【News】 Revitalizing pine tree forest to protect younger generation (March 8, 2015)

Posted on 2015-03-08 by The Japan Agricultural News

Kotaro Yamada -Coastal forest restoration project (Natori-shi, Miyagi Prefecture)- Four years ago when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck Japan, 400-year-old coastal forest in the Tohoku region was lost to a massive Tsunami. And now, farmers of Natori-shi, Miyagi Prefecture, are trying to reforest the coast, pursing a long-term project that aims at restoring the 100 hectares coastal forest in Natori-shi, Miyagi Prefecture, by 2020, using locally-grown black pine trees. The revitalized forest will become a natural shield from destructive sand storms and salty winds, so Natori farmers are strongly determined to complete the task that will take several decades. “These pine trees are vital to farmers here,” said a … Continue reading →

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【News】 Students in Aomori fight against culling of abandoned pets by using their bones as manure to grow flowers (March 4, 2015)

Posted on 2015-03-04 by The Japan Agricultural News

Hiroko Obara Students of Aomori Prefectural Sambongi Agriculture High School in Towada, Aomori Prefecture, are working on a project to use powdered bones of culled pets as manure to grow flowers. The students have grown some 1,500 pots of flowers in three years under the “flowers of life” project, aimed at conveying the preciousness of life and life cycle. The project was started in 2012 by the pet research laboratory of the school’s zoological science division. Students of the laboratory, who visited the prefecture’s animal shelter in the city of Aomori during a field trip, were told that more than 2,000 pet dogs and cats abandoned by their owners are … Continue reading →

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【News】 Progress in TPP ignores struggle by beef cattle farmers – report from Shihoro, Hokkaido (March 4, 2015)

Posted on 2015-03-04 by The Japan Agricultural News

  Shingo Oka Shogo Kamata, 43, who raises 1,700 Holstein steers in Shihoro, Hokkaido, is increasingly worried that the Japanese government might compromise with the United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, despite the Diet resolutions which pledge to protect key farm products. Kamata is concerned because of reports that Japan is considering gradually reducing beef tariff to 9 percent from 38.5 percent in response to the U.S. demand in the bilateral negotiations. Holstein steers will be hit hardest if such tariff cut is implemented, as they compete with imported beef in terms of quality grade. Many fear that the accelerating trend of market liberalization, following the Japan-Australia Economic … Continue reading →

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【Editorial】 Reconfirm the role of co-operatives in revising farm co-ops law (March 4, 2015)

Posted on 2015-03-04 by The Japan Agricultural News

  The government’s policies concerning the agricultural co-operatives reform goes against the global trend. The international society highly evaluates and pins high hopes on the value and role of co-operatives. Some countries have enacted co-ops laws, considering that co-ops operated under the principle of mutual aid are an effective institution to solve such problems as hunger, poverty, employment and regional revitalization. It is necessary to renew public awareness and consensus on the significance and role of co-ops today before starting discussions on the revision of the Agricultural Co-operatives Society Law. International Co-operative Alliance President Pauline Green, who visited Tokyo last month, gave high marks to Japanese co-ops, saying they have … Continue reading →

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【News】 Hokkaido University student’s trip from Hokkaido to Okinawa with two Dosanko horses to end (March 1, 2015)

Posted on 2015-03-01 by The Japan Agricultural News

Tetsuya Onda A 24-year-old undergraduate student in his sixth year in Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, is now in the course of a long journey through Japan, surprisingly walking all the way from Hokkaido to Okinawa on foot with two Dosanko horses. The student, Kohei Yamakawa, says he wants more people to know that there are some extant Japanese indigenous horse breeds including some critically endangered. Kohei and his two Dosanko horses, native to Hokkaido, left Sapporo, Hokkaido, in August 2014 and now they are almost there at goal, the Yonaguni Island of Okinawa. Late February, Kohei and his mates, Yuki and Mitchy, were walking up the hill in … Continue reading →

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