Category Archives: Cooperatives

【News】 JA Sendai sets on revitalizing use of farmlands in the coastal region hit by 2011 tsunami (July 2, 2013)

  SENDAI, Miyagi Prefecture – An agricultural cooperative in Sendai (JA Sendai) will implement a plan to facilitate the use of farmlands damaged by the March 2011 tsunami by consolidating them and acting as a go-between for farmland owners to lend them to different types of farmers, JA Sendai officials said. JA Sendai hopes to coordinate farmland use so that the land can be used efficiently by large-scale farmers, part-time farmers, small family farmers and self-sufficient farmers, as well as being managed as corporate farms, community farms and allotment gardens, they said. In the coastal region of Sendai city, 1,800 hectares of farmland – 1,600 hectares of which are rice … Continue reading

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【News】 Fukushima’s cattle breeding cooperatives federation decides to break up on the backdrop of decreasing number of member farms and cattle (June 22, 2013)

  The federation of cattle breeders’ cooperative associations in Fukushima decided on disbanding the organization in a general meeting held in Fukushima on Friday, June 21, as its member cooperative associations dissolved one after another after the accident of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant in 2011. “Why do we have to be the ones to break up our organization which has a long history?” said Ichio Watanabe, president of Ishikawa district’s cattle breeding cooperative association who heads the federation. “If only there hadn’t been the nuclear power plant,” Watanabe said, expressing deep regret and anger. The federation was established in July 1965 as a federation of cooperative associations for … Continue reading

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【News】 A Vietnamese delegation visits Aichi to learn about the Japanese agricultural industry and cooperative business (June 20, 2013)

A delegation from the Vietnam Co-operative Alliance’s Institute of Co-operative Economy Development visited agricultural facilities in Aichi Prefecture on Wednesday, June 19, to conduct field studies on the production and distribution of agricultural products, as well as learning about businesses of agricultural cooperatives in Japan. The delegation, invited by Aichi Chita Agricultural Cooperative (JA Aichi Chita), visited a JA group company which grows seedlings of flowers and vegetables, a sorting facility for greenhouse-grown mandarin oranges, a farmers’ store, a welfare facility and a processing facility for agricultural products. It is the first time for the JA Aichi group to invite a delegation from Vietnam. Five members of the delegation, headed … Continue reading

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【Editorial】 Aging society with fewer children – Chance to reevaluate the cooperatives movement (June 6, 2013)

  Japan is in the midst of population aging and falling birth rates, with the trend envisaged to accelerate. This not only indicates a decline in the number of consumers but also a drastic change in consumption patterns. Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) should also restructure its business – not just production and sales but in every aspect – in line with the social changes. Their competition with private companies will intensify, but at the same time, cooperatives movement will face higher expectations to strengthen its cohesive power with clear-eyed perception for the future. According to the population projections for prefectures released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s National … Continue reading

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【Analysis】 WFO members should strengthen cooperation to put forward the voices of farmers in policymaking (April 18, 2013)

  Shunya Kimura The 3rd General Assembly of the World Farmers’ Organization displayed a significant step that the organization has made in the three years after it was established, as the members came to a consensus on a common standpoint concerning international trade, and held active discussions on five basic themes with the attendance of international organizations. As climate changes and short food supply are becoming serious worldwide, there is an increasing need for agricultural groups to strengthen coordination beyond national borders to assert farmers’ rights in international circles. In each of the sessions discussing key issues, different agricultural producer groups presented reports which described their active efforts to solve … Continue reading

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