Monthly Archives: May 2015

【News】 Production of rice for feed increases as farm co-ops push shift from table rice cultivation (May 29, 2015)

  Hayato Niki, Chikuma Kume As agricultural co-operatives nationwide encourage their member farms to expand their acreage of rice for feed, farms in some regions are doubling the production compared with the previous year. However, in order to meet the JA group’s goal of producing 600,000 tons of rice for feed in a year, member farms need to increase their yield by 3.3 times from a year before. It is indispensable for the farms to conduct further acreage shift from table rice to rice for feed, so as to better balance supply and demand in the harvest season. Producing rice for feed “is definitely more profitable than (cultivating) table rice,” … Continue reading

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【News】 Norinchukin Bank signs strategic alliance with Rabobank to boost agriculture exports (May 28, 2015)

  The Norinchukin Bank announced Wednesday, May 27, that it has concluded a strategic alliance with Netherland-based Rabobank in the field of food and agriculture-related financial business. By stepping up their long-standing relationship as agricultural co-operative financial organizations, Norinchukin hopes to gain knowhow from Utrecht-based Rabobank on agricultural management expertise and exports in Netherlands, a leading exporter of farm products known for its highly productive agriculture industry. Norinchukin says the strategic alliance, the first to be signed with a foreign financial institution, will help meet the government’s goal of making the nation’s farm sector the growth industry and increasing farmers’ income. “We will deepen understanding on Netherland’s agriculture and Rabobank’s … Continue reading

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【Life】 We create jobs to create food in marginal village (May 28, 2015)

Keiko Komatsu Food is an essential part of our life. However, environment surrounding food producing communities are not that easy. Many children born in the farming, mountain and fishing villages must leave their home towns as soon as they graduate. I myself left home in a fishing village in Ehime Prefecture to get a job at a company in urban area of the prefecture. Then I gradually came to think that I don’t want to lose my previous life style in which I could get hold of my own food in my backyard and that I want to share this feeling with others.My husband was also struggling in one of … Continue reading

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【News】 Gentle glow to warm your heart (May 26, 2015)

Kotaro Yamada Lamps made out of home-grown gourds by a 41-year-old record shop owner are now popular in Itoshima-shi, Fukuoka Prefecture. The organic lamps cast a warm glow on everything in the room and they are used to decorate a wedding reception venue, for example. The record shop owner, Osamu Tatsuishi, harvests the gourds in summer and soaks them in water for a while to let the seeds inside go rotten. Then he cleans the seeds and dries the empty shells in the sun. Once the base materials are ready, he starts drawing various pictures with small holes and dots, made by using pushpins and needles. Finally, he installs light … Continue reading

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【Editorial】 Community-level discussions indispensable to revise farmland consolidation bank system (May 22, 2015)

  A year has passed since the farmland consolidation bank system was established, but it has not achieved good results so far, prompting a need for revision. The government is said to be considering taking measures to encourage municipalities to facilitate the use of the banks, such as by creating differences in the budget allocated for each prefecture according to the amount of land leased by the banks. The revision is expected to be included in the government’s revised growth strategy, but the government should not rush to conclusions. We urge the government to discuss the issue carefully and make effective revisions by listening to the voices of farmers. It … Continue reading

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