World Agriculture
Developments, trade, data, and topics in world agriculture
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Brazil faces reduced food outputBrazil faces drop in crops Country's status as world's major producer and exporter of food could be severely threatened unless its farming methods are urgently adapted to take account of climate change Jan Rocha Climate News Network, part of Guardian Environment Network theguardian an.com, Tuesday 3 September 2013 16.50 BST Soybeans are harvested at the Fartura Farm in Campo Verde, Brazil. Scientists say climate change will severely impact the country's food growing capacity. Photograph: Paulo Fridman/Getty Images/Bloomberg Higher temperatures, drastic changes in rainfall, lower productivity, more blight and disease − these are just some of the expected consequences climate change in Brazil if the projections of 345 scientists who make up the Brazilian Panel on Climate Change (PBMC) prove true. They predict that if present trends in greenhouse gas emissions continue, average temperatures in Brazil will be 3°-6°C higher by 2100 than they were at the end of the 20th century. Rainfall patterns could change drastically, increasing by up to 30% in the south and south-east of the country, while diminishing by up to 40% in the north and north-east. The forecasts, based on research over the past six years, are contained in a report that provides the most complete diagnosis yet of the future tendencies of the Brazilian climate. The report will be presented at Brazil's first national conference on global climate change, to be held in São Paulo from 9-13 September and organised by the publicly-funded São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). The data will then be included in the fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to be released two weeks later. The changes in temperature and rainfall will not be confined to Brazil, the largest country in South America, but will also affect neighbouring countries. "With the exception of Chile's central and southern coast, where the last decades have seen a cooling, there will be a rise in temperature in all the other regions of South America," says Jose Marengo, a climate scientist at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), who uses regional climate models to develop projections for the future. "There is a feeling that the seasons have become a bit crazy, with more frequent extremes of climate ." Tornados, once a rare occurrence, will become more frequent. Big and medium-sized cities will become hotter, with altered rain patterns. Rainfall in the Amazon region and in the semi-arid caatinga area of the north-east could fall by 40%, whereas in the south and south-east it could increase by 30%. For the cerrado savanna region of the central plateau, which has become a major cereal growing area, and the wetlands of the Pantanal, climate models also indicate significant changes, although the reliability of these projections is lower. All these changes will have a dramatic effect on harvests in one of the world's major food producing countries, but Brazil's farmers have so far shown little awareness of the problems in store, and consequently have not begun to adapt to the changing climate. Monocultures continue to expand, advancing into the Amazon region and taking over the cerrado. "We must act now to avoid a worsening situation," warns Eduardo Assad, one of the PBMC researchers, who works for Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation. Suggested measures include investing intensively in mixed agricultural systems, and abandoning the practice of monoculture. Farmers should also increase the biological fixation of nitrogen, reduce the use of pesticides (since 2008, Brazil has been the world's biggest consumer), and increase the rotation of crops. "The knowledge to do all this already exists, but we need stronger government guidance [for farmers]," Assad warns. "We must increase productivity in the mid-west, south-east and south to avoid the destruction of the Amazon. The reorganisation of Brazil's rural space is urgent ." Antonio Magalhães, adviser to the government's Centre for Strategic Studies and Management in Science, Technology and Innovation, also believes that agricultural, industrial and urban policies must be changed to include concerns with sustainability and extreme climate events such as rainstorms and droughts. "We must widen the debate and overcome institutional rigidity, resistances and short-term interests ." Crop losses are already being noted. "Since 2000, we have seen a fall in productivity in some regions, principally in coffee, soy and maize," Assad says. Soy will be the most affected. By the end of 2013, Brazil is expected to overtake the US to become the world's major producer, but that position will be hard to sustain if the expected effects of climate change kick in. "Even if the amount of rain stays the same, soil humidity will fall, because the rise in average temperatures will increase evaporation," Magalhães warns. This will affect regions, such as the semi-arid north-east, where lack of water is a constant. The productivity of basic crops such as maize, beans, cotton, cassava and rice will suffer, leading to a drop in income in the region that is already Brazil's most backward in terms of social indicators intensifying poverty. The federal government's successful poverty reduction programme, Bolsa Familia, will not be enough to stop a renewal of migration from the rural area to the cities, worsening infrastructure problems related to housing, transport and sanitation. The PBMC report foresees that climate change in Brazil will also bring an increase in fungal diseases and pests, caused by the rise of CO² levels in the air and ultraviolet B radiation. In addition to cereals, fruit crops such as banana, mango and grape will be hit. The report also says that more, and more intense, episodes of flooding and drought could alter the volume of the rivers and affect the supply of water to dam reservoirs. Hydropower accounts for well over half of Brazil's energy. Biodiversity will be badly affected, including that of aquatic environments. Some biomes, characterised by a dominant vegetation, have already lost large areas because of intensive agriculture− the cerrado has lost 47% and the caatinga 44% − and it is now questionable whether their ecological equilibrium can be restored. In the cities, where more than 85% of Brazilians now live, there will be a greater risk of mudslides and worse flooding, while many of the major cities − such as Rio, Salvador and Recife − are on the coast, and therefore subject to a possible rise in ocean levels. The researchers want their report to be used to guide the drawing up and implementation of public policies for climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as to help companies in their future planning. The report, the first by the PBMC, also marks Brazil's acceptance by the IPCC as a nation supplying projections on a planetary scale. This is because it has developed its own climate simulation model, the Brazilian Earth System Model (BESM) − the only country in the southern hemisphere to do so. The establishment of the BESM has enabled the scientists to reconstruct recent occurrences of the El Niño climate phenomenon − caused by abnormal heating up of the surface waters of the equatorial Pacific, which affects the rainfall regime in a large part of the planet − and simulate the effects of future El Niños. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/03/brazil-food-crops-climate-change contributions by Zhang Hongzhou
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"Taiwan Good Rice": Brand Experiment of "Fine Agriculture" ConceptCARD China Agricultural Brand Research Center, Zhejiang University; Farmers Daily 2013-08-12 by taking the road of "fine agriculture" branding, many agricultural products in Taiwan have formed dominant brands. Among them, the brand development of "Taiwan Haomi" is more successful, and its brand communication strategy and method are also very representative. High value-added strategy of "fine agriculture" the peasant association is the main form of social life of Taiwan farmers, an important subject of agricultural product production and marketing, and the main body of agricultural product production and branding. In the 1980 s, when Taiwan's agriculture was facing transformation, the peasant association put forward the idea of "fine agriculture. The strategy of "fine agriculture" does not place too much emphasis on high yield, but rather on efficiency. It achieves the highest income with the least or the most economical input, uses all kinds of agricultural resources efficiently, and obtains economic and environmental benefits. It can be said that the formation of high added value of agricultural products brand is the essence of "fine agriculture. At the end of the 20th century, the original small-scale peasant development model made Taiwan's rice industry in a bottleneck, and Taiwan's accession to the WTO (WTO) in 2002 brought a huge impact to Taiwan's rice farmers. Since March 2002, the Taiwan Farmers' Association has established a rice grading system. In order to cope with global competition, to effectively distinguish locally produced rice from imported rice, and to improve the quality image and market competitiveness of local rice, in the early 21st century, Taiwan launched the "CAS Taiwan Good Rice" certified by the government ". "CAS Taiwan Haomi" has the following characteristics: first of all, you need to obtain the qualification of manufacturers to participate in high-quality rice processing. Manufacturers that have obtained CAS quality certification must pass the factory working environment and processing management evaluation standards recognized by CAS quality rice. The standard includes six items: factory environment, warehouse facilities, mechanical equipment, quality control equipment and personnel, quality management and health management. Secondly, in terms of packaging, the Agriculture and Food Department uniformly designed the common style and logo of "Taiwan Good Rice" to create a high-quality image of the product. The product packaging is positioned as vacuum packaging to ensure the stability of product quality. Third, in terms of quality, "Taiwan Good Rice" adopts fine varieties selected by agricultural experts to suit Taiwanese tastes to ensure that it is the seasonal high-quality rice planted in the high-quality rice planting area planned by the government. The milling process of the rice is also subject to strict quality control and meets the required quality standards before it can be sold on the market. Nowadays, every peasant association that produces high-quality rice has its own brand. After passing the CAS quality certification of the peasant association, it uses the "Taiwan Good Rice" logo together when retaining the original brand, forming a relatively unified image and realizing the Taiwan region. Brand integration of "Taiwan Good Rice. "Good rice" features a variety of activities by hosting and participating in a series of brand activities, "Taiwan Haomi" enables consumers to have more access to "Taiwan Haomi" and spread it from all aspects of enhancing brand awareness, cognitive quality, brand association and brand loyalty. (1) Quality Taiwan Rice Expo. Every autumn, the "quality Taiwan Rice Expo" held by the Taiwan Farmers' Association is an annual event in the rice industry in Taiwan. The Expo is generally held in October every year, for farmers, grain merchants and general consumers, with more than 10,000 participants. The theme of the 2008 Expo is "rice is not rice". 46 rice exhibitors and hundreds of "Taiwan good rice" products are "show" health preservation, "show" packaging and "show" eating through on-site interactive promotion, creative rice teaching and other activities. In 2010, the Expo created "Happy Mibo F4". The four lovely scarecrows were marked with four English words FASION, FINE, FRESH and FUN respectively, giving the traditional product of rice a fashionable and lovely element. (2) Taiwan's "Top Ten Classic Rice" selection activities. The selection of the "Top Ten Classic Good Rice" in Taiwan began with the township-level rice quality competition in 1995, and the first Taiwan rice quality competition was held in 2004. In 2007, the Taiwan Farmers Association changed the rice quality competition to the selection of "Top Ten Classic Good Rice" and selected good rice throughout Taiwan. The winning farmers will not only receive high bonuses, but the rice will also be purchased at a full price increase. The good rice brand of the winning farmers can be widely spread. (3) Taiwan "pure good rice" activities. In 2005, the Taiwan Farmers Association used modern DNA identification technology, combined with the CAS Excellent Agricultural Products Development Association, the Food Industry Development Research Institute, and Taiwan rice suppliers to launch a promotion of "Pure Taiwan Rice. Show the origin, variety and grade of rice through activities, and establish consumers' willingness to contact and purchase "Taiwan good rice. (4) "small farmers, big public welfare" activities. During the activity, 5784 children from 21 elementary schools in Taiwan were allowed to work as small farmers to plow the fields, plant rice, harvest, and learn to make rice by themselves. Taking primary school students as potential consumers and the main force of future consumption, cultivating their rice consumption habits and conveying to them the concept of good rice in Taiwan have achieved the dual effects of education and marketing. (5) "My One Mu Field" activity. "My One Mu of Land" is a public welfare activity organized by a Taiwanese shopping website with the slogan "Support for Taiwan's Good Rice in 2010. The purpose of this activity is to create a sense of closeness between people and the land and between people and agriculture. Enterprises or individuals "adopt" rice fields through the "My One Mu of Field" activity, subsidize the funds needed by farmers to farm, and participate in rice planting. humanized symbol system taking advantage of Taiwan's talent advantages in design, "Taiwan Haomi" has created a complete set of