This article is from WeChat public account: Zhengjie Bureau (ID: zhengjieju).
As we all know, agricultural products in Japan are generally more expensive.
In the previous two days, a premium gift box of 30 strawberries from Nara Prefecture, Japan, sold for 1.5 million yen, an average of 900 yuan.
Aomori Prefecture in Japan has also sold 81 yuan of sky-high grapes. Other than fruit, other agricultural products are not cheap, 200 yuan a pound of Yueguang rice, 4,000 yuan a pound of Kobe beef …
Japan’s agricultural products are so expensive, the Nonghyup is an important promoter behind it. The Japan Agricultural Association can not only provide farmers with deposits and loans, but also apply for insurance, and even be responsible for rural marriages and funerals.
1. Even worse than the underworld
Agricultural Association, Agricultural Association.
The Japan Agricultural Association is indeed a big steward of agricultural production. It instructs members on what to plant, how to choose, and how to plant. In the harvest season, the Agricultural Cooperative Association once again unifiedly purchases, processes, sorts, packs, and sells agricultural products.
The vast majority of agricultural products sold in the Japanese market are provided by Nonghyup. Rice and wheat account for 95%, fruits account for 80%, poultry accounts for 80%, and livestock products account for 51%.
Figure: Japan Agricultural Association has its own agricultural production and processing equipment, storage facilities, transportation, and sales systems
The Japan Agricultural Association is also a promoter of agricultural technology. Japan’s developed agricultural science and technology has a lot to do with the importance and promotion of agricultural science and technology by Nonghyup.
Last year’s news reported that the price of two Japanese cherries was as high as 68 yuan, which still attracted customers to queue up to buy. This batch of cherries was developed by the Japan Agricultural Association, with a diameter of more than 31 mm and a heart-shaped shape, which is very selling.
Picture: Two new varieties of cherry “Junoheart” and its special product “Aomori Heartbeat” under the guidance of the Japan Agricultural Association, two of which cost 68 yuan < / p>
In addition to the development of new varieties, the Japan Agricultural Association also promotes new agricultural mechanization equipment. This allows companies engaged in the development of agricultural machinery to have no worries, and Japanese agricultural technology can maintain the world’s leading position.
In fact, the business scope of the Japan Farmers’ Association is far beyond imagination. It can provide farmers with deposits and loans like a bank, insurance for farmers like an insurance company, and even responsible for rural marriage and funeral.
In its heyday, the Japan Agricultural Association was a giant company with agriculture as its core. The number of associate members reached 9 million. It had Japan’s largest enterprise group, largest bank group, largest insurance group, The largest medical group and the largest supply and marketing group.
No wonder some people describe the Japan Agricultural Association as a stronger organization than the Yamaguchi group of the Japanese underworld.
2. A double-edged sword
If you compare the Japan Agricultural Association to a company,What farmers are the grassroots employees working in the farmland, while enjoying the company’s benefits, it also brings huge incremental benefits to the company.
Back in history, the Japan Agricultural Association was originally an agricultural organization set up to solve the problem of food and clothing.
In 1947, Japan had not emerged from the shadow of the defeated nations of World War II. In order to solve the problem of food and clothing and promote the development of agricultural production, Japan promulgated the “Agricultural Coordination Law” in this year, paving the way for the “unsettled land” of the agricultural association.
In 1948, the Japan Agricultural Association blossomed in grass-roots villages, and then went to the county agricultural association and the National Federation, and farmers who were originally shaped like loose sand were united together.
The umbrella that sheltered farmers from the wind and rain quickly won the support of farmers.
It is the so-called “inadvertently inserting willows into the shade”. As farmers’ needs are constantly being tapped and business lines are being developed, the fledgling Japan Farmers ’Association, like noodles, is expanding rapidly.
Picture: Some details of the business of the Japan Agricultural Association
However, this “Big Mac” organization is more and more like a double-edged sword.
As Japan Agricultural Association promotes the development of Japanese agriculture, it has gradually formed a special interest group. For example, buy agricultural products from farmers at low prices and sell them at high prices, and buy agricultural machinery from manufacturers at low prices and sell them to farmers at high prices to earn profits.
When a farmer wants to withdraw from the farmer’s association, he may be retaliated against.
