Interest in farming budding regardless of economic winter

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10 Comments

Disillusioned at 11:35 AM JST - 3rd April

Interesting article, but it doesn't mention anything about the huge government subsidies farmers receive.
M51T at 11:39 AM JST - 3rd April

I wish I could have a small farm in Japan. If anyone is interested check a WWOOF stay on a Japanese organic farm, if you a few days free.
LostinNagoya at 12:41 PM JST - 3rd April

return to the source, as many are predicting. Aside from farming, a farmer can do good business with the agrotourism aspect. Last week I went camping with a group of friends in a wonderful farm. In the future, people will pay serious money to have the chance to have this sort of contact with nature.
josebove at 01:46 PM JST - 3rd April

Disillusioned: actually, subsidies vary widely based on what crops are grown, the size of the farm, and the needs of the local JA administration. Some farmers enjoy large subsidies, but many don't. On the other hand, the main drawback I can see (based on my own farming experience and research) is the high level of imported agricultural inputs these specialty, value-added operations require.
30061015 at 03:06 PM JST - 3rd April

huge government subsidies

The whole J-economy is subsidized through endless public works spending, Why pick on farmers who are making an honest product that sustains life? Get over it or grow your own.
sk4ek at 04:42 PM JST - 3rd April

This is a great trend, if it can be sustained.

It has the potential to not only raise Japan's self-sufficiency rate in fresh food, but also address the issue of the "carving out" of rural and semi-rural areas, getting people away from the fixation on the big city as the only place where one can be successful in life.

Many of the people headed to the fields are well-educated, experienced in business, and have a generally activist/bootstrap philosophy about their efforts that bodes well for the kind of smaller scale but diversified agriculture that is particularly suited to Japan's geography and climate.

Good luck to them!
apecNetworks at 05:51 PM JST - 3rd April

It would be interesting to see Masachika Ogihara's operation and his plans for expansion - success stories always interests me. New, innovative farming models should be encouraged to revive the agricultural sector.
usaexpat at 11:14 PM JST - 3rd April

My wife and I have friends who did just this. He was a civil engineer and they lived in Tokyo. He spent so much time away from his family that when his father died he decided to come back to Nagasaki and take over the family farm. It's hard work but I can't help feeling a little bit of envy. It seems like a good life and money isn't everything.
UnagiDon at 11:35 PM JST - 4th April

It does have some appeal, and I would hope that given Japan's lack of food self-sufficiency and paranoia about imported food from China that there would be brighter prospects in the future. No need to go as far as a Pol-Pottish Year Zero approach, but give some more incentives to those freeters and recently-unemployed to get back to the land.
Ah_so at 09:47 PM JST - 7th April

As far as I can see, any bit of land that can be cultivated is being cultivated already. Unless the population shrinks, self-sufficiency rates are unlikely to change, regardless of how much increased interest there is in agriculture.