visual system for itself by the designer, and its packaging expression is more sufficient. Exquisite packaging breaks the impression of low quality of traditional agricultural products packaging, and reflects the characteristic agricultural culture and brand personality of Taiwan through packaging, making agricultural products have higher added value and more competitive. The "Taiwan Haomi" brand has humanized positioning such as traditional packaging for traditional family consumption, small packaging for young people's hobbies, and special gift box packaging for weddings. In 2005 and 2006, the Taiwan Farmers Association held the "Taiwan Good Rice" gift box packaging design competition. Through the competition, it not only enhanced the popularity of "Taiwan Haomi", but also formed a more systematic visual image of the brand's external symbol image, making "Taiwan Haomi" present a high-quality, high-grade and refined image. Expert comments first of all, the agricultural product branding mechanism with the peasant association as the main body is worth learning. Farmers can integrate high-quality agricultural products and use regional advantages to integrate and spread brands. Among them, the most critical role of the peasant association is to formulate a strict quality control system and adopt a flexible brand supervision method, so that the brand planning of agricultural products can be carried out under the premise of high quality. At present, there is a phenomenon that the government takes the main body to manage the brand of agricultural products in mainland China. This mechanism does bring good results in the early stage of branding, but there are also problems such as lack of market orientation, lack of innovation, and insufficient resilience in administrative operations. Secondly, the design of packaging and other symbol systems has brought great advantages to the spread of Taiwan's agricultural products. "Taiwan Good Rice" makes a big fuss on packaging, mapping the high quality of products with excellent packaging, and even distinguishing consumers, consumption time and consumption space, and consumption functions with packaging. However, some agricultural products in mainland China are originally of good quality, but it is difficult to have a good market because of the lack of beauty and humanization of the packaging, let alone the creation of brand personality. Third, creative brand communication activities should be carried out in a timely and appropriate manner, and should be carried out in a targeted manner according to product characteristics. A series of brand communication activities carried out by "Taiwan Haomi" are all based on the characteristics of rice. At first, when the brand awareness was not high, the "Quality Rice Expo" was launched to allow consumers to have close contact with high-quality rice through experiential marketing; and with the continuous improvement of brand awareness, it also launched rice gift box packaging competitions and "small farmers," Big Charity "," My Yimu Field "and other activities to find contact points with consumers emotionally; the 2010 Taiwan Quality Rice Expo launched the" Happy Mi Bo F4 "four cartoon images, attract the attention of young people. This kind of brand communication activities launched at the right time, place and people can enable a brand and consumers to communicate from multiple angles in different time and space, forming a humanized relationship. Man of Feeding
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Functional Vegetable Wind in Vegetable Market Upgrading of Modern Agriculture in JapanPeople's Daily Japan Channel August 06, 2013 according to Japan's Sankei Shimbun, a balanced diet is an essential part of a healthy life. But in real life, people do not pay enough attention to the intake of vegetables, which will cause harm to health over time. In order to solve this contradiction, Japanese businesses are focusing on the study of "functional vegetables", so that consumers only need to eat a small amount to meet the needs of the human body. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's daily vegetable intake standard, adults need to consume an average of 350 grams per day. However, according to the 2011 National Health and Nutrition Survey, the actual intake of Japanese people is 18 grams less than 10 years ago, only 277 grams. In particular, young people aged 20 and 30 have less intake, less than 240 grams. The health effects of functional vegetables are welcomed by middle-aged and elderly people: broccoli sprouts with high content of sulforaphane sell well the "Broccoli Super Sprout" developed by Murakami Farm is rich in sulforaphane, and its concentration is more than 20 times that of ordinary broccoli. It can be described as a veritable functional vegetable. Since sales began in 2001, shipments have increased tenfold in 10 years. Sulforaphane is a trace component contained in broccoli, which can enhance the function of detoxifying enzymes in the body. The United States, France and other countries are beginning to study. Sulforaphane has been shown to kill Helicobacter pylori, improve high blood pressure and heart disease, and protect the eyes from UV damage, according to existing studies. The "Broccoli Super Sprout" developed by Murakami Nongyuan was developed by an American company that obtained a domestic production license in Japan. It is reported that the sales price is about 100 yen more expensive than ordinary broccoli buds, but it is still welcomed by the majority of middle-aged and elderly people. Many consumers buy it for health effects such as being good for the liver, good for cancer patients, and so on. Because the product is not easily affected by the weather, it can be stably provided to the market all the year round. The beauty effect of functional vegetables is sought after by female friends: tomatoes with high lycopene content are popular in the market everyone knows that lycopene helps to maintain beautiful skin and has a high reputation in women's hearts. Japanese food manufacturer "Kagome" sells a kind of "KAGOME lycopene high content tomato" with 1.5 times higher lycopene content than ordinary tomatoes ". Sales in 2012 were 1.5 times that of the previous year. It is said that tomatoes with high lycopene content are popular among women who love beauty at the age of 30 to 50 in the market. It is said that although the price is about 400 yen higher than that of ordinary tomatoes, it is difficult to be affected by seasons and weather when they are cultivated in an indoor "plant workshop", and vegetables can be provided on time in winter and other seasons when vegetables are in short supply. Seedling institutions compete to develop high value-added vegetable seeds seedling manufacturers in Japan are scrambling to develop highly functional vegetable varieties with high nutritional value and convenient consumption. According to reports, a seedling company called "Takii" has developed a series of functional vegetable varieties, such as tomatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage and other 12 varieties of seeds are among their sales. One of these is called "Children's Green Pepper" (P Taro), which is well received by the market. They reduced the amount of polyphenols contained in green peppers to one-tenth of that of ordinary green peppers, and polyphenols are directly related to bitter taste. But at the same time, it also increases the content of vitamin C to 1.5 times that of ordinary green peppers and carotene to 2.2 times that of ordinary green peppers. It is said that although these improved seeds are more expensive than ordinary seeds, in fact, the price of vegetables in the city is not much different from that of ordinary vegetables. (Liu Ge) people's Daily Japan Channel August 06, 2013 man of Feeding
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EU report: EU biofuel policy could drive up food prices by 50%EU report: Brussels biofuels policy hikes food prices by up to 50% Published 09 September 2013 If biofuels received no policy support, the price of food stuffs such as vegetable oil would be 50% lower in Europe by 2020 than at present - and 15% lower elsewhere in the world - according to new research by the EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC). The “significantly lower” results are because global prices for vegetable oils - which are 60% palm and soy oil - are “strongly driven” by their use as food, the paper says. When more soy and palm oil are used for biofuels production, less is available for food use and the resulting scarcity creates food price inflation. “Given that more than half of the vegetable oils are used for biodiesel production in the base (business as usual scenario) in 2020, any decrease in biodiesel production strongly affects the vegetable oil market," the JRC study says. The JRC is the European Commission's official scientific and technical research laboratory. Under the EU's proposed cap on first generation biofuels, vegetable oil use for biodiesel would be 28% lower than in a business as usual scenario. And if the biofuels policy were scrapped, the decrease could reach 75%. The fall in EU food prices would be so much greater than the global price cuts because, at world level, only 17% of vegetable oils are used to produce biofuels. The report was published on 5 September, as the European Parliament was preparing for a make-or-break plenary vote on Wednesday (11 September). That ballot could cap the amount of first generation biofuels allowed in the EU's 2020 transport energy mix, and introduce land use factors to distinguish between the fuels that were best and worst for the environment. If the EU maintains its current policy - with no production cap or indirect land use change (ILUC) factors - the JRC report finds that world food prices would not change significantly. Under the EU's proposed production cap, global prices would fall by around 8%. But ending Europe's pro-biofuels policies could cut food prices by 15%. The significance of EU policy on biofuels can be measured by the fact that without an EU target incentivising biofuels use, “close to 6 million hectares (0.7% of world total) less cereals, oilseeds, sugar crops and palm oil would be harvested in the world in 2020," the report says. This in turn would reduce the demand for arable land, with positive knock-on effects for deforestation and displaced agricultural land use. ILUC in action “The EU's stated goal is to decarbonise our transport fuels, but this is simply not possible if we don't count all the carbon released when new land is converted to grow fuel," Nuša Urban? I ?, the clean fuels manager for green think tank Transport and Environment told EurActiv. “This is ILUC in action," she added. “We urge the Parliament to vote to include ILUC factors next week ." However, the key findings of the JRC's paper were flatly contradicted a study published on the same day by the Ecofys consultancy for ePURE, Europe's bioethanol association. It found that ethanol was not currently causing major food price increases. “It is uncertain whether EU ethanol raises or lowers the overall price of food," the paper said. “EU ethanol has had small impacts on global starch and sugar feedstock prices; the historic impact of EU biofuels demand until 2010 increased world grain prices by about 1-2% and, without any cap on crop-based biofuel production may lead to another 1% increase through 2020 ." After a preliminary look at the JRC's new research, Emmanuel Desplechin, ePURE's energy director said that he thought it was in line with the Ecofys study where ethanol was concerned. He declined to comment on the vegetable oil price claims in the new paper. The price of ethanol But Desplechin did say that with such biofuels reports, “it is about [establishing] what exactly you want to study and then you'll get the result you want. There is documentation by the European Commission that is proving us right ." He referred specifically to a progress report by the European Commission's energy directorate last March, which also estimated that grain use for bioethanol production had only a “minor” price effect on global cereals. Other studies, such as a 'review of the evidence base' by the Institute for European Environmental Policy in 2012 toted substantially higher price rises from the available studies of up to 13% for ethanol crops such as wheat, and 21% for sugar cane/beet. In April, the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur on the right to food expressed “deep concern” at the negative impacts that EU biofuels policy was having on food security in the developing world. The new study was prepared by the JRC's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, using an Agro-economic Modelling Platform, for the Commission's Agriculture directorate. It projected changes in land use and food prices according to baseline scenarios that applied variations of current EU targets and a counterfactual scenario with no EU targets. Other JRC papers expected soon will examine issues including the historic impact that ILUC has had on deforestation. Next steps: 11 September: European parliament plenary vote on EU biofuels proposal 1 July 2014: New biofuels installations must meet a 60% greenhouse gas saving threshold 1 Dec.2017: Biofuels installations in operation before 1 July 2014 must meet a greenhouse gas saving threshold of 35% 31 Dec. 2017: The Commission will submit a review of policy and best scientific evidence on ILUC to the European Parliament and Council 1 Jan. 2018: Biofuels installations in operation before 1 July 2014 must meet a greenhouse gas saviong threshold of 50% 1 Jan. 2020: Deadline for 10% of EU's transport fuels to be sourced from renewable energies. 2020: European Commission will not support further subsidies to biofuels unless they can demonstrate "substantial greenhouse gas savings" http://www.euractiv.com/energy/eu-report-brussels-biofuels-poli-news-530293 contributions by Zhang Hongzhou
