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Japanese Grape Production
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Japan has a land area about the size of California and its population is about 50% that of the US. Almost 80% of the land is too steep to farm, and the rest must be shared between agriculture, cities, towns and villages and industry. |
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Perhaps because of the population density and high degree of urbanization, people are aware of their need to be in touch with nature. Even in the most urban areas shrines may be found which often are places of almost unreal beauty. Like most societies, Japan's origins were agricultural . Agriculture is appreciated because of embodies the virtue of hard work and the need to exist in peace and harmony with nature and the environment. One is rarely out of sight of agriculture in Japan |
My home base in Japan was the University of Tsukuba which is part of the famous Science City of Tsukuba located about an hour's drive north of Tokyo. Tsukuba is home to many teaching and research institutions and is the very epitome of modernidty. The picture above is a view of campus from the guest house which was my home.
 If I shifted my view 180° so that I was looking away from campus,
this is whate I saw. Some of these buildings are student housing and service
oriented businesses. The building on the right is a farmhousel. Not only
one, but two farms can be seen in their entirety in this view. |
Under the canopy seen to left. These Japanese pears typify intensive farming in Japan and the emphasis on maximizing all aspects of quality. |
I was amazed to learn that the typical farm size in Japan is only about one acre. This was a result of actions by our government when we occupied Japan just after World War II. Large land holdings were broken up and given to people to own and to farm. In most cases one acre was considered an economic unit for one family. Because land is precious, most of this land has stayed in the original family.
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Government policy has been to encourage the viability of farms by providing strong extension and research support and low interest loans to capitalize increases in the level of production technology. Here a heated, plastic greenhouse has been installed. The plastic tunnels not only deliver heated air, exhaust gases are scrubbed of harmful elements and the CO2 enriched air is used to increase the rate of photosynthesis. |
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Grower cooperatives are ecnouraged and very common. These allow growers to unite their resources and build infrastructure such as this grape packing house. Note that the individual deliveries are fairly small. Cooperatives are not only for economic well being. Many emphasize making health and cultural resources available to their members to counter the attraction of cities. |
People are not legally tied to agriculture, and just as in the US, should the farms fail to generate sufficient income to provide a satisfactory life style farms will be abandoned. It was hard for me to understand how one acre could generate sufficient value to provide sufficient standard of living to compete with the very famous Japanese businesses. Survival of the fruit industries depends upon several things:
© Copyright 2000 Robert Pool
