Tag - agriculture

 
 

AGRICULTURE

Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2020
Trump's biofuel plan sparks anger in farm country
President Donald Trump's decision to defend the U.S. government's power to broadly exempt oil refineries from biofuel-blending requirements is triggering a backlash in Iowa and other states that are top producers of ethanol and the corn used to make it.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 6, 2020
Sri Lankan Tamil women fight for land a decade after war's end
Chandraleela Jasinthan was a school teacher in a northern Sri Lankan village when, in the last days of the civil war, she and her neighbors were forced by the army to flee their homes.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 21, 2020
Lab-grown meat? Dutch start-up keeps pork on your plate without wrecking the planet
A Dutch start-up may have found a workaround for eco-conscious consumers struggling to give up meat: pork grown in a laboratory that doesn't harm animals or damage the planet.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2020
Machine lubricants leave bad taste for palm oil producers and buyers
The palm oil industry, long accused of large-scale deforestation, is bracing for another hit to its business: machinery lubricants seeping into the world's most consumed edible oil during processing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2020
Indonesia eases curbs on processed foods from Japan imposed after Fukushima nuclear disaster
Indonesia has eased its import restrictions on processed foods made in Japan that were imposed after the nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture in March 2011, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Feb 17, 2020
Climate change to open up 'frontier' farmland, but experts urge caution
Kenya’s livestock herders planting chile peppers, Pakistan’s mountain farmers rearing fish and tropical fruits being grown in Sicily — farmers around the world are already shifting what they grow and breed to cope with rising temperatures and erratic weather.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2020
Bayer, now with BASF, faces more Monsanto pain after trial loss
The first U.S. trial over the dicamba herbicide has landed Bayer AG and its German rival, BASF SE, with another potentially multi-billion-dollar problem.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2020
Japan cancels brand protection for Aichi's Nishio Matcha tea as producers seek flexibility to boost sales
The agriculture ministry has removed Aichi Prefecture's Nishio Matcha tea from its list of geographically protected local specialty brand names so its producers can be given the freedom to try more efficient growing methods.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2020
China to halve tariffs on U.S. imports worth $75 billion from Feb. 14
China will halve tariffs on some $75 billion (¥8.24 trillion) of imports from the U.S. later this month, reciprocating a U.S. action and likely satisfying part of their interim trade deal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jan 24, 2020
Indian entrepreneurs create water-saving solution for farmers out of Okinawa fruit scraps
Two Indian entrepreneurs in Okinawa Prefecture are developing an organic polymer made from fruit scraps that can retain water 50 times its weight, in a potential breakthrough for farming in water-scarce regions.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2020
Tainted pork in pig feed may have caused swine fever in Okinawa, panel says
Pigs in Okinawa Prefecture may have been infected with classical swine fever through food, an expert panel commissioned by the agricultural ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2020
Japan plans wider pig culls if African swine fever discovered
In the event a pig with African swine fever (ASF) is found at a farm, all pigs at farms within up to 3 kilometers of the affected facility could be culled in order to prevent the highly pathogenic disease from spreading, agriculture ministry sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2020
Kubota to release self-driving rice planting machine in October
Kubota Corp. said Wednesday it will release a rice-planting machine with automated driving functions in October.
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2020
China to ramp up U.S. car, aircraft, energy purchases to tune of $80 billion in line with trade deal: source
China has pledged to buy almost $80 billion of additional manufactured goods from the United States over the next two years as part of a trade war truce, according to a source, a target that could provide a much-needed boost for plane-maker Boeing but is being questioned by U.S. trade experts.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2020
U.S. and China dust off corporate deals before signing trade pact
The U.S. and China are finalizing a bevy of long-running corporate deals ahead of a high-profile ceremony next week to sign a trade deal, which the world's two largest economies are seeking to cast as a major breakthrough and a marked warming in their relationship.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 10, 2020
Made in central Japan: Chubu bets on Tokyo Olympics to boost sales of local produce
With the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics taking place this year, prefectures in the Chubu region are eager to make the sporting event an opportunity to promote their local produce.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’