Regarding meat production in Asia and America, especially beef production, Dr. Sanchai Jaturasitha and 2 students from Chiang Mai University (CMU) in Thailand and 2 students from Kagoshima University (KU) travelled to Texas (USA) and visited Dr. Stephen Smith’s research office at Texas A&M University (Texas A&M).
They discussed and exchanged ideas about American beef production with each other, and they inspected an actual livestock field. Finally, students from Japan and Thailand made a summary about the content of this training and their own research and made a presentation in English. They then discussed about differences of beef production systems in Japan and Thailand with Dr. Smith and Texas A&M students.
Japanese students were impressed by the large-scale system in the US, supported by its extensive land and rich feed production, on the other hand, the students learned that in the US, Wagyu like Japanese Black and Japanese Brown, are stably being produced and has being doing well in terms of business. They felt that it presents a risk for Wagyu market as the US would become a strong competitor for Wagyu beef market share since Japan wants to export more Wagyu beef to the US. They would not have been aware of this growing situation if they didn’t go to Texas and see for themselves how Wagyu is being produced in the US. This made them really think about the future of Wagyu production in Japan.
