozuru's production.