【News】 Wild animal leather crafts gain popularity (Feb. 6, 2016)

An exhibition and sale of crafts made of leathers of wild animals such as boars and deer, which damage field crops at local areas in Japan, opened at TOKYO SKYTREE in Sumida-ku, Tokyo on Feb. 5. Research institutes including universities and designers joined the exhibition to sell their craftworks through Feb. 17. Kina Kato, 42, a leather craft designer, displayed wallets and brooches made of leathers of deer captured at a Nikko area in Tochigi prefecture. “Quality of deer leathers depends upon nuts and other foods available in the forest when they are trapped. Its texture differs from one season to another. I hope my craftworks will be appreciated for … Continue reading

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【News】 Pollinators’ “service” values 470 billion yen (Feb. 5, 2016)

Bees and bugs are making a tremendous contribution to agricultural production in Japan by carrying pollens of fruits and vegetables. According to an estimate released on Feb. 4 by the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, based at Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki prefecture, these pollinators brought about a value of as much as 470 billion yen to the Japanese farm sector, 8.3 percent of the total crop farming production, 5,700 billion yen, in 2013. 70 percent of the value, 330 billion yen, was contributed by wild insects of pollen carriers. Wild pollinators played a more valuable role in crop production than artificial pollinators such as buff-tailed bumblebees. In the total contribution of 330 … Continue reading

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【News】 Japanese farmers forced to face further liberalization in TPP framework (Feb. 5, 2016)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement was signed by twelve countries including Japan at a ceremony held in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 4. All the provisions in the text of the TPP pact have been finalized. TPP member countries are now required to take necessary steps to promote domestic procedures. The Government of Japan plans to submit to the current Diet session a bid for ratification of the TPP agreement and TPP-related bills in order to prepare for an early implementation of the agreement. Japan has made a commitment to the United States of America and other partners to drastically reduce import tariffs on key products including beef … Continue reading

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【News】 Exports of farm, forestry and fishery products hit record high (Feb. 3, 2016)

Japan’s exports of foods and agricultural, forestry and fishery products marked a record high for the third straight year in 2015 to reach 745.2 billion yen, an increase of 21 percent from the previous year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (MAFF) said on Feb.2. Japanese cuisine boom overseas and a comparatively weak yen are major factors favorable to the continuous increases in the exports. Exports of agricultural products totaled 443.2 billion yen in the recording period. Above all, apple exports gained the largest percentage increase of 55 percent over the previous year to 13.4 billion yen. Beef saw exports jump 34 percent to 11 billion yen, and green … Continue reading

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【News】 ZEN-NOH Group & US producers to band together for stable supplies of non-GMO corns (Feb. 2, 2016)

The ZEN-NOH Group, headed by the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) in Japan, is strengthening its ties with grain producers in the United States of America to continuously import their product of non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) corn as a major feed ingredient. One of ZEN-NOH’s overseas subsidiaries, CGB Enterprises, Inc. headquartered outside of New Orleans, Louisiana, carries on marketing and transportation businesses for US producers of grains and soybeans. CGB has built up its business activities at grass-root level with non-GMO corn producers in the Midwestern United States, where its 50 staff members maintain face-to-face interacts with those producers in their respective assigned territory through providing them with … Continue reading

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