In Beijing during the Chinese New Year, I had the opportunity to meet with friends who studied in Japan or stayed in Japan as expatriates. Our conversation naturally turned to Japan, especially a comparison of Chinese and Japanese agriculture.
Compared to the United States, there is no doubt that the size of Japanese agriculture operations is small. But in a comparison of the scale of farming per person, Japanese agriculture is more than three times that of China's. Japan also has more abundant water resources. Japan's agricultural technology and ability to develop new breeds are world-class. Systems such as financial, distribution infrastructure and mechanization systems are solid and there are support policies such as subsidies and tax relief. From a Chinese point of view, we envy all of this. My friends agree that if the Japanese were able to make reforms in a few areas, they would obtain competitiveness and should not be afraid of globalization or the Free Trade Association (FTA).
Necessary reforms include nurturing mass operation farms. The agriculture population compared to the total working population in China is approximately 45%, whereas in Japan it is only 4.6%. And less than 20% are full-time farmers and it should be quite easy for Japan to expand its size of operations compared to China.
It is natural that Japan protect rice production as a national strategy. Within this strategy, could it be possible for Japan to install direct income compensation such as the European Union (EU) has introduced, creating massive cuts in agricultural product prices? If prices of rice should fall substantially, demand for professional use and feed will grow, rice production will expand and solutions for worrying problems, such as production adjustment, will open up. The rate of self-sufficiency in food is bound to rise as well.
My friends agree that, on product price cuts, learning from the United States and introducing cheap labor from foreign countries would be an effective method. One of my friends who worked as an expatriate in Japan said he "visited a few Japanese farms in which their management situation was greatly improved by accepting cheap work hands such as trainees from China and Brazilians."
Japan would be able to export to China, other Asian countries and the rest of the world if it were able to create Japan brand agricultural products by taking advantage of its high technology and abundance of financial resources. Today in China, the demand for beef, fruit and seafood is very high. Japanese apples and pears are sold at high prices and "kaiten sushi," sold at prices that are relatively close to Japan's, is booming in Shanghai. We even joked that, "Because the beef sold as an expensive brand in China is Australian beef, if Japanese beef were to be sold in China, the upper and middle-class will jump at it. We should be in that business."
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Creating a 'Japanese Brand' in Agriculture