Team Meros

Meros welcomes summer research assistant, Tomo Nagai!

Posted by Team Meros in News

Meros welcomes its newest summer research assistant, Tomo Nagai. Tomo grew up in Hong Kong and will be a final year student at the University of Exeter in the UK, where he is a business management major.

Tomo discussed with us his reasons for joining Meros this summer. “I felt that Meros was a good fit for me as I am very interested in consulting and I value training and learning greatly, especially at this stage of my career. Meros is filled with workers who have rich consulting experience who can offer great mentorship for me this summer.”

“Initially I thought of possibly joining a “big name” firm but talking to both Lucia and Ayako in the interview about the benefits of working in a boutique firm, I thought our values aligned and I knew I would have a great learning experience that I would not get anywhere else.”

“I like that there is a clear sense of a team within Meros. Being a small company, it is important to have great communication and collaboration between team members and that can clearly be observed when working here. From day one I felt very welcomed and had very little difficulty integrating with the whole team which shows Meros’ friendly and team-oriented character.”

“I also really like and respect the attention to detail that Meros provide in their solutions and recommendations. Meros seems to differentiate themselves by really focusing on getting deep information which makes a huge difference for their clients. I can already tell that Meros aims to provide the best possible service to their clients which is an important skill that I want to take away.”

This summer, Tomo will be involved in a number of Meros projects related to different aspects of agtech. He will also be conducting a more in-depth project on the dynamics of the aging labor force in agriculture in Japan and how technology may be one way to address this challenge. He will be continuing Meros’ ongoing tracking of Japanese start-ups in related fields, including automation, robotics and drones.

“I am also excited about actually going to the field and doing primary research through interviews and surveys. Doing this will allow me to get quality information that I would not be able to get anywhere else, which is an exciting thought.”

“I chose the topic of labor and technology as I thought it was a relevant topic in the current climate of Japan. Agriculture has always been a big part of this country and an industry that has allowed Japan to be famous for its cuisine. I read many articles about the struggles that farmers are facing due to the aging workforce and lack of succession which made me want to find an explanation and an answer to solve this problem. Hopefully, I will be able to find a suitable solution that could potentially help reignite this famous industry.”

Tomo is also looking forward to exploring Tokyo this summer. “The main thing I’m looking forward to is the food. In the UK, food is extremely expensive and mazui. Here, pretty much every street has a restaurant that trumps anything in Exeter and I’ll be making sure that I’m eating well.”

“Another thing I’m looking forward to is catching up with old primary school friends that live in Tokyo. I haven’t been able to meet them in 3 years and this will be a great opportunity to rekindle many relationships that have been slowly dissipating due to the lack of contact.”

Welcome, Tomo! We look forward to having you with us this summer!

15 Apr

New! Revised Meros – USDA Food Export Guides to Japan Online Now

Posted by Team Meros in Publications

Meros once again teamed up with the US Embassy Japan’s Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) to develop a new revised version of well-received series of export guides originally developed in 2019. The series details the regulatory requirements for 24 specific products, from cheese to chocolate, seafood to spirits. While the aim of these guides is to support American SMEs who are interested in exporting food products to Japan, the detailed guides can be of interest to food exporters of all backgrounds.

Within the first month of their release in March 2022, the revised guides were downloaded over 1000 times.

The revised guides have added sections on new Japanese policy related to agricultural biotechnology as well as updated tariff schedules for each product to reflect changes that have come about since the US-Japan Trade Agreement came into effect on January 1, 2020. Other changes include updated product labeling regulations as well as some product-specific changes.

USDA Meros Agricultural Biotechnology Japan Import — *New sections include updates on Japan’s regulations on food and food additives derived from agricultural biotechnology.*

Exporting to Japan can seem daunting with numerous required forms and official resources not always available in English. In these guides, we take potential exporters step-by-step from pre-embarkation to import clearance and lay out the expected forms and preparations necessary at each stage.

