005 Agriculture along Tone River in Omigawa, Japan

Agriculture, farming, and fishing (Japanese: 農林水産, ''nōrinsuisan'') form the

primary sector of industry The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in d ...

of the

Japanese economy The economy of Japan is a highly developed social market economy, often referred to as an East Asian model. It is the third-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). It is the world's seco ...

together with the Japanese mining industry, but together they account for only 1.3% of gross national product. Only 20% of Japan's land is suitable for cultivation, and the agricultural economy is highly subsidized.

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

, and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

dominated the

until the 1940s, but thereafter declined into relative unimportance (see Agriculture in the Empire of Japan). In the late 19th century (

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

), these sectors had accounted for more than 80% of employment. Employment in agriculture declined in the prewar period, but the sector was still the largest employer (about 50% of the work force) by the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was further declined to 23.5% in 1965, 11.9% in 1977, and to 7.2% in 1988. The importance of agriculture in the national economy later continued its rapid decline, with the share of net agricultural production in GNP finally reduced between 1975 and 1989 from 4.1% to 3% In the late 1980s, 85.5% of Japan's farmers were also engaged in occupations outside farming, and most of these part-time farmers earned most of their income from nonfarming activities. Japan's economic boom that began in the 1950s left farmers far behind in both income and agricultural technology. They were attracted to the government's food control policy under which high rice prices were guaranteed and farmers were encouraged to increase the output of any crops of their own choice. Farmers became mass producers of rice, even turning their own vegetable gardens into rice fields. Their output swelled to over 14 million

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s in the late 1960s, a direct result of greater cultivated area and increased yield per unit area, owing to improved cultivation techniques. Three types of farm households developed: those engaging exclusively in agriculture (14.5% of the 4.2 million farm households in 1988, down from 21.5% in 1965); those deriving more than half their income from the farm (14.2% down from 36.7% in 1965); and those mainly engaged in jobs other than farming (71.3% up from 41.8% in 1965). As more and more farm families turned to nonfarming activities, the farm population declined (down from 4.9 million in 1975 to 4.8 million in 1988). The rate of decrease slowed in the late 1970s and 1980s, but the average age of farmers rose to 51 years by 1980, twelve years older than the average industrial employee. Historically and today, women farmers outnumber male farmers. Government data from 2011 showed women heading more than three-quarters of new agribusiness ventures.

Agriculture

In 2018, Japan produced 9.7 million tons of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

(13th largest producer in the world), 3.6 million tons of sugar beet (used to produce sugar and

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

), 1.2 million tons of sugarcane (used to produce sugar and

), 208 thousand tons of

persimmon The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-per ...

(4th largest producer in the world), 2.7 million tons of assorted

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

, 3 million tons of potatoes, 1.3 million tons of cabbage, 1.6 million tons of

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

, 773 thousand tons of

tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...

, 756 thousand tons of

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

, 764 thousand tons of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, 724 thousand tons of

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

, 612 thousand tons of carrot, 578 thousand tons of

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

and

chicory Common chicory (''Cichorium intybus'') is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Native to the Old World, it has been introduced to North America and Austra ...

, 550 thousand tons of cucumber, 317 thousand tons of

watermelon Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varie ...

, 300 thousand tons of eggplant, 258 thousand tons of

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

, 226 thousand tons of spinach, 211 thousand tons of

soy The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...

, 197 thousand tons of pumpkin, 174 thousand tons of

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, 174 thousand tons of

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

, 164 thousand tons of cauliflower and

broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering head, stalk and small associated leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Broccoli is cla ...

, 164 thousand tons of yam, 163 thousand tons of strawberry, 143 thousand tons of

melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a " pepo". Th ...

, 141 thousand tons of

taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Afri ...

, 140 thousand tons of

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

, 113 thousand tons of

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-f ...

, 112 thousand tons of apricot, in addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.

Land shortage

The most striking feature of Japanese agriculture is the shortage of farmland due to Japan's distinctive geography and geology. The under cultivation constituted just 13.2% of the total land area in 1988. However, the land is intensively cultivated.

Rice paddies A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Au ...

occupy most of the countryside, whether on the alluvial plains, the terraced slopes, or wetlands and coastal bays. Non-paddy farmland share the terraces and lower slopes and are planted with

and

in the autumn and with sweet potatoes, vegetables, and dry rice in the summer.

