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: 
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.
We started out a very long day of activities here at the IFAJ Congress with a sort of a press conference at the “Imagine” studio of the 
Anyway, we heard from several people including the director of agricultural policy for the Japanese Agricultural Cooperative system. 
Have I mentioned sake yet? This is sake country and at one of our receptions in Tokyo I think we had at least 13 companies exhibiting with sake tasting galore.
Here on a rooftop overlooking the research facility is where we said auf Wiedersehen to 
Before those treated seeds can be planted in a farmer’s field, 
“We test all different seeds in terms of germination,” he says. “The germination is very important to see if there is any damage in terms of germination on the roots or any delays.” 
Our final stop at the 
Like everything else in BASF product development, quite a bit of work goes into creating treated seeds. “We are involved from the early development stage, from the research phase,” he said.