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FAO: Global food prices fall 1.9 percent in AugustReuters - Thu, Sep 5, 2013 4:19 AM EDT ROME (Reuters) - Global food prices fell in August for the fourth month running, driven by declines in cereals and edible oils prices, the United Nations' food agency said on Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) price index, which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 201.8 points in August, about 1.9 percent below July's level. FAO said it had raised its forecast for global cereal production in 2013/14 to 2.492 billion metric tons, up 0.5 percent from its July forecast and 7.7 percent higher than 2012 output. (Reporting By Catherine Hornby) man of Feeding
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Food Security Remains a Big Issue for the United States -17.6 million American Households Threatened by Food InsecurityFood insecurity remains big problem in U.S. Updated: 2013-09-05T16:52:58Z September 5 Missouri ranks above the nation and Kansas in the number of households suffering food insecure, or a lacking a dependable access to enough food. The new U.S. Department of Agriculture report said that 14.5 percent, or 17.6 million households, were food insecure in 2012. That's virtually unchanged from 2008 during the start of the Great Recession. Missourians are worse off than the nation with 16.7 percent of households in the state being food insecure. In Kansas, 14.4 percent of the households were food insecure. What the numbers mean is that the economy hasn't improved enough and not enough has been done since the Great Recession to elevate more people out of poverty and worrying where their next meal will come from. It should signal to Congress as lawmakers return from recess on Monday to re-marry the food stamp program with agriculture subsidies in the farm bill. The Agriculture Department report also showed that 5.7 percent, or 7 million of all 121.4 million U.S. households, had “very low food security." Children were food insecure at times during the year in 10 percent of households with children. That means that “3.9 million household were unable at times during the year to provide adequate, nutritious food for children ." Food insecurity rates were significantly higher than the national average for households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line, households with children headed by a single parent and for black and Latino households. People living in urban and rural areas also were more likely to suffer food insecurity than suburban and exurban areas. The Agriculture Department study pointed out that 59 percent of the food insecure households reported that in the previous month they were on one or more of the federal food and nutrition assistance programs. Those are food stamps, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); and the National School Lunch Program. http://www.kansascity.com/2013/09/05/4459151/food-insecurity-remains-big-program.html contributions by Zhang Hongzhou Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/09/05/4459151/food-insecurity-remains-big-program.html#storylink=cp
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Dutch Agricultural Cooperation: Small Land Large AgricultureSource: International Herald Tribune 2013-04-16 14:24:27 between urban and rural areas in the Netherlands, you can see patches of grassy pastures and happy cows everywhere, and rows of neatly arranged modern greenhouse off-season fruits and vegetables are covered with branches, forming a pastoral scenery with Dutch characteristics. Our reporter Pan Zhi/photo "International Herald Tribune" reporter Pan Zhihong Tianmu from The Hague this spring, the phenomenon of "cheap vegetables hurting farmers" appeared again and again. The high cost and low price of vegetables made farmers prefer to let vegetables rot in the ground. To solve this problem, the establishment of agricultural cooperatives is a good way. Farmers in many countries avoid the price risk of agricultural products through this way. In recent years, China has also vigorously promoted the establishment of various forms of new farmers' cooperative organizations. However, the problems such as the quality of cooperation, the level of standardization, the talent team and the implementation of policies can not be ignored. The development of agricultural cooperatives with a hundred years of experience in the Netherlands, its approach is worth learning from. 30-year-old Dutch boy, Kosteen. Brocklandt, who runs a dairy ranch with his parents and older brother. This 48-hectare ranch, located in a small town near the western Dutch city of Rotterdam, is a typical Dutch family ranch. "Since my grandfather's grandfather's generation, our family has been running a ranch," Kosteen said. "Although we just sold the old ranch and moved to this new place not long ago, the ranch has changed little except that it has become bigger." in this pasture, in addition to a few not too big farmhouses, there are more contiguous pastures, and the leisurely cows stop and go. The entire ranch can accommodate about 200 cows and 140 calves. In the whole Netherlands, it is considered a medium-small ranch. "At present, we have joined two agricultural cooperatives, one of which is to help cows breed, and the other Friesland. The Campina cooperative is responsible for helping us sell milk, especially the latter one, which is very important to us. It is our guarantee of income from running the farm." Kosteen said. In the Netherlands, farmers join at least one agricultural cooperative, just like the Kosteins. Walking between urban and rural areas in the Netherlands, you can see patches of green pastures and rows of neatly arranged modern greenhouses. Behind these scattered farms or pastures, there is a strong production coordination organization. This is the Dutch agricultural cooperative model that has developed for a hundred years. All products sold to cooperatives the Costian family joined Friesland. The Campina Cooperative is now the largest agricultural cooperative in the Netherlands, with nearly 15000 members and a turnover of about 9 billion euros (1 euro is about 8.18 yuan) in 2010. Before reaching its current size, the cooperative underwent several large mergers, and the agricultural cooperative that the Kosteans first joined was incorporated into it after several twists and turns, so they joined the merged cooperative. "We can be considered the farmers at the bottom of the cooperative. The reason why we are willing to join and believe in the cooperative is mainly because of the security of income. At the same time, the cooperative's organizational structure, democratic principles and transparent operation give people a sense of trust," Kosteen said. "After joining the cooperative, we can clearly know that our milk can be sold." Kosteian went on to explain, "There are also some business organizations in the Netherlands. If you don't join the cooperative, you can also sell milk to them, but in that case, you never know how much you should produce and how much you can sell. And join the cooperative, according to the regulations, the cooperative must buy all your products, so the income of farmers is guaranteed. When the market is bad, those commercial organizations will not ask for your milk, and the cooperative will remain the same." in fact, the benefits of joining an agricultural cooperative go beyond that. The reporter's investigation learned that, for example, for the Kostean family's farm, in addition to the main income earned by joining the cooperative to obtain sales security, it is also possible to participate in an additional second profit distribution at the end of the year based on the share of economic transactions with the cooperative. 30% of the total amount of this secondary profit distribution will be collected by the cooperative as funds for the cooperative's operation and risk resistance. 35% will enter the cooperative's equity collective shares, and the remaining 35% will be returned to farmers in the form of cash, like dividends. "More importantly, farmers know that if they cooperate with cooperatives, it must be a long-term cooperation," Kostian said. "If they cooperate with businesses, although there are temporary benefits, they are not sure whether they will be able to renew the contract next year." not for profit the literal translation of the English name of the country means "Low Land". Due to the low-lying terrain and adjacent to the North Sea, the Dutch have had to fight against water for a long time since ancient times, and in the process of building water conservancy facilities, all projects will absorb the opinions of all parties, balance the interests of all parties, and finally reach a compromise. "Polder model". Dutch agricultural cooperatives also have such distinctive characteristics. Because of this, the first agricultural cooperative in history established in 1877 in the province of Zeeland in the southwest of the Netherlands was named "Self-interest". In the 1870 s, the Netherlands suffered a major agricultural economic crisis. At that time, a large number of cheap agricultural products from the United States and Russia poured into the Dutch market, and Dutch farmers were still in a state of "natural economy", unfamiliar with market news, and difficult to respond to market changes. In this context, the unity of small farmers in order to form a joint force in the market of agricultural cooperatives came into being. According to the Dutch Wageningen University agricultural economics professor Jos. According to Byman, Dutch agricultural cooperatives are "enterprises owned, controlled and benefited by their members." among them, "member-owned" means that the member is not only the service object of the cooperative, that is, the user, but also the main provider of the cooperative's equity capital; "member control" means that the member is also the decision-maker of the cooperative. Members uniformly decide the development strategy and organization of the cooperative through democratic voting. "Members' benefit" means that the cooperative itself is not for profit, that is to say, all the income of the cooperative will be allocated to the members except for deducting a part (generally 30%) as the operating funds of the cooperative organization and the funds to resist risks. After more than 100 years of development and change, today's agricultural cooperatives have spread to all aspects and fields of Dutch agriculture. Usually, a farmer will join more than one agricultural cooperative to deal with various matters before, during and after agricultural production. But what has not changed for hundreds of years is that agricultural cooperatives are connected with farmers at one end and the market at the other, becoming a cooperative organization that does not seek their own profit in the "field to the counter. Variety of cooperatives the land area of the Netherlands is less than 42000 square kilometers, and the total agricultural land including agriculture and animal husbandry is only 20,000 square kilometers. It is precisely by relying on the power of cooperatives that the small country of the Netherlands has become an out-and-out agricultural country in the world. The net export value of agricultural products has been second only to the United States for many years, ranking second in the world. Agricultural cooperatives in the Netherlands are diverse and of different sizes, but they share some common basic principles: independence, voluntariness, democracy, closeness, and non-capital profitability. Together, they safeguard the interests of farmers in joining cooperatives. It provides impetus for the long-term operation of cooperatives. "Cooperatives can unite the power of farmers and put farmers in a more advantageous position in the production chain," said Sintia. Griffin told reporters. Today, agricultural cooperatives have become the most important mode of production organization in the Netherlands. Judging from the supply of agricultural materials, 60% of chemical fertilizers and 55% of concentrated feed are provided by cooperatives. From the perspective of production and sales, 82 per cent of milk, 70 per cent of vegetables, 95 per cent of flowers, 63 per cent of beets and 100 per cent of potatoes consumed by people are provided by cooperatives. Ninety per cent of farmers' loans come from the credit cooperative Rabobank. In fact, Rabobank is a "by-product" of the development of Dutch agricultural cooperatives ". From the beginning of the farmers' credit cooperative to today, it has become the second largest bank in the Netherlands and ranked 31st among global banks. Feeding Man
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USDA Releases Climate ReportRelease No. 0164.13 Contact: Office of Communications (202)720-4623 USDA Climate Report Published, Public Invited to Comment WASHINGTON, August 27, 2013 - The Climate Change Program Office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Office of the Chief Economist today released and requested public comments on the report Science-Based Methods for Entity-Scale Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks from Agriculture and Forestry Practices. The report is the work of 38 scientists from across academia, USDA and the federal government, who are experts in greenhouse gas (GHG) estimation in the cropland, grazing land, livestock and forest management sectors. The report has undergone technical review by an additional 29 scientists. The report outlines a set of consensus methods for quantifying GHG emissions and carbon storage at the local farm, ranch or forest scale. It is important that the methods exhibit scientific rigor, transparency, completeness, accuracy, and cost effectiveness, as well as consistency and comparability with other USDA GHG inventory efforts. The report can be downloaded at www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/index.htm. A Federal Register Notice is included on the web site and provides detailed instructions for comment submission. Comments must be received within 45 days of the August 28, 2013 publication of the Federal Register Notice. For more information on USDA's Climate Change activities, please visit: www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/index.htm. http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2013/08/0164.xml&navid=NEWS_RELEASE&navtype=RT&parentnav=LATEST_RELEASES&edeployment_action=retrievecontent man of Feeding
