As for Honda’s decision to go all-in on soybean production in the United States, it was hardly a difficult one to make. Soybeans are a staple of the Japanese culinary marketplace, used to make tofu, miso, and edamame. Limited land resources in Japan have restricted domestic soybean production over the years, leaving the country to rely on foreign suppliers. Large-scale soybean production in the U.S. — America is the world’s second-largest soybean supplier, just behind Brazil — was a golden opportunity for Honda.
By 1999, soybean production had become such a profitable venture for Honda that the company built a new plant in Marysville, Ohioto process, sort, and bag its beans. In 2011, Honda was actually the single largest exporter of Ohio’s food-grade organic soybeans.
Japan continues to rank among the largest markets for soybeans exported from the United States. Honda did cut slightly into their soybean production in 2023: The company purchased 450 acres of Dave Martin’s Bluegrass Farms in Jeffersonville, Ohio, formerly dedicated to soy production, to make room for a new electric battery factory. Despite the modest sacrifice in real estate, soybeans remain a solid, renewable source of income for Honda’s North American branch. For more of Honda’s surprising Ohio-based side hustles, check out the company’s collaboration with the state Department of Transportation to map bad roads.
