Sendai Shopping

Chuck Zimmerman September 21, 2007

Cindy and I have had a very relaxing stay in Sendai the past two days. We’ve wandered around town, including the Sun Mall Ichibancho. It’s a big shopping mall that goes on for blocks in every direction.

This big clock plays music on the hour and the doors open and things move. I don’t know what it meant but it was interesting to say the least.

We also visited the Yodobashi Camera Store next to the Sendai Train Station. Think Bass Pro Shop of electronics stores. I’m going to try to get a group to go over tomorrow morning for a little shopping venture.

We’re talking two stories of nothing but all the electronics gadgets you could dream of and can’t even find anywhere else and they stock it. I think a couple of the people in our group are hoping to purchase a camera while they’re here. This is the place to go.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

IFAJ, Pioneer

The Rice Man

Chuck Zimmerman September 20, 2007

This is one of the workers at the Furukawa Agricultural Research Center. He was posing for us ag journalists so I’ve got to post him for you.

Cindy and I both like rice and we’ve noticed that people do eat it for breakfast as well as other meals during the day. It mostly seems to be white rice and not what we call “wild” rice which raises a nutrition question I would think. We’ve been hearing a lot about nutrition concerns during our trip and this might be something that people are going to have to deal with if they want to improve their diet. I guess this is a worldwide issue.

This post kind of gets me caught up for now. We’re going to be joining people for dinner tonight as they return from their various tours that started yesterday. I’m hoping to obtain some photos from each one to share in the photo album too.

Cindy just got done being interviewed by the main organizer of the Congress here, Masaru Yamada. It was interesting listening in while I was doing my posts. He was especially interested in Cindy’s thoughts on policy since she was just at EU headquarters in Brussels last week.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

IFAJ, Pioneer

Precision Agriculture in Rice Planting

Chuck Zimmerman September 20, 2007

Precision agriculture is hitting the rice industry in Japan. At least it’s in R&D now at the Furukawa Agricultural Research Station.

I interviewed Yoshisada Nogasaka, Research Team for Farm Machinery and Systems for NARC, the National Agricultural Research Center. He’s the guy who’s developing the software to run the prototype Autonomous Rice Transplanter we saw on demonstration at the Furukawa Agricultural Research Center. This guy is enthusiastic to say the least. He says that when he demonstrates this thing on a farm the farmer asks, “Can you leave it here on my farm?” They’re really looking forward to it but they’ll have some waiting to do. He says it could be up to 10 years before commercial production.

You can listen to his remarks here: ifaj-07-rice-planter.mp3

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

Audio, IFAJ, Pioneer, Precision Agriculture

Japan Ministry of Agriculture Press Conference

Chuck Zimmerman September 20, 2007

During our visit to the Tokyo University of Agriculture we attended a press conference with Mr. Masanori Sato, Director General in charge of International Affairs, Japan Ministry of Agriculture.

I’ve got a video of his presentation so you can see him make a statement and then listen to the interpreter. In this segment he talks about the dietary policy and situation with Japanese consumers. I was interested to find out that Japan only supplies about 40 percent of their food needs. This is obviously of concern when it comes to trade. The presentation didn’t leave much time for Q&A, which might have been a good thing considering the turmoil recently in the Ministry. Primarily he gave an overview of Japanese agriculture.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

IFAJ, International, Pioneer, Video

Planting in a Rice Paddy

Chuck Zimmerman September 20, 2007

This is the way people have transplanted rice into paddies for who knows how long. That’s changed a lot now that machinery has been built to make the task much easier and faster.

When I interviewed one of the officials with the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization he asked me why man invented machines. I was stumped so he answered for me. “To do the work for us.” Right. And when it comes to this type of work I can see why you’d want a machine. The mud in the field is necessary but looked difficult to walk in.

We got to watch a demonstration of a machine with a man at the wheel but the main attraction was a prototype of a new GPS-guided planter. I’ll have more on that in another post.

One thing is obvious and that is that what we call precision ag is making it’s way around the world with applications in all types of farming. This stop at the Furukawa Agricultural Research Station was the highlight of our long travel day.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

IFAJ, Pioneer

Leaving Tokyo Station

Chuck Zimmerman September 20, 2007

We moved on from Tokyo to Sendai via Furukawa on Wednesday. Moving a couple hundred people through a crowded train station is not an easy task. The Japanese journalists helped out though by stationing themselves at various places with signs pointing us to the right track.

Our train ride was very nice. Somehow the beverage cart only made it halfway through our car before it ran out of beer though. I hate it when that happens!

We stopped at Furukawa and transferred to buses for the visit to the ag research facility there.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

IFAJ, Pioneer

Gohan (Rice) Museum in Tokyo

Chuck Zimmerman September 20, 2007

To help demonstrate how import rice is to the Japanese culture we visited the Gohan Museum in Tokyo.

Cindy and I got our picture taken thanks to Kurt Lawton. Inside the museum they had a video presentation that ran continuously showing rice production. There were displays showing various ways rice is cooked and presented. And of course there was the museum gift shop.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

IFAJ, Pioneer

Defending Japanese Ag Trade Policies

Chuck Zimmerman September 20, 2007

When you attend these IFAJ conventions it’s interesting to hear from the policy leaders on the program. I’ve found that it’s very normal to have someone on the program to defend policy practices, especially when it comes to foreign trade and the WTO.

