Japan burns or buries 3.3 million tons of commercial food waste every year. Then it imports 10 million tons of corn to feed animals, more than any other country.
Asako Nagano and her colleagues at the agriculture ministry in Tokyo are part of a drive to recycle more food waste into fodder to help farmers cut costs as they prepare for increasing competition from overseas, she said in an interview on Thursday.
Feed accounts for about half of all costs for Japan's pig, cattle and dairy producers, who are protected by import levies that start at 4.3 percent for pork and rise to 360 percent for butter, according to the ministry. The tariffs are under threat as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with agricultural exporters including the United States, Canada and Australia.