【News】ZEN-NOH to reform its business system with direct marketing and price cuts by competitive bidding (March 29, 2017)

ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations) or a national marketing and supply business organization of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) held an extraordinary general representative meeting on March 28 to decide its business reform policies and annual business program with a special emphasis on an increase in farmer’s income. Competitive biddings will be widely applied to ZEN-NOH’s purchases of production inputs from manufacturers so as to lower prices of the inputs to be supplied to JA’s member farmers by getting the advantage of scale in JA’s joint purchasing business system. ZEN-NOH plans to considerably reduce diversified brands of fertilizers to cut their supply prices. In fiscal 2017, for instance, a number … Continue reading

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【News】Colorful “kimigara” slippers made of corn husks gaining popularity (March 19, 2017)

Slippers made by women of farms in Aomori Prefecture using dried corn husks are recently becoming popular as they are colorful, light and do not become stuffy. The slippers, named “kimigara” from an Aomori dialect “kimi” meaning corn and “kara” meaning husks, are the traditional craftwork handed down in Towada, Aomori, for women to work on during the off-season. Husks of dent corn for feed are dried, and a group of 18 local women tear them and braid them into slippers. Skills are necessary to create slippers of same sizes entirely by hand, and one person can only make one pair of slippers a day. The group makes about 100 … Continue reading

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【News】 Farmers’ guidance for hands-on experience farming most effective to promote consumers’ understandings on food and agriculture (March 26, 2017)

Producers’ guidance for participants in hands-on experiences of farming, fishing and picking-up foods from the forest is most effective for them to deepen their understandings and interests in food and agriculture, a survey conducted by the Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has learned “A survey on diet and hands-on experience farming and fishing” was implemented by MAFF during a period of October and November 2016 by polling 4000 consumers aged from 20 to 60 years who have took part in those hands-on experiences. Among the polled consumers experiencing the hands-on farming with farmer’s guidance, 28.8 percent responded to a question regarding their shopping, saying “I am now … Continue reading

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【News】 Japanese government begins to lean toward seeking for TPP deal without the United States (March 26, 2017)

Japanese government is considering the possibility of seeking for enforcement of an 11-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pack without the United States. Officials of Shinzo Abe’s administration planned to persistently keep its policy to put the 12-country TPP into practice, saying “The TPP pack without the U.S. will be useless.” The government of Japan, however, has found it considerably difficult to urge President Donald Trump’s administration to come back to TPP instead of promoting its own bilateral trade deals. Therefore, the Japanese government will make efforts to precede the enforcement of the 11-country TPP agreement for the time being, hoping those efforts will press the U.S. to be impatient … Continue reading

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【News】U.S. dairy industry eager to maintain good relations with Mexico (March 19, 2017)

While the new administration under U.S. President Donald Trump is casting a shadow over U.S.-Mexico relations, the U.S. dairy industry leaders are eager to emphasize their intention to keep in good terms with their counterparts of the U.S.’ top export market. Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council who served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for eight years until January, visited Mexico earlier this week, heading a delegation of U.S. dairy industry officials. In addressing the National Dairy Forum, an annual gathering of Mexican dairy farmers organized by the Mexican Federation of Milk Producers (Femeleche) held in Mexico City on March 15, Vilsack stressed the … Continue reading

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