Author Archives: The Japan Agricultural News

【News】 Corn for feed grains growing in paddy fields: Aomori Prefectural Government challenging to locally produce feed grains for poultry farms (Sep. 20, 2016)

With a view to replacing a part of compound feeds for livestock animals, depending almost 100 percent upon imported feedstuff, with locally-produced corn for feed grains, Aomori Prefectural Government initiated a new project of implementing a demonstrative experiment for growing corn in paddy fields of 6 hectares this year. By achieving the project, the Prefectural Government aims to work out a business model which is to initiate a chicken farm business of marketing high value-added poultry produced with corn for feed grains supplied by local farmers’ association. Member farmers of the rice producers’ association are requested to implement a two-year corn-rice rotation in their paddy fields. Farm management models for … Continue reading

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【Editorial】Gluten-free labeling needed for rice flour products (Sep. 9,2016)

Products made from wheat flour, such as bread, pizza, noodles and cakes, are popular foods on the table all over the world. However, there are people who can’t eat them. They are the people with wheat allergy or celiac disease who are sensitive to gluten, a mixture of proteins found in wheat and related grains. Meanwhile, rice is a grain but is gluten-free. Rice flour is attracting attention as healthy food and has growing potential for exports. The government should create a gluten-free labeling system for rice flour products which can be accepted at home and abroad. There are a wide variety of good-tasting products made from wheat flour, but … Continue reading

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【News】 Okawara’s fire boat festival tells local rice farmers’ good next year’s fortune (Kuroishi-shi, Aomori Prefecture) (Aug. 21, 2016)

Okawara-no-Hinagashi is a festival held on August 16, every year, in Okawara, Kuroishi-shi, Aomori Prefecture, where small straw boats are set on fire and let out in the river. The festival with an approximately 700 years of history has been preserved by the community as a ritual to tell if people can expect abundant crops next year. The three boats were put in the water in the evening and the locals set fire to them. Five or six young local men called Funako in traditional working clothes walked along each boat, pulling and pushing it to help it travel approximately 400 meters in the wild rocky river. At the end … Continue reading

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【News】 Community residents’ associations invited to join better living activities of farmers’ cooperatives in Iwate Prefecture (Sep. 19, 2016)

Iwate Prefectural Union of Agricultural Cooperatives is launching a new project named “Better Living Activities Promotion Program,” in which the Prefectural Union will provide a financial assistance to residents’ associations aiming to revitalize their rural community at grass-roots level. The Prefectural Union, JAs’ apex organization in Iwate prefecture, plans to assist local residents to set up their own “regional management organization” for coping with problems faced by themselves in their rural life, which organization the Abe Administration regards as a core body for revitalizing local regions in the country. At the expert panel meeting held by the Government, it was recommended for the Administration to encourage cooperation between the regional … Continue reading

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【News】 MAFF Minister says “Shady transaction of SBS imported rice possibly causes most serious problem for rice producers in Japan. MAFF launched investigation.” (Sep. 17, 2016)

At a press conference held after a cabinet meeting on September 16, Yuji Yamamoto, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), responded to a question on a controversial issue of shady transactions of rice, imported under the state-controlled “simultaneous buy and sell” (SBS) system, between trading houses and wholesalers, by saying MAFF has launched an investigation into so-called “SBS rice” deals conducted by companies concerned in past years. “SBS imported rice has been possibly distributed with lower prices than generally assumed by padding import rice prices for sales to the government under the SBS system. These transactions could have caused negative impacts on prices of locally grown rice in the … Continue reading

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