Japan’s unexpected rice problem

You don’t have to have actually travelled to the Land of the Rising Sun — or even be a fan of Midwestern Japanese steakhouses or sushi restaurants — to know that rice is a major staple of the Japanese diet. But this story in today’s New York Times reveals an unexpected truth: Japan’s rice farmers are aging — most of Japan’s three million farmers are over age 60 — and there’s not a younger generation eager to take over the family farms.

One of the farmers quoted in the story says: “Japanese agriculture has no money, no youth, no future.”

Japan currently imports 61 percent of its food. (The United States, by contrast, imports considerably less, but a recent CDC report noted that food imports to the United States have almost doubled in the past decade — from $36 billion in 1997 to more than $70 billion in 2007). 

The story is a fascinating look at the serious agricultural issues affecting the world’s second largest economy.