Under the pressure of the Agricultural Cooperative Association, Japan has always pursued the agricultural product tariff barrier policy in foreign trade in agricultural products, which has severely limited Japan ’s participation in economic globalization and hindered the development of the Japanese economy.
Picture: Watermelon prices in Japanese supermarkets
This is an important reason for the high prices of agricultural products in Japan.
How high are agricultural tariffs in Japan?
Taking the most common rice as an example, Japan’s tariff on rice imports is as high as 778%. Even so, the Japanese government has to set quotas to limit imports of rice.
Figure: Tariff rates of Japanese agricultural products imports to various countries
The prices of agricultural products as basic materials directly determine the overall price level, which is very likely to cause inflation, lead to high social labor costs, and cause great pressure on enterprises and the economy.
The Abe government is also very anxious about the negative impact of high agricultural product prices on the social economy. It has long had the idea of reforming this huge organization that is holding back the economy.
3. Let the Japanese government avoid three points
The Japan Agricultural Association has a high degree of coverage in the countryside, and the number of parliamentary seats affected accounted for 30% of parliamentary elections. Therefore, even the Japanese government is not afraid of three points.
Although the Abe government once wanted to open up Japan’s agricultural product market and participate more deeply in globalization, it was strongly obstructed by the Japan Agricultural Association.
Just in 2015, at the time, Japan’s TPP talks, which were so popular at the time, were strongly opposed and demonstrations by the Japan Agricultural Association because of the open markets for agricultural products.
Due to the pressure from the Nonghyup, the Abe government has been slow to reduce tariffs on agricultural products.
Picture: Japan Farmers ’Association marches against TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement) agreement
The resistance to the reform of the Peasant Cooperatives is very high, and the pressure on the Japanese economy to stagnate is even greater. The Abe government has resolutely taken measures.
As early as 2013, the regulatory reform conference set up by the Abe government has put issues such as the separation of banks and the insurance industry, and the application of the antitrust law to the Agricultural Cooperatives, on the agenda, indicating that the Agricultural Cooperatives are gradually being checked and balanced by the government. .
In 2015, the Abe government promulgated the New Farmers Association Law, which removed the important functions and powers of JA Chuenchu (the highest organization of the Japan Farmers Association) and cleared the way for the opening of the country ’s agricultural product market.
In October 2019, Japan made substantial progress in opening its agricultural products to the outside world. Trump sells US slow-selling agricultural products to Japan, and Abe signs a trade agreement with Trump and issues a joint statement.
Picture: In October 2019, Abe and Trump are signing a trade agreement
Under the new agreement, Japan will reduce tariffs on approximately $ 7.2 billion in US agricultural products, including beef, pork, wheat, cheese, corn, and red wine. A small amount of agricultural products such as Japanese fresh cut flowers and soy sauce, and industrial products such as steam turbines, machine tools, bicycles, and musical instruments have been exempted from US tariffs.
After the agreement enters into force (January 1, 2020), Japan ’s tariff rate on beef with the United States will drop from 38.5% to 26.6%, and it is expected to eventually fall to 9%; Japan ’s beef export quota to the United States has increased from 200 per year The ton increased to 65,000 tons.
This also indicates that the Japanese government has gradually got rid of the restriction of the Japan Agricultural Association in the foreign trade of agricultural products.
4. Gradually declining
In addition to the overwhelming checks and balances of the Japanese government, the Japan Agricultural Association itself has fallen into decline.
This organization, rooted in Japanese farmers, is no longer brilliant due to the decline of farmers and the aging of Japan.
Especially since the 1990s, with the advancement of Japan’s industrialization process, the number of agricultural workers has decreased significantly. There were more than 5 million farmers in Japan in the 1980s, and now there are only more than 1 million. Only 7 percent of farmers are under 40 years old. The average age of people engaged in agriculture exceeds 65 years.
According to data released by the Japan Liberal Democratic Party ’s Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Research Group, Japan ’s agricultural population will be halved to one million by 2050, with three of them becoming older than 85.
Picture: Japanese farmers are mostly elderly.
There are fewer and fewer young people willing to stay on the land to be farmers.
A set of data shows that from 1960 to 1998, the total number of agricultural cooperatives has decreased from 28,896 to 5,141, and the organizational structure has also been reduced from the village, county, and national levels to the grassroots to national levels.
Fading is inevitable.
It seems that no matter how powerful a organization is, it can’t resist the torrent of the times.