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.
This week Meros’ Managing Director Chisa Ogura presented on Japanese consumer food trends to delegates of the High Level EU Agricultural Mission to Japan led by EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan. There were over 70 delegates, including agricultural industry reps, SMEs and farmers from throughout the EU, all looking to understand how the new EU-Japan EPA can benefit food and agricultural trade between the EU and Japan.
It was a full house and we got great questions from the delegates on organic trends (especially in wine and beef), the impact of demographic changes and the notoriously fast turnover in new retail products.
Japanese consumers now spend more on bread than rice, more on meat than seafood and more on wine than sake, with cheese and yogurt consumption growing rapidly. This brings many potential opportunities for EU food and agriculture to develop new business in Japan.
Nevertheless, to successfully build a business in Japan, careful understanding of the characteristics of the Japan market is of course critical. For example, one area of interest to delegates was the fact that while countries like Denmark (227€ annual per capita spending), Germany (116€ per capita) and France (101€ per cap) have booming organic markets, consumer interest in organic products has been slow to catch on in Japan (only 8€ per capita).
The price premium for organic is relatively small in Japan, compared to some of its Asian neighbors, where organic products can command an extremely high price premium. Japanese consumers also tend to be convinced that domestic conventionally grown agricultural products are already safe and healthy and are less willing to pay a premium for organic certified products. In addition, organic agriculture is difficult in wet and humid Japan and this has resulted in fewer Japanese companies producing, promoting and educating on organic practices. While EU organic products are welcome in Japan, more of the burden for promotion and consumer education will fall on the EU side.
Other consumer trends that Meros highlighted included the Japanese consumer expectation for constant relaunches and limited editions of retail food and beverage products, which contrasts with many EU exporters’ focus on classic and authenticity, rather than innovation. Not only is this seasonal packaging an issue, but urban Japanese consumers tend to bring their groceries home by hand or in a bicycle basket, to a kitchen with extremely limited storage space. Responsiveness to these Japanese consumer lifestyle realities can greatly improve EU exporters’ marketing and promotion strategies.
In honor of “CSA Day” today February 22, I thought I would share some observations from my recent exploration into the community supported agriculture movement in China. I am familiar with trends in Japanese agriculture related to ecological agriculture, organic farming, rural community development and alternative food movements, and have had the opportunity to do many deep dives into various aspects of the US organic industry.
However, when I learned that the number of CSAs has been exploding in China, amid increasing discussions of environmental issues and food safety concerns, I was interested in understanding how community supported agriculture was developing in China, in a country with strong state-directed agriculture policy and weak tradition of civil society and community engagement in urban areas. My chance came at the 10th China Community Supported Agriculture Conference held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province in December 2018.
The conference attracted over 1,000 attendees including CSA farms, academics, politician and government staff, farm tourism and education business operators, agritech & food tech companies, certification agencies, architects as well as international guests from France, Netherlands, Canada, the US and Japan.
In China, where farmland is still collectively owned and the majority of farmers are smallholders, China’s CSA movement tends toward developing commercial-oriented agricultural business opportunities through the establishment of environmental-friendly agricultural practices as well as trustworthy distribution channels to consumers. To be honest, I felt that the current Chinese CSA approach is quite different from the original CSA concept of ‘maintaining and developing small-scale organic family farming and of achieving local food sovereignty,’ and there is less sense of ‘community.’
However, with CSA developing in this direction and seemingly embraced by the State government as one tool for improving food safety and building confidence among consumers. CSA could have a large social and political impact in China’s future agricultural scene. It makes Chinese CSA an important movement to watch. Here are some main observations.
1.CSA Projects are Rapidly Expanding but In a Different Trajectory than the US or Japan
CSA, as defined by the International Network for Community Supported Agriculture (URGENCI) is the concept of partnerships between producers and consumers to maintain small-scale organic family farming and of achieving local food sovereignty for communities, as a solution to the problems associated with global intensive agricultural production and distribution. These partnerships of course will take different forms around the world, depending on social, political, economic or agricultural realities.
The CSA movement was born in the US on two farms during late 1980’s in response to an increasingly industrialized food system, marked by large private farms, retail supermarkets and top-down food safety laws and standards. CSA in the US has expanded to 5,000-6,000 programs and more than 12,000 farms are involved in CSA now. Today, you can see various styles of CSA, and the farms working with CSA programs are not only organic but also conventional.
CSA was originally an economic risk-sharing system whereby (mostly urban) consumers signed an annual subscription contract with local small-scale organic farmers before the planting season. The system often includes labor sharing and educational meetups to strengthen the ties between member farmers and consumers. A concept similar to CSA was also seen in Japan and other countries, from the early 1970’s. In Japan, this system is known as teikei (literally ‘partnership’), and it emerged from an awareness of increasing health problems caused by agrochemical usage, during the course of rapid economic development in Japan. Teikei aimed to create relationships between small-scale organic farmers and urban consumer communities.
The concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) was introduced in China almost 10 years ago. In China, one challenge was already that the word used for “community” (shequ) is a word adopted by the Chinese government in 1980s to describe administrative units that took on the welfare and community services role that had previously been carried out by the work unit (danwei) under the communist planned economy system. This word did not necessarily include the broader concepts the word “community” as used in other countries. Together with the lack of a tradition of participatory self-governance in urban cities and the rapid expansion of massive population influx to urban areas, it has been difficult for a broader concept of community to take root in Chinese cities.
Prof. Wen Tiejun of Renmin University described the expansion of the network of CSA farms in China.
The pioneer CSA in China was a farm called Little Donkey Farm in Beijing, which was set up in 2008 as a Renmin University project by PhD student Shi Yan, who had learned about the concept from a small CSA farm in Minnesota. In 2009, a year later, Professor Wen Tiejun, one of the most influential agriculture economists in China, organized the Chinese federation of CSAs with 9 CSA farms, and started to lead the CSA initiative in China. Since then, the little seed sown by the Little Donkey Farm in Beijing has now sprouted to over 1,000 CSA projects all over China and over 100 ,000 farmers and consumers are involved in these projects. The CSA farm concept is attracting highly-educated young Chinese people to start their own farming businesses.
2. The Concept had evolved from ‘Community Supported Agriculture’ to ‘Ecological and Social Agriculture’
Throughout my discussions, it became clear that the CSA movement in China is trying to position itself as much broader concept, encompassing all business opportunities that can strengthen ties between farmers and consumers while ensuring eco-friendly agriculture and food safety.
Concern about food safety, as well as concerns about the environmental impact of farming, are drivers of many Chinese agriculture policies and movements. The idea of organic agriculture (youji nongye), in China, is strongly associated with certification systems and is commercially driven by more by consumer’s food safety concerns than by an underlying political or social philosophy. There is already a growing market for organic labelled foods, with well-recognized corporate players and government support. Shentai Nongye (Ecological Agriculture) is the farming concept promoted in government policies China since late 1980s, meaning eco-friendly sustainable farming model integrating crop and livestock operations.
In order to emphasize that CSA also includes the concept of “society”, the Chinese CSA federation decided to change the Chinese translation of CSA several years ago from “Shequ Zhichi Nongye (literally, Community Supported Agriculture)” to “Shehui Shentai Nongye (Socio-Ecological Agriculture)”. By adding the aspect of Society (Shehui), the CSA Federation emphasizes the importance of ties between farmers and consumers and builds on the already familiar concept of “ecological agriculture”.
3. China’s CSA initiative has strong political and academic support
Academics have played an important role in the CSA initiative in China, from the very first CSA farm. Furthermore, academic-led initiatives are seeking more policy and government involvement in order to broaden the concept and their practices.
For example, the opening event of the conference was a joint signing ceremony for various large-scale government agricultural investment projects in the region, and in the first panel session, several Chinese agricultural economic professors discussed the need for political support for CSAs.
This is strikingly different from the US and Japan, where originally the CSA movement started as voluntary networks of farmers and consumers who shared a philosophy of seeking alternative ways of farming as a counter-movement against intensive, commercial large-scale farming.
5. Technology is being introduced especially in food distribution, payment, traceability and certification.
The event also had a farmers’ market. High-quality honey could be bought using the cashless WeChat Pay app.
Technology was extensively covered in the conference, especially various technologies related to food distribution, traceability and certification. With the development of agri-tech and food-tech in China, CSA is also trying to utilize technology to find the optimal way to reach consumers and to ensure an efficient route from farm to consumers. For example, sessions in the conference introduced various cutting-edge blockchain test-cases in agriculture and food chains in developing countries, as well as a fish resource conservation program utilizing tech solutions.
4. The Chinese CSA concept is diverse and includes farmers markets, farm stays, local food branding, rural development and local seed conservation.
A native seed exchange event was hosted for farmers from various regions in China
The wide diversity of topics covered in the conference was impressive. For example, organic farm managers discussed technology in an organic farming panel: a local corn seed conservation program presented on its collaboration with a university and local villages; rural development was discussed from the viewpoint of international architects; the Sichuan government explained its local food branding initiative and its marketing and export strategy.
Professor Kazumi Kondoh from Chuo University in Japan, who presented on the Japanese teikei system at the conference, raised her concern that the Chinese CSA movement is more focused on profitable business models and is not putting enough effort into encouraging the philosophy of organic agriculture and the ultimate objective of achieving local food sovereignty. Her concern is understandable.
But, if CSA is to be influential in China, it must work with the government under the current Chinese political system and be aligned with current government policies. With growing demand for safe food and escalating concerns about environmental issues, people see clear business opportunities in developing reliable food chains as well as in agri-tourism and agri-education. The CSA movement in China will inevitably be shaped by China’s own characteristics and it remains an interesting area to watch in order to understand the bigger picture of China’s agricultural development and food systems.
In honor of “CSA Day” today February 22, I thought I would share some observations from my recent exploration into the community supported agriculture movement in China. I am familiar with trends in Japanese agriculture related to ecological agriculture, organic farming, rural community development and alternative food movements, and have had the opportunity to do many deep dives into various aspects of the US organic industry.
For example, the opening event of the conference was a joint signing ceremony for various large-scale government agricultural investment projects in the region, and in the first panel session, several Chinese agricultural economic professors discussed the need for political support for CSAs.
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