Intercropping Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice that involves growing two or more crops in proximity. In other words, intercropping is the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. The most common goal of intercropping is ...

is common: such crops are alternated with beans and

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

s. Japanese agriculture has been characterized as a "sick" sector because it must contend with a variety of constraints, such as the rapidly diminishing availability of arable land and falling agricultural incomes. The problem of surplus rice was further aggravated by extensive changes in the diets of many Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s. Even a major rice crop failure did not reduce the accumulated stocks by more than 25% of the reserve. In 1990, Japan was 67% self-sufficient in agricultural products and provided for around 30% of its cereal and fodder needs. As an attempt to consolidate farmland and increase productivity, "Farmland Intermediary Management Organizations (nōchi chūkan kanri kikō)," also known as Farmland Banks, were introduced as part of a reform package in 2014, which also included the reform of local Agricultural Committees. As Jentzsch notes, "The reform package is supposed to rationalize farmland consolidation into the hands of ninaite earerfarms, including corporations.

Livestock

Livestock raising is a minor activity. Demand for

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

rose in the 1900s, and farmers often shifted from dairy farming to production of high-quality (and high-cost) beef, such as Kobe beef. Throughout the 1980s, domestic beef production met over 2% of demand. In 1991, as a result of heavy pressure from the United States, Japan ended import quotas on potatoes as well as

citrus fruit ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

. Milk

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

s are numerous in Hokkaido, where 25% of farmers run dairies, but milk cows are also raised in Iwate, in Tōhoku, and near

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and Kobe.

Beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf opera ...

are mostly concentrated in western

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island se ...

, and on Kyushu. Hogs, the oldest domesticated animals raised for food, are found everywhere.

Pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

is the most popular meat. Most of the imported beef comes from Australia, since beef from the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

was banned after the first cases of

BSE BSE may refer to: Medicine * Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, a neurodegenerative disease of cattle * Breast self-examination Stock exchanges * Bahrain Stock Exchange, Bahrain * Baku Stock Exchange, Azerbaijan * B ...

in those countries. Those bans were lifted in 2006.

Forestry

Two thirds of land of Japan is forest. 40% of the forests in Japan are planted forests, such as

cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

and cypress. They are mainly planted after the Pacific War, in attempt to produce construction material, but after Japan had experienced rapid economic growth, they switched construction material from wood to reinforced concrete. Moreover, cheaper import wood became more attractive, compared to domestic wood which is produced in steep mountain and high costs of labour. Nowadays, many planted forests are too dense and need

thinning Thinning is a term used in agricultural sciences to mean the removal of some plants, or parts of plants, to make room for the growth of others. Selective removal of parts of a plant such as branches, buds, or roots is typically known as pruning. ...

. In 2015, Japanese forestry industry produced 20.05 million m³ volume of wood and 436.3 billion yen of production, half of it is mushroom production. Forestry composes 0.04% of Japan's GDP.

Fisheries

After the 1973 energy crisis, deep-sea fishing in Japan declined, with the annual catch in the 1980s averaging 2 million tons. Offshore fisheries accounted for an average of 50% of the nation's total fish catches in the late 1980s although they experienced repeated ups and downs during that period. Coastal fisheries had smaller catches than northern sea fisheries in 1986 and 1987. As a whole, Japan's fish catches registered a slower growth in the late 1980s. By contrast, Japan's import of marine products increased greatly in the 1980s, and was nearly 2 million tons in 1989. The Japanese fishing industry, both domestic and overseas, has long been centered on the

Tsukiji fish market is a major tourist attraction for both domestic and overseas visitors in Tokyo. The area contains retail markets, restaurants, and associated restaurant supply stores. Before 2018, it was the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the wor ...

, in Tokyo, which is one of the world's largest wholesale markets for fresh, frozen, and processed seafood. Japan also has greatly advanced the techniques of aquaculture or sea farming. In this system, artificial insemination and hatching techniques are used to breed fish and shellfish, which are then released into rivers or seas. These fish and shellfish are caught after they grow bigger.

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

is raised this way. Japan has more than 2,000 fishing ports, including Nagasaki, in southwest Kyūshū; Otaru, Kushiro, and Abashiri in Hokkaidō. Major fishing ports on the Pacific coast of Honshū include, Hachinohe, Kesennuma, and Ishinomaki along the Sanriku coast, as well as Choshi, Yaizu, Shimizu, and Misaki to the east and south of Tokyo. Japan is also one of the world's few whaling nations. Japan was a member of the

International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation ...

, where the government pledged that its fleets would restrict their catch to international quotas, but it attracted international opprobrium for its failure to sign an agreement placing a moratorium on catching sperm whales. As of 2019, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission and now openly hunts whales in international waters. Two of the largest fishing companies in Japan are

Nippon Suisan Kaisha , is a marine products company based in Japan. It had annual revenues of US$5.1 billion in 2014.Until November 30, 2022, the company name will be . The company was established in 1911, and is a commercial fishing and marine product procurement ...

and

Maruha Nichiro is a Japanese seafood company, beginning its operation in 1880, when its founder, Ikujiro Nakabe, began a fish sale business in Osaka. The company is the largest of its kind in Japan, with Nippon Suisan Kaisha and Kyokuyo Co., Ltd. as its main co ...

