【Opinion】Learning from Britain’s dairy industry crisis (Sept. 2, 2016)

[By Nobuhiro Suzuki, Professor of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences] Recently, Japan is repeatedly hit by butter shortages. The Regulatory Reform Council has attributed the shortage to dwindling income of dairy farmers who are unable to market their products freely because of the government’s system of designating organizations which control collection and sales of raw milk. But is this really true? My friend who teaches at University of Florida told me that the United States government treats the dairy industry almost like public utility companies such as electricity and gas, as it is necessary to maintain an orderly marketing of raw milk. In Western countries, … Continue reading

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【News】 JA Group of Kyoto Prefecture promotes Kyoto-raised agricultural products at dinner party in Russia (Aug 5, 2016)

Agricultural Cooperative (JA) Group of Kyoto co-hosted a food cultural exchange party at Petrovsky Palace in Moscow, the capital of Russia, on August 3, 2016. Approximately 300 guests from Russia and Japan thoroughly enjoyed the combination of Russian and Japanese food prepared using Kyoto’s locally grown vegetables and wagyu beef. The menu included Kyoto Manganji Amato (sweet green peppers) sautéed and served with salsa sauce and wasabi cream sauce, Kyoto Kujo Negi (non-bulbing Japanese green onions) boiled and served with miso and vinegar dressing, and teriyaki-style Kyoto wagyu beef, which were all delicately prepared by famous Chefs from the two countries. “Vegetables from Kyoto look so beautiful in shapes and … Continue reading

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【Photo series】Typhoon Lionrock leaves widespread damage in Hokkaido and Tohoku, flooding farmlands (Sept. 1, 2016)

Farmlands were flooded with muddy water on Wednesday, Aug. 31, a day after Typhoon Lionrock landed in Japan,bringing recordamount of rainfall in Hokkaido and the Tohoku region. Agricultural cooperatives in the area are rushing to grasp the damage situation, as rivers flooded and swept away the crops which were nearly ready for harvest. In Iwate Prefecture, at least 12 people were reported dead. With four typhoons hitting the nation in August, farmers are completely at a loss as to how to recover the losses. ■Nearly harvestable sugar beets and potatoes uprooted by storm – Hokkaido                               … Continue reading

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【News】 Root vegetables and underground stem crops heavily damaged by Typhoon No.10 in Hokkaido (Sep. 1, 2016)

The cost of damage to agriculture in areas affected by Typhoon No.10 is rising. Especially a number of farm crops in Hokkaido prefecture have been heavily damaged. As many as four typhoons made landfall in the prefecture or passed close to the region just in past two weeks since Typhoon No.7 attacked Hokkaido for the first time this year on August 17. In some of the major producing areas of root vegetables and underground stem crops such as onions and potatoes, floodwaters inundated lots of farmlands. People of wholesalers in the Hokkaido prefecture are worrying that the market will soon go into great confusion. At Ota Market of the Tokyo Metropolitan … Continue reading

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【News】 NARO’s Institute develops moth preventing technology with artificial supersonic waves similar to those of bats (Aug. 31, 2016)

Institute of Fruit Tree and Tea Science of the National Agriculture and Research Organization (NIFTS), based at Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki prefecture, made an announcement on August 30 that NIFTS successfully developed a new technology for preventing moths from flying to fruit trees by using supersonic waves similar to those emitted by bats. The technology was experimented against moths called “Conogethes punctiferalis,” causing damage to fruits, and the Institute found out that the supersonic waves are effective for reducing moth’s flying down to less than one-sixth of the usual flying in the orchard. It is expected that the technology will be useful for fruit growers to decrease use of agrochemicals against the … Continue reading

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