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Europe to reduce 5 million farmers in next decadeEurope lost 5 million farmers in 10 years 5:00am Saturday 31st August 2013 in News The latest EU statistical bulletin on agricultural economics makes depressing reading - nearly five million jobs disappeared during the first decade of the 21st century. Although 25 million jobs remain, the majority of Europe's farms are actually smallholdings employing, on average, only two people. Ten per cent of Europe's farmers are aged over 65. The EU Commission's Agricultural Economic Brief says that in 2010 there were 12 million farms in the European Union. Nonetheless, most data sources tend to agree in saying that around 10 million persons are employed in agriculture, representing 5% of total employment. On the other hand, the Farm Structure Survey (FSS) indicates that 25 million people were regularly engaged in farm work in the EU during 2010. These very different and somehow contradictory figures are explained by the special characteristics of agricultural employment but also by divergences in scope, methodologies and definitions. In particular, the FSS collects information about some categories of workers which are not included in other employment data sources, mainly family and part-time workers. Effectively, in most EU countries the bulk of farm work is carried out by the holders and their family members (mainly their spouses): together, they account for 92.2% of those working on the farms, to very similar shares (46.6% for the holders, 45.6% for their family members). Hired non-family workers only represent 7.8% of those regularly working on the farms. However, for many of the 25 million regularly working in agriculture, farm work only represents a minor activity: according to the FSS, more than half of them (13.8 million persons) spent less than 25% of their working time on farm work. Agriculture was a full-time activity for only 14.3% of them, being the main economic activity for a further 28.5% of the total (7.1 million persons). As a result, when converted into full-time equivalent jobs (called annual working units or AWU in agriculture), these 25 million persons only represented 9.8 million AWU, which is close to the figures provided by other data sources1 and can therefore be considered a good estimate of the total number of people employed in agriculture in the EU. The share of family labour also became less important (77.5% of the total) when converted into AWU. On average, there were 2 persons working on each farm (but less than 1 person when measured in full time equivalent). More than half (53%) were working on farms with a small economic size (reduced to 30.6% when converted into AWU). Compared to the rest of the economy, men are in slight majority as they represent around 60% of total employment in agriculture (54% in the total economy). The labour force in agriculture is also older than in the rest of the economy: in 2010, 33% of the agricultural labour force was younger than 40 years (44% for total employment), 57% was between 40 and 65 years (54% for total employment) and 10% was aged 65 years and more (compared to only 2% for total employment). In the period 2000-2012, 4.8 million full-time jobs in the EU agriculture disappeared, 70% of them in the new MS and 93% corresponding to non-salaried workers. http://www.smallholder.co.uk/news/10644573.Europe_lost_5_million_farmers_in_10_years/ contributions by Zhang Hongzhou
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U.S. Farm Income Estimated at $120.6 billion in 2013U.S. Farm Income Projected to Reach $120.6B in 2013 Aug 29, 2013 By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects this year's farm income to surpass 2011's record of $118 billion. American farmers could earn about $120.6 billion net income in 2012, the agency said. The USDA had initially forecasted in Feb. farm income could reach $128.2 billion but lowered its estimates to reflect lower corn prices. While farm incomes are expected to increase, the agency said farmers and ranchers are also expected to see higher input costs. Farm expenses are predicted to jump $13.1 billion to $354.2 billion. The USDA will update its farm income estimate for 2013 again on Nov. 26 contributions by Zhang Hongzhou
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World Bank Report: Global Food Prices Show Rising Trend Food Subsidies Must Be CautiousJuly 29, 2013 13:13 Source: China Economic Network-Economic Daily the World Bank recently released the "Food Price Watch" that global food prices continued to fall between February and June 2013. However, in May, the downward trend in global food prices slowed down and a rebound was expected. Food prices are now only 12 per cent below their peak in August last year. The report pointed out that the increase in production, the decrease in imports, and the decrease in demand have generally pushed down the price of grain exports, but the supply of corn in the international market is still tight. The report believes that the current price of wheat reflects the expectation that world wheat production will rebound, while rice prices continue to decline moderately due to the superposition of multiple offsetting factors. In addition, while bumper harvests in Thailand and Vietnam have led to lower food prices, rising demand and reduced supply in India, Pakistan, the United States and South America have put upward pressure on food prices. The Bank report also suggests caution in the use of consumer food subsidies. According to the report, in response to long-term fluctuations in food prices, some countries with a large number of poor people and weak social safety nets have adopted the way of expanding consumer food subsidies, "but the results of this are often counterproductive." Jamie Saavedra, acting vice president of poverty reduction and economic management of the World Bank Group, said: "poorly designed food subsidy programs lack transparency and accountability in their implementation. It does not benefit the poor. These schemes can be costly and prone to corruption and waste scarce financial resources." when talking about the future trend of international food prices, the World Bank report pointed out that uncertainty in the international market still exists. Unfavorable weather conditions in Northern and Central Europe, the Russian Federation and China could affect the prospects for a rebound in world wheat production, the report said. The situation in Egypt may also have an impact on the international wheat market, as Egypt is the world's number one wheat importer. In addition, multiple factors, including bad weather, declining supply, currency devaluation and public procurement policies, will continue to cause food price fluctuations. (Reporter Lian Jun) (Original title: World Bank report believes that global food prices are rising food subsidies should be cautious) man of Feeding
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US-China cooperation is key to global food securityZhang Hongzhou: China and the United States join forces is the key to ensuring global food security. China Focus although the food crisis that swept the world in 2008 has passed, global food prices are still high, and nearly 0.9 billion people are still threatened by hunger. Population growth, economic and social development and resource constraints determine the long-term global food security pressure. It is predicted that the world will have a 2.3 billion additional population by 2050, which alone will require a 70% increase in global food supply. Driven by industrialization and urbanization, the demand for animal-derived foods in developing countries has grown strongly, which in turn has led to an increase in the demand for feed grains. On the other hand, land desertification, shortage of fresh water resources and environmental pollution have seriously restricted the sustainability of global food production. Thus, food security is perhaps the most serious challenge that humanity will face. How to better ensure global food security has become an urgent issue facing the world. The key to solving the global food problem lies in Sino-US cooperation. Solving China's Food Problem as the most populous country in the world and the most vulnerable to famine in human history, China's food problem is, to a certain extent, a global food problem. For a long time, China has insisted on grain self-sufficiency as its fundamental policy of food security, and is committed to increasing domestic grain production. However, with the rapid growth of food demand, the growth of domestic food production has been significantly lagging behind. The growing food gap has led China to import large quantities of food from the international market. Among them, the United States is China's largest food supplier. Considering China's huge imports, no country in the world except the United States has the ability to meet China's needs. China and the United States are highly complementary in agriculture, and a good foundation has been laid for agricultural cooperation between the two countries. As China's food gap increases, China's food supply will be more dependent on the United States. For a long time, the surplus of agricultural products has been plagued by American agriculture. More than 1/3 of the agricultural products produced in the United States are used for export. The Chinese market has become the largest export market of American agricultural products. China's agricultural imports from the United States will increasingly become the key to alleviating China's domestic food problems, and will also greatly promote the development of American agriculture. In addition, the cooperation between China and the United States in agricultural investment, food safety, education and technology will also benefit agricultural development and food security. Although the food crisis of 2008 was directly caused by bad weather, financial speculation, food energy and government overreaction, the neglect of agriculture in the past few decades is the root cause. The long-term downturn in international food prices has caused many countries in the world, especially most developing countries, to lose interest in promoting agricultural development. The serious shortage of agricultural investment, especially in agricultural science and technology, leads to the slow and even retrogression of agricultural development. Therefore, in order to better ensure global food security, countries around the world must increase investment and support in agriculture and revitalize agriculture. A thriving world agriculture is the most powerful guarantee of global food security. As the largest agricultural economy in the world, the agricultural development of the United States and China will affect and even determine the world agricultural economy to a great extent. First of all, the two countries should pay more attention to their own agricultural development, increase policy and financial support for agriculture, especially increase investment in agricultural education, science and technology, and strengthen agricultural cooperation with each other and other countries, so as to realize the second green revolution in world agriculture. Many developing countries, especially those in Africa and South Asia, which are threatened by famine, have great potential to increase food production, but they are seriously lack of capital, technology and infrastructure areas, so they are unable to effectively develop their agriculture. The United States and China have the responsibility and ability to help these backward countries develop their agriculture. China and the United States can work together to lead international aid, refocus aid on promoting agricultural development, increase agricultural investment in poor countries, and support and encourage the transfer of advanced agricultural science and technology. Addressing global climate change many of the resources to increase food production are already stretched, making global food security a huge challenge. However, climate change will make the task of overcoming these challenges even more difficult, as it will reduce the productivity of most existing food systems and undermine the livelihoods of people already vulnerable to food insecurity. Although the international community has realized the seriousness of global climate change, due to the serious differences between developed and developing countries, the international community's cooperation on climate change has rarely been effective. In this context, China and the United States, as the two largest carbon emitters in the world, represent the interests of developed and developing countries respectively. Both China and the United States play a key role in the global climate change response framework. If China and the United States can first join hands to take strong measures to deal with climate change and carry out effective cooperation, it will play an exemplary role in the world and promote the efforts of the international community to deal with climate change. The 2008 food crisis also exposed the fragility of the world's food system. Since the end of World War II, the world food system has been centered on the major food exporting countries led by the United States. The system of managing and restricting international food trade is basically an extension of the domestic agricultural policies of the United States and other developed countries, with the purpose of serving the agricultural interests of developed countries. Such a food system has many serious flaws. In order to encourage food exports to solve the problem of food surplus in their own countries, the United States and Europe provide high subsidies to their own agriculture, while other countries have set up various barriers to food trade in order to protect their own agriculture and farmers and resist food dumping in the United States and Europe. In the end, agriculture has become the most protected industry, and agricultural trade barriers have become the biggest obstacle to the process of world trade liberalization. The reason why the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations has not been successful for more than ten years is that developing countries and the United States