Danger for Family Farmers in Japan

Meat market

Things are looking worrying for livestock farmers in Japan. The price of corn on the world market has risen rapidly and the Japanese government has responded by increasing the floor price of domestic, corn-fed pork and beef for a second time this year.

Japan imports almost all of its animal feed and so the price of corn here is being further affected by the rising price of oil, in the form of increased freight fees. It imports 93% of its corn from the United States. The other main ingredient in animal feed is soya, which is also mostly imported. From Bloomberg:

“Without additional support from the government, supply of domestically produced milk and other livestock products will eventually become unavailable to consumers,” Nobuhiro Suzuki, the chairman of the ministry’s livestock panel, told reporters…

This view is supported by groups representing farmers:

“An increasing number of livestock farmers are abandoning their business because feed and other costs have exceeded their incomes,” said Masataka Ishiguro, vice secretary general at National Confederation of Farmers Movements, representing over 40,000 farmers in Japan.

This confederation is NOUMINREN, also sometimes referred to as Japan Family Farmers Movement.

As the cost of feed continues to rise, the family farmers represented by NOUMINREN can either give up on farming altogether or move away from livestock and towards more sustainable produce, such as rice, fruit or vegetables. However, even if they wanted to diversify, there are signs that the Japanese government is not keen on supporting small-scale farmers any longer.

Collectivising the countryside

In Peak Food and Japan Part 5 – Consequences for Japan I quoted the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ (MAFF) plans to move away from this type of farming:

To make domestic agriculture cost-effective through expanding operation size, it is inevitable that scattered small-size farmlands with many ownerships should be gathered into bigger collected lands under fewer managements.

Ken Elwood, on his blog Rewilding in Japan, has written a more detailed analysis of this government policy, which he calls an “agriculture land-grab”.

Ken suggests that we may be seeing a shift away from the family-run farms represented by NOUMINREN, and towards large Soviet-style collective farms. Instead of being run directly by the state, these farms are controlled by Farm Management Companies (FMCs), private companies subsidised by taxpayers. There are over 10,000 of these now. Ken views these FMCs as part of a collaboration of big businesses trying to profit from agriculture, and paints a frightening picture of what this might mean for the future of the Japanese countryside:

Now, enter my future Industrial Agriculture scenario:

Over the next few years as farm landowners retire and sell-off or foreclose on their properties to MAFF and MAFF’s corporate cronies who are lining up in droves, we will see a slow transition from small family farms to giant corporate farms, with a few individual farmers and land owners scattered to the four winds. Try not to imagine the farms of the west with their wide open spaces. Just try to imagine the physical giant farm-hand danchi looking dormitories dotting the corners of continiouss blocks of farmland spread-out over Japan’s lowlands and the upper reaches of its’ over 200 some-odd river valleys. And as MAFF says, “The whole agricultural system will be closely monitored by centralized management with the intent to be not only more cost-effective, but to efficiently raise production levels as well.”

His article also talks about the poor pay and living conditions for workers on these big corporate farms, and is well worth reading for this. However, as Ken argues, a shift to FMCs is not just worrying in terms of what it means for the people living and working in the countryside, but also because of the lack of sustainability in this type of industrial farming:

While this speak of “let’s efficiently raise production levels and practice more cost-effective agri-business” may sound good on the surface, I can’t help but think about how green this business will be, and how long it can last, and what happens when it’s no longer feasible? What then ? Who then will farm the land that was once spread out amongst all the peoples ?

The depletion of the top-soil due to both industrialised farming methods and climate change is a serious affair, especially with fertiliser prices heading upwards rapidly (see Bob Shaw’s regular comments on this topic on The Oil Drum.) In Peak Food and Japan Part 4 – Reforming World Agriculture I wrote about oil and fertiliser inputs to industrialised farming, and the consequences when these supplies run short.

The industrialisation of Ukraine

Ken’s piece reminded me of an article from The Sunday Times that I read recently. It talks about a British entrepreneur’s attempts to transform the arable land in Ukraine from small farms into large, industrially-farmed areas:

THE vast collective farms that fed the Soviet Union are now a patchwork of tiny gardens, fields and vacant lots. But, combined, they could help to feed the world: Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have substantial amounts of fertile yet untilled land…

Richard Spinks is trying to do just that. The 41-year-old Briton has been going door-to-door, leasing small plots of land from thousands of poor farmers in western Ukraine. His company, Landkom International, has planted wheat, barley and rapeseed on a combined 10,000 hectares. Landkom expects to reap its first big harvest this autumn.

Spinks’ last line of work was in the fishery business, where he made a lot of money working for a company that bought and processed European fish. This doesn’t exactly add to his credentials in the area of long-term sustainability. What were his motivations for investing in Ukraine?

Over a beer in Warsaw in November 2005, Spinks discussed the biofuels boom with friends. Konrad Nowicki, a young Polish entrepreneur, suggested leasing 100 hectares in Ukraine and growing rapeseed, which is commonly used in Europe to make biodiesel.

Ah, biofuels.

There is no suggestion in the article that Spinks’ investment might have any negative affects on farming in Ukraine. It’s as if the media report on the rising costs of fossil fuel and fertiliser inputs but don’t realise how this might affect the long-term viability of mechanized, industrial farming. First to go will be the livestock, as we are seeing in Japan, but eventually, high-input arable agriculture will go the same way. Denial of peak oil production and its consequences is still rampant in this most vital of areas.

Another article on this subject from Farmers Weekly Interactive has a gallery with photos of Spinks’ operation.

My favourite is this one:

“Headland management leaves environment intact”, © Reed Business Information Limited 2008