; each employs more than 10,000 people and owns subsidiaries around the world.

Government position

The

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries may refer to: * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Cambodia) * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) * Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Niue) * Depar ...

is the government agency responsible for the fishing industry. The Japanese Fisheries Agency states that the Basic Fisheries Plan was developed by the Japanese government in 2007, and claims that the government is working to establish long-standing, strong fisheries and fishery practices by promoting the overall restoration of the fishery industry. This can be accomplished by promoting surveys and research into fishery resources, the promotion of international

resource management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or i ...

in international waters, promoting international cooperation within the international fishing grounds, and improving the living environments for all

aquatic life An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The tw ...

in inland waters, while at the same time promoting aquaculture. This restoration consists of many different phases to include the restoration and management of high-level fishery resources. Other priorities of the Japanese government include continuing to develop new technologies to improve fishery operations, whether incorporating new workplace needed technologies, or creating and exploiting intellectual properties. Also, at the top of the list is the reorganization of the fish-labor industry organizations from the top down. The government provides support to the fishery operators groups by helping to acquire the equipment necessary to reduce fuel consumption, through the introduction of energy-saving operating systems. In order to maintain a strong work force in the fishery industry, the government has programs to encourage college students to look into the industry as a possible career path. This includes supporting activities that provide the opportunity to experience stationary net fishing and aquaculture. The government also provides the prospective employees with job information from fisheries worldwide while holding job seminars with well recognized companies in the Japanese fishery business. There is also a government sponsored on-site training program for individuals planning to make a career in the fishery industry. The fisheries in Japan are governed by the Japanese Fisheries Agency. The Fisheries Agency is organized into four departments: Fisheries Policy Planning Department, Resources Management Department, Resources Development Department, and Fishing Port Department. The Fisheries Policy Planning Department is in charge of the planning of policies concerning the fisheries, and all administrative matters that go along with the organization. The Resources Management Department plans the continuous development of Japan's fisheries. The Resources Development Department is in charge of the scientific research and development in the field of fisheries. The Fishing Port Department is the base for fishery production activities and also the basis for the distribution and processing of the marine products.

Techniques

Ayu fishing Ayu fishing is one of the several narrowly defined styles of fishing in Japan. Ayu fishing was practiced by Samurai as long as 430 years ago. It uses very long rods (7–11 meters) and fly, but fly-casting is not required. Ayu fishing originat ...

* Tenkara fishing, a type of roach fishing *

Factory ship A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales. Modern factory ships are automated and enlarged versions of the earlier wh ...

Artificial reefs An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many re ...

are used to increase the sustainable fishing activities on the coastline. *

Dolphin drive hunting Dolphin drive hunting, also called dolphin drive fishing, is a method of hunting dolphins and occasionally other small cetaceans by driving them together with boats and then usually into a bay or onto a beach. Their escape is prevented by closing ...

In literature

In 2008,

Takiji Kobayashi was a Japanese writer of proletarian literature. He is best known for his short novel '' Kanikōsen'', or ''Crab Cannery Ship'', published in 1929. It tells the story of the hard life of cannery workers, fishermen and seamen on board a cannery ...

's '' A Crab Canning Boat'', a 1929 Marxist novel about a crab boat crew determined to stand up to a cruel captain under harsh conditions, became a surprise bestseller, thanks to an advertising campaign linking the novel to the

working poor The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain und ...

.KOBAYASHI, T. (1933). The cannery boat. New York, International publishers.
/ref>

References

Citations

Sources

* *
Japan
*Comitini, S. (1966). MARINE RESOURCES EXPLOITATION AND MANAGEMENT IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF JAPAN. Economic Development & Cultural Change, 14(4), 414. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database. *Fisheries Agency. (2009). Fisheries Policy for FY2009 (Executive Summary). Retrieved from http://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/e/annual_report?2008/pdf/data3.pdf *Adrianto, L.,Yoshiaki, M., Yoshiaki, S. (1995). Assessing local sustainability of fisheries system: a multi-criteriea participatory approach with the case of Yoron Island, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan. Marine Policy, 29(1),19-23. Retrieved from Science Direct database.

External links

{{Forestry Agriculture in Japan

Fishing industry in Japan Agriculture, farming, and fishing (Japanese: 農林水産, ''nōrinsuisan'') form the primary sector of industry of the Japanese economy together with the Japanese mining industry, but together they account for only 1.3% of gross national prod ...

Forestry in Japan