and Europe cannot reach a consensus on agricultural subsidies and agricultural trade barriers. The current world food system mainly protects the interests of food exporting countries such as the United States and Europe, while ignoring the food security problems of many food importing countries. Cooperation between China and the United States will be key to reforming the world's food system. First, China's increased imports of U.S. food products will benefit U.S. farmers greatly, which will effectively promote U.S. agricultural subsidy reform. This could lead to progress in the Doha Round. Secondly, as a major food importer, China's continuous integration into the global food system will change the relationship between world food production and consumption. The broad cooperation between China and the United States and the strengthening of food trade relations have the potential to promote a new world food system. This new world food system will not only take care of the interests of a developed food exporting country such as the United States and Europe; it will also provide more protection to developing countries represented by China and food importing countries. For example, the new world food system will constrain the trade behaviour of food-exporting countries. In addition, China and the United States can also improve the transparency of the bulk commodity market, regulate the futures market, biofuels, agricultural information sharing, food crisis early warning, and jointly build a global food strategic reserve to carry out effective cooperation. In the era of in-depth globalization and trade, no country can be immune to the world food crisis. International cooperation is the only way to ensure world food security. Effective cooperation between China and the United States will be the key to ensuring world food security. The cooperation between China and the United States in the field of food security can also lay a good and solid foundation for the cooperation between the two countries in other fields, and then promote the bilateral relations between the two countries. The writer is Nanyang Technological University, Singapore associate Research Fellow, China Program, Lajarenan Institute of International Relations -See more at: http://202.27.28.18/special/report/politic/sino-us/story20130902-248049#sthash.e32yTHBQ.dpuf
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There are many names, how the U.S. agriculture "complement"May 30, 2013 08:21:58 Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph Edition 5 supporting agricultural production is a basic national policy of the United States. The U.S. Congress will enact a farm bill every five years or so, detailing the subsidy policy for agricultural production. Government subsidies are divided into direct subsidies and indirect subsidies, direct subsidies are based on the type and area of crops planted by farmers to give a small amount of cash subsidies, indirect subsidies are to provide agricultural insurance subsidies and low-interest agricultural loans. direct subsidy direct agricultural subsidies in the United States are paid by the Farm Service Agency within the Federal Government's Department of Agriculture. John Whitaker, director of the Iowa Office of the Farm Service Bureau, told reporters that there are two main direct subsidies, one is direct and counter-cyclical payment projects, and the other is soil and water conservation projects. The direct and counter-cyclical payments program is a U.S. program to encourage farmers to grow grain, providing cash subsidies to farmers who grow food crops such as soybeans and corn, divided into direct payments and counter-cyclical payments. Direct payments are very limited, such as the current corn subsidy of $0.28 per bushel and the soybean subsidy of $0.44 per bushel, and the U.S. federal government paid a total of $4.18 billion in direct subsidies in 2011. The U.S. Congress is currently drafting a farm bill for the next five years, and the new farm bill is likely to eliminate direct subsidies. Counter-cyclical payments will only be initiated after market prices are below about half of the average level of the past five years to ensure that in the event of an unexpected drop in food prices, farmers can still receive 50 per cent of their expected income in order to continue production and life. The Soil and Water Conservation Project is a project set up in the United States to protect the rural environment. If farmers own land in environmentally sensitive areas, such as wetlands or animal habitats, the government hopes to sign a 10-year lease with farmers to suspend agricultural production in the area, while also providing some funds to improve the local environment. Farmers can voluntarily decide whether to participate in this project, and the rent is agreed upon by both parties. In 2011, the federal government spent $1.86 billion on soil and water conservation projects. Indirect subsidies indirect government subsidies include low-interest agricultural loans and agricultural insurance subsidy programs. The core principle of low-interest agricultural loans is to help entrepreneurial farmers or disadvantaged farmers engage in agricultural production. This group often has difficulty obtaining commercial loans. The low-interest agricultural loans provided by the government are mainly used to fill the gap of commercial banks in this market. Low-interest agricultural loans are also the responsibility of the Farm Service Bureau, in the form of direct loan projects and loan guarantee projects. Direct loans are funded by congressional appropriations and generally have lower interest rates than commercial loans, which fluctuate with market conditions. Funding and services for the loan guarantee program are provided by the commercial banking system, with interest rates agreed between the borrower and the commercial banking institution, and the Farm Services Bureau guarantees the loan. For sudden major natural disasters, the Farm Service Bureau also provides low-interest emergency loans, and the applicant must be damaged by more than 30% of the profits of previous years. According to a study by the Economic Research Institute of the United States Department of Agriculture, farm service bureaus provide only 2.5 per cent of the market share of agricultural credit, while commercial banks account for 43.9 per cent of the market share of agricultural credit in the United States and agricultural cooperatives account for 41.4 per cent. Bill Nossi, Secretary of Agriculture of Iowa in the Midwest of the United States, told reporters that agricultural insurance is the most important measure to ensure agricultural production and the core of the government's agricultural support policy. Scott Lovett, who runs a 3500-acre farm in Iowa, also points out that direct government subsidies now account for less than 5% of income, compared with agricultural insurance. U.S. agricultural insurance is the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Bureau. Farmers participate voluntarily. The federal government provides premium subsidies for insured farmers, but the insurance business is undertaken by private commercial insurance companies. In 2011, the federal crop insurance program offered farmers 2.07 million policies at a cost of $6.8 billion. The U.S. federal government's subsidies for agricultural insurance are divided into two main parts: premium subsidies and business expense subsidies. In terms of premium subsidies, the proportion of subsidies is inversely related to the proportion of output insured. Specifically, catastrophe insurance premiums that result in less than 50 per cent of output are subsidized by the federal government at 100 per cent, and the proportion of federal subsidies has gradually declined since then as the coverage of output insurance chosen by farmers has increased. In terms of business expense subsidies, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation of the United States provides a certain percentage of management and operating expense subsidies to private insurance companies that undertake federal crop insurance programs. In addition, the United States also provides three aspects of policy support for private agricultural insurance companies: one is to provide reinsurance to private insurance companies through the Federal Crop Insurance Company; the other is that the federal government, state governments and other local governments exempt agricultural insurance from all taxes; the third is The federal government has passed laws to encourage state governments to provide premium subsidies to further reduce the burden on farmers and increase the attractiveness of agricultural insurance. Other measures in addition to the above-mentioned federal government support policies, Nuoxi told reporters that the federal government is responsible for the construction and maintenance of interstate highways in rural areas, while state and local governments are responsible for other highways. To make it easier for farmers to transport their produce, roads are built in rural Iowa about every mile apart. He also said that agricultural land is subject to real estate tax based on agricultural output, which is lower than commercial or residential real estate in urban areas. If a farm owner leases the land to a start-up farmer, he will receive a tax credit of about $25 per acre. It is worth mentioning that the US federal and state governments allocate a large amount of funds to public universities every year for agricultural research and technology promotion. Taking Iowa as an example, the College of Agriculture of Iowa State University has carried out a large number of research on crop and animal disease control, soil and water conservation best practices, and seed research and development, and has also gone to the countryside to promote research results from time to time. (Reporter Wang Zongkai Jiang Xufeng) xinhua news agency, washington, may 29 http://news.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/2013-05/30/c_132418355.htm man of Feeding
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EU Parliament's Agriculture Committee blocks Common Agricultural Policy green targetsProposals for "green measures" that could tie crop diversification requirements to EU planting subsidies have been weakened by the EU Parliament's agriculture committee giving them more flexibility. The Agriculture Commission has proposed a wide range of changes to the EU Parliament's Common Agricultural Policy reform initiative. The key proposal is to expand the exemption so that more farms are not subject to mandatory green measures. The amendments reflect the concerns of the Agriculture Committee that the recommendations could have a negative impact on crop yields and food supplies. The Agriculture Committee has been discussing the amendment for most of last year, but the vote was postponed until November due to the postponement of the overall negotiations on the EU's 2014-20 budget (Agrow, No. 652, p. 10). The Committee on Agriculture agreed to the recommendation that 30 per cent of the subsidy payment be linked to compliance with mandatory green measures relating to crop diversification, the establishment of "eco-parks" and the maintenance of permanent pastures. However, it did not endorse the plan to provide exemptions only for farms under 3 hectares. Instead, it argues that exemptions should apply to farms with arable land of less than 10 hectares, while relaxing the 10-30 hectare rule. In addition, those pesticides that meet the requirements of the national or regional environmental certification system will also be exempted. With regard to crop diversification, the Agriculture Committee stated that farmers with arable land of 10 to 30 hectares should be required to plant at least two different crops, and each crop area should not exceed 80% of the arable land. Farms over 30 hectares are required to grow at least three crops, of which the area of the main crop must not exceed 75%, or the area of the two main crops must not exceed 95%. Farms over 30 hectares in northern Scandinavia will be exempted. The European Parliament's recommendation is that all farms over 30 hectares must grow at least three crops, and each crop must not exceed 70% of the area. The proportion of arable land in the eco-park will be reduced to 3 per cent instead of the 7 per cent proposed by the EU Parliament. However, this only applies to the first year after the implementation of the new rules of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, which the Agriculture Committee claims will increase to 5% from January 1, 2016. Eco-parks are required for farms over 10 hectares, but they may include fallow land, terraces, hedgerows, ditches, stone walls, field trees, ponds, nitrogen-fixing crops, buffer strips and woodclumps. Farmers can use the ecological park to engage in production, as long as they do not use pesticides or fertilizers in the ecological park. By the end of March 2017, the European Parliament will have to submit an assessment report on whether the standard should be raised to 7%. It is planned to vote on the agricultural committee's recommendations at the plenary session of the European Parliament in March, but this depends on the final agreement on the EU's overall budget in February this year. (translated by Duan Lifang from Agrow No.657) source: Pesticide Science and Management 2013,34(6),P63. Man of Feeding
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EU plans to double investment in agricultural researchThe European Commission's commissioner in charge of scientific research and innovation, Mel Geigen-Quinn, stated in the European Parliament that the EU will increase its agricultural scientific research efforts, and the future agricultural scientific research investment plan will double the current one. Since the 1990 s, the EU's investment in agricultural scientific research has weakened. In order to reverse this situation, the EU's main scientific research plan "Horizon 2020" plans to invest 4 billion million euros in agricultural scientific research. The "Horizon 2020" scientific research plan will be implemented from 2014 to 2020, and EU scientific research funds will be supported by it. The focus of EU agricultural research is to provide more food and safer food for the EU through agricultural science and technology, while providing agricultural products for other countries and regions in the world; use new agricultural science and technology to deal with the great challenges brought by global warming to agricultural production, and actively try to use new agricultural science and technology to delay global warming; Use new agricultural science and technology to solve the problem of waste in food production, storage and transportation, and consumption. Vegetables, July 2013, p. 70. Man of Feeding