For new food exporters to Japan, common challenges include differences in food additive standards which may mean a product that is allowed for food products in the home country may not always be allowed in Japan. Japan’s strict, low tolerance standards for agrochemical residues (MRLs) also trips up some potential exporters. These guides aim to point out some of these common pitfalls in advance, so exporters are better prepared. They are not meant as “do-it-yourself” guides but as a tool to help exporters better navigate the export process together with their Japanese importers and distributors.

We provide examples of required ingredients lists, manufacturing process charts as well as labeling for each type of product – but it is important for exporters to always keep in mind that requirements can change without notice – especially whenever sanitary or phytosanitary risks are involved. Ultimately, a successful export business to Japan requires ongoing vigilance for regulatory changes, as well as strong relationships with importers and partners in Japan.

Download the guides here.

12 Apr

Japan’s Organic Market is Still Tiny. Will Japan’s Green Food System Strategy Change This?

Posted by Team Meros in Market Trends

In May 2021, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) launched the Green Food System Strategy (also called the Strategy for Sustainable Food Systems, MeaDRI) which outlines the government’s sustainability-focused goals and strategies related to food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries in Japan. It is the first sustainability focused strategy by MAFF, following on the heels of the development of the Agricultural Innovation Agenda by the US and the Farm to Fork Strategy by the EU.

The organic corner in a typical Tokyo supermarket is a very small share of the shelf space. Will the Green Food System Strategy allow organic products an opportunity to expand in Japan?

Why a Green Food System Strategy?

In recent years, the challenges facing Japan’s food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries has become even more acute. As Japan’s population ages, the number of farmers and fishermen is shrinking. Global warming has increased the frequency of natural disasters and changing temperatures are impacting the growing seasons and fishing patterns, making it difficult to maintain stable agricultural production.

These challenges are not unique to Japan. There is worldwide urgency to meet the SDGs and address environmental threats. Both the EU and the US have released policy agendas to address sustainability in agriculture and MAFF too saw the need for Japan needs to improve both productivity and sustainability in the field of food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries through a range of potential technological innovation from carbon sequestration and energy saving measures to precision farming, robotics, new plant breeding and application of AI to various functions throughout the distribution chain.

Increasing organic farmland is a key goal of the Strategy

Among the numerous goals of the Strategy, one goal in particular caught the attention of many in the food and agriculture industry: to increase organic farmland to about 25% of the total by 2050.

As of 2020, only 0.5% of all farmland in Japan was organic. The Strategy aims increase this to by 50-fold in 30 years. This emphasis on organic farmland is in part driven by issues of sustainability and the SDGs, but there is another important factor. The Japanese government has set a target of 2 trillion yen in exports of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products per year by 2025 and 5 trillion yen by 2030. In 2021 exports were 1.2 trillion yen. To achieve these goals, it will be necessary to produce more organic agricultural products to meet the increasing demand for organic products in overseas markets.

Is it really possible to increase organic farmland to 25% Japan’s farmland?

There are a number of reasons why organic farming has not taken off in Japan. One practical reason is that Japan’s temperate and extremely humid climate results in many weeds and insects. Profitable organic farming under these climate conditions is very difficult.

To realize this ambitious goal, MAFF is planning to subsidize the development of weeding robots, soil diagnostic systems that utilize AI, and low-cost organic fertilizer production technology. MAFF is also considering tax incentives for food manufacturers and logistics companies that handle organic produce.

However, while MAFF has announced its target of 25% organic farmland by 2050 and has discussed several possible actions it can take, the Green Food Strategy still has not provided any annual numerical targets or specific action plans to achieve this goal by 2050. For this reason, some experts and farmers have questioned the feasibility of the organic farmland goal.

In the coming months we will be interested to keep tabs on the discussion and implementation of the Green Food System Strategy, particularly how the goals will be achieved and how they will be measured.

More specific details of the strategy can be found on the MAFF website and are summarized below.

Key Targets of Japan’s Green Food Strategy