【News】 Noh no Ikebana exhibition in Tokyo gives new lives to old agricultural implements (Oct. 7, 2016)

Posted on 2016-11-08 by The Japan Agricultural News

Members of Noh no Ikebana Tokyo Group held an exhibition of their arrangements on October 6, 2016 at one of the major plant nurseries in Tokyo, Shindo Sogo Engei Center in the city of Musashimurayama. The arrangements are created using agricultural products and old agricultural implements to give new lives to the obsolete instruments. The leader of the group, Yoko Hamanaka, 73, said, “I hope this will offer an opportunity for everyone to recall a life on a farm in old times.” The old farming utensils belong to Susumu Shindo, a 65-year-old manager of the plant nursery. He has been collecting old farming tools such as daihachi guruma (a large, … Continue reading →

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【News】 127 wild mushrooms on display in Nagano to call for care to avoid eating toxic, some deadly, mushrooms (Oct. 5, 2016)

Posted on 2016-11-08 by The Japan Agricultural News

As the peak season for mushroom hunting started in Japan, the number of reports on mushroom poisoning is on rise. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, as of October 3 this year, 17 people became ill after mistakenly eating poisonous mushrooms. During the past ten years, approximately 1,500 people were reported to have suffered from the mushroom poisoning. Five among them died. On October 4, the food hygiene association of Nagano Prefecture started a display of 127 types of wild mushrooms in the farmers’ market of JA Nagano, an agricultural cooperative headquartered in Nagano Prefecture, as one of its initiatives to prevent wild mushroom poisoning. The mushrooms … Continue reading →

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【News】 JA-ZENCHU to hold “Top Forum” at six places to share successful performance of self-reforms with top leaders of agricultural cooperatives throughout Japan (Nov. 2, 2016)

Posted on 2016-11-08 by The Japan Agricultural News

JA-ZENCHU (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives) or an apex body of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) in Japan held the first session of consecutive “Top Forum” in Osaka city on November 1, which is to be organized at six cities this month in the country. JA-ZENCHU aims at successfully promoting a three-year campaign of self-reforms in agricultural cooperative activities, which were pledged by JAs’ representatives throughout the country at their 27th National Convention held last autumn, by confirming a steady progress of the campaign in its first year with executive leaders of JAs at the Top Forum. Participants in the Top Forum particularly shared practical experiences among themselves in raising agricultural income … Continue reading →

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【News】 SBS rice wholesaler doubts why MAFF excludes his testimony on actual selling price from its investigation report (Nov. 2, 2016)

Posted on 2016-11-07 by The Japan Agricultural News

The Japan Agricultural News found out on October 31 that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) had excluded information on actual selling prices of rice imported under “simultaneous buy and sell” (SBS) system, even though MAFF had gotten wholesalers’ testimonies on their selling prices set for rice users after deducting so-called “adjustment money” paid by trading houses through its latest investigation regarding shady transactions of the imported rice. At the investigation, MAFF received concrete information about selling prices of the imported rice under the SBS system from all the wholesalers that admitted their involvements in the rice transactions with kickbacks called “adjustment money.” When a report on the … Continue reading →

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【News】 ZEN-NOH successfully completes price-cut negotiations with fertilizer manufacturers for coming spring season (Oct. 29, 2016)

Posted on 2016-11-05 by The Japan Agricultural News

On October 28, ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Association) or a national business organization of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) revealed a price list of spring-season major fertilizers to be supplied to JA member farmers through its organizational network during November to next May. The price of high-performance compound fertilizer (generally compounded), which is recognized as an indicator price, is lowered by as much as 10.1 percent over that in the current autumn season of fertilizers. ZEN-NOH could successfully cut the supply price of the compound fertilizer by more than 10 percent in two consecutive seasons thanks to lowered prices of fertilizer materials in the international market and the stronger yen … Continue reading →

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