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Searching for the future of American agriculture: More young people are neededFinding the Future of Agriculture Posted Ed Avalos, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, on August 26, 2013 at 10:30 AM During the North American Indian Days Celebration in Montana, Under Secretary Ed Avalos (foreground), witnessed the pride and commitment of youth as they celebrated their cultural and agricultural roots. Agricultural producers in rural America represent less than 1% of the U.S. population, yet they produce almost 75% of the food we eat in this country and much of the food eaten throughout the world. Among that 1%, the average age of the American farmer is 57 years old-making it imperative for us to engage and encourage young people to pursue agricultural careers. Earlier this summer, while visiting Browning, Montana, I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Billie Jo Kipp, President of Blackfeet Community College(BCC) and Mr. Terry Tatsey, Director of Agricultural Programs at the college. Their efforts and commitment to educate local students and keep young people in agriculture is inspiring. At BCC, programs like Native Science Field Center use outdoor classrooms to give students hands-on experience in cataloging native plants and their relationships to nearby water sources. The experience, supported through the Blackfeet Community College Extension, is a marriage of cultural and agricultural studies. It passes knowledge between generations and encourages young people to pursue a future in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers as well as agricultural fields. The trip also gave me a chance to participate in the North American Indian Days Celebration. Here I met with tribal members, attended a 4-H livestock sale, participated in the rodeo and witnessed the pride and commitment of the young people as they showcased both their cultural and agricultural traditions. At USDA, we are committed to providing American Indians and Alaska Natives equal access to all of our programs. Our Office of Tribal Relations works with Indian Country, providing support across all USDA programs for tribal consultation, sacred site efforts, cross-agency federal programs and the recently created White House Council on Native American Affairs. On my recent visit to Wisconsin, I had the honor to attend the opening day festivities at the Wisconsin State Fair. Originating in the early mid-1800s, state fairs are a celebration of foods and the rural communities that produce them. They are a showcase of rural America-shining a spotlight on farmers, ranchers, dairy producers, agribusiness and the communities that surround them. Having been in agriculture in one form or another all of my life, going to the state fair is still exciting and fair season is one of my favorite times of the year. Along with attending a dairy show, touring the agriculture pavilion-not to mention stopping to enjoy some potato pancakes, sweet corn and a traditional crème-puff-I was able to attend the Wisconsin fair's lamb show. This gave me an opportunity to visit with some of the state's young producers who were striving to win their class and make the sale. These young people represent the future of agriculture, and are just one example of the up-and-coming farmers and ranchers who will feed our nation in the years ahead. Through programs like USDA's Start2Farm initiative, funded through National Institute of Food and Agriculture(NIFA), and opportunities like Specialty Crop Block Grants(SCBG) and Farmers Market Promotion Program, managed by Agricultural Marketing Service(AMS), we are committed to creating opportunities in rural America. By cultivating a passion for agriculture in students and supporting beginning farmers and ranchers, we will help build the future of agriculture and show that we do not take for granted the work they do to feed us all. We are dedicated to keeping families on the farm and creating opportunities for future generations. When visiting the Wisconsin State Fair, Under Secretary Avalos (third person, back row) attended a lamb show and had the opportunity to meet with some of the farmers and ranchers who will feed our nation in the years ahead. -See more at: http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/08/26/finding-the-future-of-agriculture/#sthash.tjtyacCQ.dpuf contributions by Zhang Hongzhou
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Increasingly significant food security challengesIncreasingly significant food security challenges The Rising Challenge of Food Security By Barry Desker Synopsis Demand for food is expected to increase, outpacing supply. As this situation worsens in the years ahead, the world will be burdened by the growing problem of food security. Expect more debate on this front in the years to come. Commentary THE WORLD is being haunted again by the spectre of a global food shortage. Demand for food over the next decade is expected to increase by one per cent annually but global food productivity gains have declined from two per cent between 1970 and 2000 to one percent today and continuing to decline. A 2011 study reported that the world had consumed more than it had produced for seven out of the past eight years. These concerns will lead to growing attention to the nexus between food, water and energy resources, especially as climate change is expected to have an increasing impact globally. Need for integrated approach to food security policy Nineteenth century economists struggled with the Malthusian dilemma: as populations rose, it was assumed that a forced return to subsistence agriculture would act as a check on population growth. The reality was that the opening of new agricultural land, technological innovation and higher yielding crops resulted in a capacity to feed an ever growing population. However, as once autarkic economies such as China and India have opened to global trade and more wealthy societies are eating more protein, consuming more calories and enjoying more varied diets in recent years, there is growing concern with the fragility of the global food system. These concerns were highlighted by the spike in food prices and disruptions in food supply during the 2007-2008 global food crisis. My colleagues at the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies have emphasised that robustness in food security systems is critical and that governments need to work with the private sector and other key stakeholders. Instead of piecemeal strategies, an integrated and holistic approach to policy formulation and implementation is critical to deal with the four dimensions in food security: availability, physical access, economic access and utilisation. Although agricultural issues appear distant from an urbanised Singapore, food security is politically sensitive precisely because we are dependent on international markets for our food supply. Sharp increases in the price of key food imports, export bans by major food suppliers and difficulties in obtaining adequate supplies could have significant domestic ramifications. Three trends to watch Three trends warrant attention. Firstly, over the next decade, rapid urbanisation will increase the problem of managing food production. In Asia, major cities such as Jakarta, Bangkok and Yangon are located in fertile rice growing regions. Urban sprawl is taking over some of the most fertile lands in the surrounding countryside as rural migration to urban centres occurs. Rapidly increasing urban populations will lead to growing pressures on governments to curb food price rises, undermining the incentive for rural populations to increase food production. This phenomenon is replicated around the world. Secondly, this is often accompanied by mistaken agricultural policies such as Indonesia's encouragement under President Soeharto of rice consumption in the islands of eastern Indonesia. This led to shifts in food preference by the local population, even though these areas are better suited to growing root crops such as cassava. Elsewhere, food exporters like Argentina implemented export controls when local supply shortages occurred as farmers responded to global price increases. This resulted in food importing countries seeking long term supply contracts and negotiating purchases of agricultural land in poverty-stricken economies. In recent years, this has been a significant cause of unrest in African and Asian countries such as Mozambique, Zambia, Myanmar and Cambodia as Chinese companies have purchased huge tracts of agricultural land. At the same time, price support schemes such as Thailand's above-market purchases of rice produced rice mountains as the government is reluctant to sell on world markets at a substantial loss. Thirdly, there is a negative impact on global food supply as major grain exporters such as the United States, Canada, Argentina and Brazil encourage biofuel production through high government subsidies. The diversion of grain production to produce biofuels is occurring at a time when there is rising demand for protein and cereals by a growing middle class globally. This “fuel/grains” trade-off will lead to grain prices fluctuating in global markets at prices higher than current levels. Energy and food security nexus Although it was earlier anticipated that energy security and food security would be competing objectives, the rise of the shale oil and gas revolution has changed the global outlook. The US will soon be self-sufficient in oil and natural gas, Australia could rival Qatar as an exporter of gas and Europe is re-thinking its opposition to exploiting its shale resources. Questions are being raised whether biofuel policies established as a response to energy supply panics will be re-thought as governments become aware of the negative impact on food supply. There is a policy lag as farmers will continue to push for biofuel subsidies even though the rationale for such subsidies has disappeared. In the US, for example, 30 to 40 per cent of the corn crop is diverted to biofuels annually and the influential American farm lobby will seek the retention of current subsidies. We should expect greater attention to food supply over the next decade. A critical issue will be water management as agriculture uses 70per cent of global freshwater resources, primarily through the farming of livestock. With rising incomes, there is a shift to meat-based diets, especially in East Asia, leading to rising demand for meat products. The issue of water management will assume growing importance as water scarcity will be a constraint in expanding food production. Pricing is a critical issue. Most governments charge farmers 10 to 20 per cent of the price paid by industrial users or households for water consumption. This leads to sub-optimal use of scarce water resources such as the growing of water-intensive crops in semi-desert conditions. With water scarcity, conflicts over access to water between countries as well as between farmers and ranchers within states will also attract attention. Challenge of food-price inflation If food-price inflation occurs, the greatest impact will be felt by food import dependent countries like Egypt and Bangladesh. There will be pressure to increase food subsidies for basic foodstuffs but their governments will find it impossible to accede. Rising powers like China and India will face similar pressures but could shield themselves through policies of self-sufficiency, increasing subsidies for vulnerable groups within their domestic population and imposing export bans to stabilise domestic prices. Globally, the challenge of higher food prices will result in innovation and experimentation. Advances in molecular biology such as the transfer of genes from one plant species to another to produce crops with new or improved features offer the most promise for significant increases in food production. Although there is strong resistance to genetically modified (GM) crops, especially from the European Union and Japan, food price pressures will lead to greater acceptance elsewhere. There are already commercially available herbicide and insect-resistant soybean, cotton, corn and potato species and on-going research on rice and canola is likely to result in commercial applications within the next five years. Salt-tolerant and drought-tolerant crops, micro-irrigation systems and hydroponic greenhouse technologies are significant new directions of research while techniques aimed at reducing inputs such as seed, fertiliser and water will reduce the negative environmental impact of farming and increase yields. Concurrently, automation of farming processes will lead to greater efficiency, reduce manpower demands and lower costs of production. As there are major losses during post-harvest storage and transportation, significant increases in food crops for consumption could be obtained through better storage facilities and greater efficiency in food distribution and supply chain networks. Policymakers and observers of international affairs tend to focus on 'hard' security issues such as great power rivalry, nuclear competition, territorial conflicts and competing maritime claims. But issues like food, energy and water security affect many more people and have an immediate domestic impact. The challenge of ensuring food security will command attention over the next decade as we live in an era where productivity gains in food production are falling and food surpluses are declining. Expect more debate on this issue. Barry Desker is Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. A version of this commentary first appeared in Today.