This was certainly the case here when we heard from Nobuhiro Suzuki, Department of Global Agricultural Sciences, University of Tokyo. He gave a presentation on “The Myths and Reality of Japanese Agricultural Policy.” I can only conclude that he did a study to try and portray Japan’s need to be exempted from some of the rules. I think he lost us when he got to price supports. For example, he was comparing various countries but pulled Japan’s rice and dairy products out of their numbers. Those just happen to be the main ones they support. That totally distorted the comparisons and at that point I had difficulty putting credence in his conclusions. He also spent a lot of time on what he called “food miles,” “virtual water” and some sort of formula with nitrogen capacity in farm land. That lost me. The bottom line I got out of it was that he claims that most of what the rest of the world believes about Japanese farm policy is wrong and that in the interests of national security they can’t make changes that are called for in the WTO in regards to eliminating price supports in the near future.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

IFAJ, Pioneer, University

Zimfo Bites

Melissa Sandfort September 20, 2007

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that 162 recipients in 40 states and Puerto Rico will receive $22.7 million through the Value-Added Producer Grant program. Part of the USDA’s rural development mission, the Value-Added Producer Grants, are used for planning activities or to provide working capital to market value-added agricultural products and farm-based renewable energy projects. Value-added products are created when a producer takes an agricultural commodity and processes or prepares it in a way that increases its value to consumers. Among the grant recipients is Orlicek Farms, Stuttgart, Ark. which will receive $98,500 to determine the feasibility of marketing biofuels from a facility in Arkansas.
Monsanto will deploy two first-of-their kind Crop Analytics Mobile Labs (CAML’s) this harvest season to measure the linolenic acid content of Vistive™ soybeans delivered to processing facilities. Vistive low-linolenic soybeans typically contain up to 3 percent linolenic acid as an oil component, compared with 8 percent for conventional soybeans. This low-linolenic alternative enables food processors to use Vistive oil to reduce the need for hydrogenation, which creates trans fats in processed soybean oil. The new mobile labs, 28 feet long and staffed by one or two GC experts each, will utilize new Fast Gas Chromatography technology developed by Monsanto (patent pending). The Fast GC technology provides a very accurate result in about 10 minutes, according to Joel Ream, Commercial Analytics Lead – Crop Analytics Monsanto. For 2007, Vistive growers will earn an average premium of 55 cents to 65 cents per bushel. The mobile labs will be stationed throughout the harvest season at select crushing plants participating in the 2007 Vistive program and will also help support the network of surrounding grain elevators.
The National Integrated Pest Management Center, USDA/APHIS, National Plant Diagnostic Network and USDA CSREES have issued a joint National Pest Alert warning of a pest thrips species “Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood” also known as chili thrips, castor thrips, assam thrips, yellow tea thrips and strawberry thrips. The list of possible host plants and the full alert can be downloaded here.
The Texas Department of Agriculture awarded more than $280,000 to cotton research in the state during a Sept. 10 ceremony at Lubbock. Commissioner of Agriculture Todd Staples announced more than $1.2 million in grants to five Texas universities to fund 39 research projects designed to “bolster and enhance the state’s food and fiber industry.” The grants were awarded through TDA’s Food and Fibers Research Grant Program. Each project is required to leverage about $2.75 for each dollar received from the state, bringing the total amount of research to more than $3.3 million. More details on these Texas Department of Agriculture grants are available online.

Zimfo Bytes

U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Resigns

Chuck Zimmerman September 20, 2007

Here in Japan the turmoil at their Ministry of Agriculture precluded our being able to meet with their Minister. Back home it looks like we’ve got a little turnover going on too. I just learned that Mike Johanns has resigned as our Ag Secretary. The picture of him here is from the recent Farm Progress Show. I’ve always been a big fan of Mr. Johanns since I first met him as Governor of Nebraska. I’m betting he’ll continue to be a political force in that state. President Bush has appointed Deputy Agriculture Secretary Charles Conner to take over as acting secretary.

Here’s his letter of resignation as shared by USDA:

Dear Mr. President,

It has been a great honor to serve you and the American people as Secretary of Agriculture for nearly three years. After careful thought and difficult deliberation, I am writing to inform you that I have decided to pursue a new opportunity to serve this great Nation. Please accept my resignation effective today, September 19, 2007 and my gratitude for the distinct privilege to serve in your Cabinet.

Under your leadership and vision, American agriculture is stronger than ever before in history. Your presidency has had a profoundly positive impact on the lives of Americans in both rural and urban communities.

Farm equity, now at $2 trillion, has increased $200 billion per year for the past several years. The debt-to-asset ratio is the lowest in more than 45 years. Projected 2007 net cash income is a record high $86 billion. The average farm household income is projected at $81,500 this year, nearly $20,000 above the average household income in the U.S. Overall farm balance sheets reveal a strong and growing farm economy. Read More

USDA

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