China
How is it produced?
Edamame beans are immature soybeans and are grown in warm climates primarily in China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Describe the supply chain to the store shelf in Canada:
They are shipped frozen to Canada and entered into wholesale channels and sold to major grocery retailers.
What is the power balance between the producer and seller?
The power balance between producer and seller is skewed towards large retailers and multinational food corporations. Small farmers in Asia face low bargaining power due to oversupply, reliance on export markets, and high competition. Importers and Canadian retailers capture greater margins and control pricing, branding, and consumer access.
Can you recommend changes to the system to improve the balance?
Recommendations to improve balance are fair trade agreements to ensure farmers receive fair prices, domestic production in Canada to reduce dependence on imports, and producer co-op to enhance negotiating power against large retailers.
References/Resources:
Clapp, J. (2015). ABCD and beyond: From grain merchants to agricultural value chain managers. University of Waterloo.
Government of Canada. (n.d.). Harrow Research and Development Centre.
Nair, R. M., et al. (2023). Global status of vegetable soybean. Frontiers in Plant Science.
Todd, J., Lee, D., Persall, J., & Elford, E. (2010). On-farm edamame variety trials. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
GLOBALG.A.P. (n.d.). Risk Assessment on Social Practice (GRASP).