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Germany poised to become EU's biggest rapeseed producerGermany poised to become EU's biggest rapeseed producer http://www.feedtrade.com.cn/ update time: 2013-08-01 08:26:47 Grease Forum introduction: the outlook for rapeseed production in Germany continues to improve, although the outlook for rapeseed production in other parts of Western Europe is not very clear. The potential for rapeseed yields in some parts of France is low, and production in the United Kingdom may fall sharply. The German rapeseed crop could start harvesting in the next few days. Germany is expected to overtake France as the EU's largest rapeseed producer this year. German analysts said that some areas in southern Germany have begun to harvest rapeseed, but if the weather remains dry, then the extensive harvesting work will not start until next week. TOEFL International last week predicted that German rapeseed production could reach 6.04 million tons this year, up from 4.82 million tons last year due to drought. Growing conditions in Germany's agricultural regions have been good for several weeks, so winter rapeseed yields will be much higher than average. In France, preliminary harvest results in the northern region show low rapeseed yields, so production is likely to fall sharply this year. But analysts say it won't be clear until next month, as last week's storms delayed the harvest. The French Ministry of Agriculture expects rapeseed production this year to be 4.43 million tons, a decrease of 18.8 percent from the previous year. This is because the average yield has decreased by 11% to about 3.06 tons per hectare, and the harvest area has declined due to bad winter weather. In the UK, if dry weather continues, rapeseed harvesting will begin in early August, with yields likely to be reduced due to a decline in plantings. Britain's National Food Agency expects rapeseed production this year to be around 2 million tons, possibly lower. Last year the UK produced 2.56 million tonnes of rapeseed. http://www.feedtrade.com.cn/oil/news/2021868.html man of Feeding
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Global Soybean Supply EasingGlobal Soybean Supply Easing august 11, 2013 22:20 Source: china securities journal the expected increase in production is the core factor causing the recent downturn in the soybean market, especially soybean meal prices. At the same time, China's soybean meal mainly depends on the import of the United States, South America and other countries soybean crushing income, so the trend of Dalian soybean meal and soybean is more closely linked. U.S. soybean yield prospects are optimistic, no doubt negative in the domestic soybean meal trend. Whether it is American or South American soybean, its yield and yield are mainly affected by weather, planting area and other factors. Currently, the U.S. crop belt has relatively good weather and still maintains high yield expectations. With the passage of time, spring sowing soybeans in the United States in August gradually entered the key growth period of podding and filling, which was particularly sensitive to weather conditions. The latest climate forecast released by the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that the weather in the main producing areas of American beans will remain in good condition until autumn. As of August 4, the excellent rate of American beans was 64%, 63% last week, 29% last year, the flowering rate was 79%, 93% last year, the five-year average was 85%, the pod setting rate was 39%, 69% last year, and the five-year average was 51%. However, the current weather in the U.S. bean producing area is good, which is conducive to crop growth. A meteorologist said on the 7th of this month that the temperature in the U.S. crop planting belt in the next two weeks is suitable and the soil moisture is generally good, which will boost the growth of soybean crops. The prospect of high yield of U.S. beans continues to improve and the prospect of high yield is optimistic. According to the latest monthly report of the US Department of Agriculture, the soybean yield in 2013/2014 was 44.5 pu/acre, much higher than last year's 39.6 pu/acre. Last year's yield was mainly due to dry weather. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised the total U.S. soybean output in 2013/2014 to 3.42 billion bushels, and the U.S. soybean carry-over inventory in 2013/2014 to 0.295 billion bushels. In South America, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated Brazil's 2013/2014 soybean production at 85 million tons, and Argentina's 2013/2014 soybean production at 53.5 million tons, both of which are at historically high levels. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture also announced that the global soybean carry-over inventory for 2013/2014 was 74.12 million tons, an increase of 430000 tons from the 73.69 million tons reported last month, indicating that global soybean supply is developing in a loose direction. There are also demand factors that affect the trend of soybean meal, such as the benefits of pig farming. According to the traditional "pig cycle" theory, summer was originally the season with the lowest demand for pork consumption of the year, but according to the monitoring data of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce, pork prices have risen nationwide for seven consecutive weeks. The "pig cycle" did not play a substantial role in this round of meat price increase. This is mainly due to the loss of pig breeding in the previous period. According to the "pig cycle" theory, the number of breeding sows should decrease, and statistics It shows that the number of breeding sows has been maintained above 50 million for 10 consecutive months, and the number of breeding sows in June was 50.08 million. The traditional "pig cycle" theory does have some influence on free-range breeding, but now the state has strengthened the regulation and control of the pig breeding market, and the trend of large-scale development of breeding is obvious, and the traditional theoretical law is not very obvious. The current round of meat price increase is mainly due to: the current high temperature, on the one hand, it affects the slaughter rate of live pigs, and farmers are pressing down on the slaughter due to low consumption, which directly leads to a decrease in the circulation of live pigs in the market, thereby pushing up the price of live pigs; on the other hand, the temperature High is also not conducive to the growth of live pigs, and it also increases the cost and transportation cost and risk of live pig prices. However, this situation is less sustainable and is a phased rise. The strong demand for pork may not be until after the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, mainly because the temperature is gradually cooler and there are more holidays. At the same time, the canteens of colleges and universities are also one of the main groups of pork consumption, and their consumption power cannot be underestimated. But as far as the third quarter is concerned, meat prices may hardly continue to be optimistic, and it is expected that the fourth quarter will show a steady upward trend. http://futures.hexun.com/2013-08-11/156989924.html man of Feeding
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Learn about agricultural cooperatives in JapanUnderstanding the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives Yamashita Kazuhito [Profile][2013.07.30] Read in: japanese| simplified Chinese characters| traditional Chinese characters| ????????| The Japan Agricultural Cooperatives group, or the JA, continues to command power and influence despite the decline of Japanese agriculture. Yamashita Kazuhito explains how this has come to pass and looks at the implications of JA opposition to Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. There is a great mystery surrounding the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives group, known as the JA. It is commonly phrased in questions like: “If Japanese agriculture is in decline, why is the JA developing, and even flourishing?" and “If the number of farmers is decreasing, why does the JA have such a large political influence ?" A Japanese Financial Giant It appears that nothing can check the steady fall of Japanese agriculture. Gross agricultural production peaked at ¥11.7 trillion in 1984 and declined to ¥8.2 trillion in 2011. In 1960 there were over 6 million farming households, representing 14.5 million people; the number of households fell by more than half, to 2.5 million, in 2010, and the agricultural workforce dropped to 2.5 million people by 2012-one-sixth of the former level. Despite all this, the JA continues to grow. In 1960 it had 6.5 million members; by 2010, that number had grown by 50% to 9.7 million. The organization's banking businesses commanded ¥88 trillion in funds in 2012-making JA a megabank competing for the number-two spot in the country. The total assets of its insurance arm amount to ¥47 trillion, the same level as Japan's biggest life insurance company, Nissay, which has ¥51 trillion in assets. On the political scene, the JA has developed the largest political movement opposing Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, gathering over 10 million signatures. In the House of Representatives election at the end of 2012, many Liberal Democratic Party candidates were elected after promising that they would oppose the TPP. Over half of the LDP's Diet members belong to the parliamentary group opposing the trade agreement. How has the JA managed to increase its economic and political clout when agriculture has been in steady decline for so long? To answer this question, we must look at some of the peculiar characteristics of this organization. Wide-Ranging Powers Due to food scarcity following World War II, the government needed to take action to prevent rice from being sold on the black market for high prices. To do so, the government formed the JA by reorganizing an entity that used to regulate all aspects of farming villages during the war, from agriculture to finance. The JA is the only body in Japan with a license from the government to operate banking, life insurance, and damage insurance businesses. In contrast to North American and European associations that have licenses for discrete activities-for example, buying agricultural materials or selling produce-the JA is an almighty organization with wide-ranging powers. Agricultural reform after the war gave tenant farmers ownership of farmland. The socialist movement among the farmers thus retreated, with conservativism taking its place, and the JA was the organization that represented this change. While giving support to stable, conservative governments, it became the largest lobbying group in politics. Through its activities, the JA generated votes for the LDP and in return was rewarded with various subsidies and higher prices for government rice purchases. Each time the price increased with a government purchase, the JA accrued more revenue from its fees on grain sales. Furthermore, small-scale farmers, who by all rights should have been put out of business by high production costs, found it cheaper to produce their own rice instead of buying it. As a result, they continued to farm, and the more efficient farming households did not accumulate farmland. A lot of small-scale farmers worked full-time in factories and other jobs, engaging in farming activities only on weekends, and much farmland was sold for residential purposes, generating enormous amounts of money. Whenever farmers earned a salary or sold land, the proceeds invariably ended up in JA savings accounts. The continued existence of small-scale farmers worked to the JA's advantage because the banking business was part of its operations. Agriculture may have declined, but the JA has prospered. High Rice Prices and Attractive Financial Products All citizens can join the local JA branch as “associate” members ( jun kumiai-in). They will not be able to take part in decision-making but they can make use of the JA's businesses. The JA is the only cooperative in Japan with a system that allows this. The JA actively recruited associate members by offering mortgages, car loans, and insurance with attractive