The sweet, nutritious bean can be prepared in stir-fry dishes or boiled and eaten right out of the pod. Edamame pods crack and drop their seeds to the ground, where they must be harvested by hand, Lumpkin explained. Scientists hope to genetically engineer, within a few years, a non-shattering pod that would allow machine harvesting and lower seed costs. Japan is a major importer of azuki beans, which are processed into a sweet paste used in cakes and candies. Washington growers already produce azuki on a limited scale, Lumpkin said, and an estimated 1.5 million pounds of the beans will be processed into the value-added paste this year at a Moses Lake plant.
China competes with U.S. growers for the Japanese azuki market.
The growing affluence of China, however, likely will make that nation an eventual azuki importer, Lumpkin said. Those projects are in their early stages, Dean said, but it appears burdock might be a suitable alternative crop for Washington's east side, lotus for the state's west side. Both pose harvesting challenges that would have to be met if they are to become commercially viable propositions for growers. Lumpkin is looking at millet as a possible alternative to wheat for the driest of Washington's dry-land farms. Millet, which uses water more efficiently than wheat, was one of the foundations of Chinese civilization, Lumpkin said.