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Showing posts from July, 2009

Sustainability and Small farms in Japan

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Japan is a nation of small farmers, yet the traditional farming is very much marginalized. While it's really difficult to find those farms still engaging in the traditional style, there is new trend ,although very small, in more environmental farming approach. I visited tea farms and shitake mushroom farms in mountains of Kyushu where a few farmers still engage in traditional farming although they are suffering very much from competition against conventional farming and foreign import. One good news. There are a lot of farmers' coop type market popping up all over Japan, especially in rural Japan. I traveled long distance mostly relying on local produce and farm style meals. Coming from U.S., I thought most ingredients like rice and beans, potatoes, vegetables, etc are coming from a large farms in remote locations, but most ingredients if not all were actually produced in the same town. Sustainability in Japan In the U.S. I hear many people talking about sustainability, but