Japan is traditionally an agrarian culture. It is only in the last 150 years that modernization brought urbanization and urbanization brought industry. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry is looking to reverse that trend to an extent by encouraging private sector participation in agriculture. Food self-sufficiency in Japan is now slumbering at less than 40 percent.
The Ministry has liberalized the regulation on farmland leased to firms. This policy marks a major shift in postwar agricultural thinking. Until now the lease of farmlands to corporate concerns was limited to large areas where agriculture had been abandoned.
The designated areas, offered by 600 municipalities were, until recently, often poor quality land with little or no accessible water source. Thus, corporations shied away from investing in these areas.
The Ministry has now opened up the good farmland to corporations. If you have backers, irrigation technology, or farming skills, then this chink in the Japanese armor may open up opportunities to serve the Japanese consumers, albeit through a Japanese proxy corporation. The lease of these farmlands is for up to twenty years, with extensions possible.
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