What will it take to make Suga’s agricultural export policy succeed?
Today, Japan's rice yield per hectare is 40% lower than that of California. It has also been surpassed by China, whose yield per hectare was only half that of Japan 50 years ago.
The new rice variety was developed through genetic improvement in an attempt to increase crop yields in a salty paddy field.
Wholesale prices of rice to be harvested this year are likely to fall for the first time in six years, helping consumers while giving farmers a headache. The drop reflects lower demand for dining out because of the novel coronavirus epidemic, on top of a ...
Ryo Saegusa started the Kotaki Rice & Future Project in 2015 to promote and sell the rice lovingly cultivated by Kotaki’s farmers. Today, it’s marketed as a high-end, sustainable gift.
Will the COVID-19 pandemic cause a food crisis?
For the sake of food security, Japan needs to abolish the policy of curbing its rice acreage.
Supermarket sales in Japan in February grew at their fastest pace in over four years as consumers bought more food to eat at home amid the new coronavirus scare, industry data showed Tuesday. Overall sales rose 4.1 percent from the year before to ¥937.6 billion, ...
Japan's agriculture ministry to keep food self-sufficiency target at 45%
The agriculture ministry revealed Tuesday that it would maintain its goal of increasing the country's calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate to 45 percent by fiscal 2030, unchanged from the current target for years through fiscal 2025. In fiscal 2018, which ended in March 2019, the food ...
McDonald's Japan said Tuesday it will start offering its first series of rice burgers next week to cater to people who prefer rice over bread for dinner. The burgers, available from Feb. 5 through the middle of May, will be the latest addition to the ...
Kubota to release self-driving rice planting machine in October
Kubota Corp. said Wednesday it will release a rice-planting machine with automated driving functions in October. The aim of the first such machine in the industry is to reduce the burden on farmers by reducing the need for manpower in the process of planting rice. ...
Made in central Japan: Chubu bets on Tokyo Olympics to boost sales of local produce
With the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics taking place this year, prefectures in the Chubu region are eager to make the sporting event an opportunity to promote their local produce. In the village of Higashishirakawa, Gifu Prefecture, whose land is 90 percent covered by mountainous forests, ...
The fermentation power of kōji, Japanese food's secret ingredient
If Japanese food culture were pared down to its fundamental elements, the ingredient that might embodies them best is kome kōji (rice inoculated with Aspergillus oryzae).
U.S. and Japan to discuss next trade talks in early 2020, USTR says
The United States and Japan will begin consultations early next year in order to enter negotiations on a broader trade agreement than the one signed in October, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement on Wednesday. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer ...
