Author Archives: The Japan Agricultural News

【News】 An agricultural cooperative in Tokyo wins the world famous D&AD award for its branding activities (July 10, 2013)

Posted on 2013-07-10 by The Japan Agricultural News

  JA Minds, an agricultural cooperative in Fuchu, Tokyo, won the Yellow Pencil – equivalent to a gold prize – in this year’s D&AD Awards, an award for design and advertising recognized throughout the world. The award, sponsored by British Design and Art Direction, a London-based design promotion organization, is known as one of the world’s four major design awards. JA Minds won its award in the category of branding schemes, which includes activities to publicize brand values to customers using logos. 6D-K, a Tokyo-based firm headed by graphics designer Shogo Kishino, designed the icon-based logos, which are used in JA Minds’ signboards, in-store maps and wall displays. The new … Continue reading →

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【Editorial】 Election candidates should discuss the future of agriculture more from the standpoint of farmers (July 9, 2013)

Posted on 2013-07-09 by The Japan Agricultural News

  Campaigning by leaders of political parties are heating up as the Upper House election nears, but their debate over agricultural policies has not deepened. Who should we choose to entrust the future of agriculture, rural communities and safety and security of food? Political parties and candidates should discuss concrete policies from the viewpoint of farmers so that they will be easier to understand. Needless to say, the biggest point of issue is the policies concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations. The People’s Life Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Green Wind party clearly expressed opposition to the TPP scheme in their campaign pledges, and the Japanese Communist Party … Continue reading →

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【News】 Anti-TPP professors come up with estimates for the impact of TPP on rice farmers, warning that even large-scale farmers will go into the red if tariffs are cut (July 6, 2013)

Posted on 2013-07-06 by The Japan Agricultural News

  A group of university professors calling for Japan’s immediate withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks said on Friday, July 5, that if a tariff on rice is abolished, even large-scale rice farmers will suffer large deficits, if subsidies are excluded. “If Japan enters the TPP negotiations, it will become financially difficult even for farmers working more than 10 hectares of land to continue farming,” said Satoshi Daigo, professor emeritus of financial accounting at the University of Tokyo, who heads the group. The group’s estimates, the second report following the one announced in May, this time focuses on possible impacts of the TPP scheme on farmers growing four products … Continue reading →

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【News】 Japanese agricultural cooperatives group will increase the number of grassroots projects to donate on in Asian nations (July 5, 2013)

Posted on 2013-07-05 by The Japan Agricultural News

  The Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA Zenchu) decided at its board meeting on Thursday, July 4, that it will fund five development projects by Asian agricultural groups, using donations collected among the group during fiscal 2012. In order to extend the range of direct support, the board members also amended the organization’s rules to allow unused donations to be carried over to the next year’s account instead of sending them to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. The JA group started collecting donations among the group in fiscal 2005 to be used for supporting Asian agricultural organizations’ projects to increase farmers’ income. The donations collected during fiscal … Continue reading →

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【Editorial】 Candidates of the coming Upper House election should listen to the voices of farmers (July 5, 2013)

Posted on 2013-07-05 by The Japan Agricultural News

  17-day official campaigning for the Upper House election scheduled on Sunday, July 21, got under way on Thursday, July 4. This will be the first national election for farmers and rural communities to thrust their concerns to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration which announced that Japan will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks. Japan is expected to enter the TPP negotiations on Tuesday, July 23, right after the election. Also after the election, the government’s Regulatory Reform Council will set on discussing in detail reforms on agricultural regulations. In that sense, the results of the election will have a big influence on the future of Japan’s agriculture. We should … Continue reading →

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