terms. The reason that the JA's membership has increased despite declining numbers of farmers is because of the burgeoning associate membership. The JA supported a large number of small-scale farmers, not a small number of large-scale ones. It has secured funds by expanding the associate membership program, and through the weight of numbers thus amassed it now commands considerable political influence. It was high rice prices that allowed the cogs in this machine to keep turning. When electoral reforms created a system of single-seat constituencies for lower house elections in 1994, this also worked in the JA's favor. Compared with the multiseat constituency contests that had been the norm until then, this new system enabled more effective vote leverage: when two candidates compete for a single seat, shifting just 1% of the vote to the other candidate creates a difference of 2% between them. It is difficult to defend against this. As the farming population dwindles, the JA may lose the power to put its preferred candidates in office, but it retains the ability to keep the candidates it dislikes down and out. A Crumbling Foundation? Participation in the TPP will remove rice import tariffs-which currently stand at 778%-and lower prices, causing the JA's revenues from fees on rice sales to decrease. This represents a serious threat to one of the foundations for the organization's success. Abolishing import taxes on other produce will also cause the JA losses. The JA exerted pressure on the LDP's TPP committee, demanding that the government take rice, wheat, beef, pork, dairy products, and various crops used to make sugar and other sweeteners off of the table for any discussion of removal of import taxes. The TPP committee has stated that the government should be prepared to withdraw from negotiations if these conditions cannot be met. The Diet committees on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries of both the upper and lower houses have also adopted this stance. But the countries participating in the TPP negotiations are searching for a serious, high-level free trade agreement and cannot accept Japan's demands for exceptions. Naturally, the aim of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is to encourage free trade and investment. Japan cannot participate if it chooses to press ahead with these demands. Inviting Backlash Consider what continuing to implement import taxes would entail. Larger businesses would be able to move their factories to different parts of the TPP region and export to countries participating in the TPP without encountering import taxes. Small and medium-sized businesses, on the other hand, which cannot afford to move operations overseas, would need to keep paying tariffs when they exported their products. Such businesses would therefore suffer disadvantageous competitive conditions effectively excluding them from trade in the enormous Asia-Pacific region. We could expect to lose jobs in Japan. In January this year the advisory committee on deregulation in the government began to consider reform that might separate the JA's banking and insurance businesses and abolish its exemption from antitrust laws. The JA is being driven into a corner. If the JA's opposition to the TPP succeeds and Japan does not take part, the organization could invite the wrath of ordinary citizens, including those who work at smaller firms. This in turn could signal the beginning of the JA's demise. If that happens, agricultural businesses and policies will probably be set free from the shackles that have bound them for so long. (Originally written in Japanese on May 14, 2013.) Understanding the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives Yamashita Kazuhito [Profile] [2013.07.30] Read in: japanese| simplified Chinese characters| traditional Chinese characters| ????????| The Japan Agricultural Cooperatives group, or the JA, continues to command power and influence despite the decline of Japanese agriculture. Yamashita Kazuhito explains how this has come to pass and looks at the implications of JA opposition to Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Simple view / Print There is a great mystery surrounding the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives group, known as the JA. It is commonly phrased in questions like: “If Japanese agriculture is in decline, why is the JA developing, and even flourishing?" and “If the number of farmers is decreasing, why does the JA have such a large political influence ?" A Japanese Financial Giant It appears that nothing can check the steady fall of Japanese agriculture. Gross agricultural production peaked at ¥11.7 trillion in 1984 and declined to ¥8.2 trillion in 2011. In 1960 there were over 6 million farming households, representing 14.5 million people; the number of households fell by more than half, to 2.5 million, in 2010, and the agricultural workforce dropped to 2.5 million people by 2012-one-sixth of the former level. Despite all this, the JA continues to grow. In 1960 it had 6.5 million members; by 2010, that number had grown by 50% to 9.7 million. The organization's banking businesses commanded ¥88 trillion in funds in 2012-making JA a megabank competing for the number-two spot in the country. The total assets of its insurance arm amount to ¥47 trillion, the same level as Japan's biggest life insurance company, Nissay, which has ¥51 trillion in assets. On the political scene, the JA has developed the largest political movement opposing Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, gathering over 10 million signatures. In the House of Representatives election at the end of 2012, many Liberal Democratic Party candidates were elected after promising that they would oppose the TPP. Over half of the LDP's Diet members belong to the parliamentary group opposing the trade agreement. How has the JA managed to increase its economic and political clout when agriculture has been in steady decline for so long? To answer this question, we must look at some of the peculiar characteristics of this organization. Wide-Ranging Powers Due to food scarcity following World War II, the government needed to take action to prevent rice from being sold on the black market for high prices. To do so, the government formed the JA by reorganizing an entity that used to regulate all aspects of farming villages during the war, from agriculture to finance. The JA is the only body in Japan with a license from the government to operate banking, life insurance, and damage insurance businesses. In contrast to North American and European associations that have licenses for discrete activities-for example, buying agricultural materials or selling produce-the JA is an almighty organization with wide-ranging powers. Agricultural reform after the war gave tenant farmers ownership of farmland. The socialist movement among the farmers thus retreated, with conservativism taking its place, and the JA was the organization that represented this change. While giving support to stable, conservative governments, it became the largest lobbying group in politics. Through its activities, the JA generated votes for the LDP and in return was rewarded with various subsidies and higher prices for government rice purchases. Each time the price increased with a government purchase, the JA accrued more revenue from its fees on grain sales. Furthermore, small-scale farmers, who by all rights should have been put out of business by high production costs, found it cheaper to produce their own rice instead of buying it. As a result, they continued to farm, and the more efficient farming households did not accumulate farmland. A lot of small-scale farmers worked full-time in factories and other jobs, engaging in farming activities only on weekends, and much farmland was sold for residential purposes, generating enormous amounts of money. Whenever farmers earned a salary or sold land, the proceeds invariably ended up in JA savings accounts. The continued existence of small-scale farmers worked to the JA's advantage because the banking business was part of its operations. Agriculture may have declined, but the JA has prospered. High Rice Prices and Attractive Financial Products All citizens can join the local JA branch as “associate” members ( jun kumiai-in). They will not be able to take part in decision-making but they can make use of the JA's businesses. The JA is the only cooperative in Japan with a system that allows this. The JA actively recruited associate members by offering mortgages, car loans, and insurance with attractive terms. The reason that the JA's membership has increased despite declining numbers of farmers is because of the burgeoning associate membership. The JA supported a large number of small-scale farmers, not a small number of large-scale ones. It has secured funds by expanding the associate membership program, and through the weight of numbers thus amassed it now commands considerable political influence. It was high rice prices that allowed the cogs in this machine to keep turning. When electoral reforms created a system of single-seat constituencies for lower house elections in 1994, this also worked in the JA's favor. Compared with the multiseat constituency contests that had been the norm until then, this new system enabled more effective vote leverage: when two candidates compete for a single seat, shifting just 1% of the vote to the other candidate creates a difference of 2% between them. It is difficult to defend against this. As the farming population dwindles, the JA may lose the power to put its preferred candidates in office, but it retains the ability to keep the candidates it dislikes down and out. A Crumbling Foundation? Participation in the TPP will remove rice import tariffs-which currently stand at 778%-and lower prices, causing the JA's revenues from fees on rice sales to decrease. This represents a serious threat to one of the foundations for the organization's success. Abolishing import taxes on other produce will also cause the JA losses. The JA exerted pressure on the LDP's TPP committee, demanding that the government take rice, wheat, beef, pork, dairy products, and various crops used to make sugar and other sweeteners off of the table for any discussion of removal of import taxes. The TPP committee has stated that the government should be prepared to withdraw from negotiations if these conditions cannot be met. The Diet committees on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries of both the upper and lower houses have also adopted this stance. But the countries participating in the TPP negotiations are searching for a serious, high-level free trade agreement and cannot accept Japan's demands for exceptions. Naturally, the aim of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is to encourage free trade and investment. Japan cannot participate if it chooses to press ahead with these demands. Inviting Backlash Consider what continuing to implement import taxes would entail. Larger businesses would be able to move their factories to different parts of the TPP region and export to countries participating in the TPP without encountering import taxes. Small and medium-sized businesses, on the other hand, which cannot afford to move operations overseas, would need to keep paying tariffs when they exported their products. Such businesses would therefore suffer disadvantageous competitive conditions effectively excluding them from trade in the enormous Asia-Pacific region. We could expect to lose jobs in Japan. In January this year the advisory committee on deregulation in the government began to consider reform that might separate the JA's banking and insurance businesses and abolish its exemption from antitrust laws. The JA is being driven into a corner. If the JA's opposition to the TPP succeeds and Japan does not take part, the organization could invite the wrath of ordinary citizens, including those who work at smaller firms. This in turn could signal the beginning of the JA's demise. If that happens, agricultural businesses and policies will probably be set free from the shackles that have bound them for so long. (Originally written in Japanese on May 14, 2013.) http://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00082/ contributions by Zhang Hongzhou