Category Archives: Farm Policy

A film about Japan’s Local Vitalization Cooperator program is screened in various parts of the country. The movie is named “Hitoshizuku,” which can be translated as “One Drop,” was filmed and directed by Daisuke Yamashita, 32, in Minami Osumi Town, Kagoshima Prefecture. He interviewed more than 200 cooperators in the program nationwide and completed the movie with the cooperation of the women’s division of a local agricultural cooperative, JA Kagoshima Kimotsuki. According to the Regional Power Creation Group of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, this is Japan’s first movie on the theme of the Local Vitalization Cooperators, as far as it knows. The story is about a woman in … Continue reading →

HOKKAIDO, Feb. 25 — FRP Uchiyama, a firm in Obihiro, Hokkaido, manufactures life-size cow statues displayed at tourism ranches and dairy-related events. It has so far sold more than 100 statues across the country. Some of the statues are also used at livestock farming schools as learning material to practice taking care of cows including milking and calving. The statues, made of fiber reinforced plastics (FRP), are lightweight, strong and highly water-resistant. They come in three breed type designs — Holstein, Wagyu and Jersey. The statue of an adult Holstein cow appears big and powerful, measuring 90 centimeters wide, 245 cm long and 170 cm high. JA Shihoro, an agricultural … Continue reading →

MIYAGI, Feb. 13 – Two special pure rice sake were produced using environmentally sustainable rice grown by three senior students studying crop production in the Agriculture Course of Miyagi Tome General Industry High School. Their ecologically sustainable rice has acquired three stars for Climate (CO2 reduction) and two stars for Biodiversity in Japan’s green sustainable system label program. According to the Tohoku Regional Agricultural Administration Office, they are the first Japanese sake made from rice with the stars. “Please enjoy them, envisioning us working in a rice field,” the students said. The labels are called “Mieru Label” in Japan, which means labels to make it visible. They are given by … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 25 — As tourists from the Asian region including China are set to increase during the Lunar New Year holidays, the Animal Quarantine Service and the Plant Protection Station of Japan’s agriculture ministry launched a campaign at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Jan. 24 to prevent entries of animal and plant diseases such as African swine fever and fire blight. Officers handed to foreign visitors and others some 550 pocket tissues containing flyers saying that people entering Japan are banned from bringing meat products and that there are plants which cannot be brought in to the country and plants which require a phytosanitary certificate to import. African swine fever … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 24  – The products featured in the series of Isson Ippin articles in the Japan Agricultural News (in Japanese) are now available at an online farmers market portal run by the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH), the JA Town. On January 24, the JA Town opened an event website to market processed agricultural products highlighted in the series to introduce, each time, one excellent product (Ippin) from one village (Isson) in Japan. The shop sells some of the Isson Ippin grand and gold prize winners in 2005 through 2024. The merchandise include the 2022 Grand Prize winner, Takasaki Fresh Pasta from JA Takasaki in Gunma Prefecture, … Continue reading →