US EditionTsukudani and Hot Rice: Still a Go-to Meal in Japan Centuries After Its Creation
JAPAN, JUL 6 – Japan faces rising unemployment in its rice sector due to falling prices and rising production costs, despite government efforts to stabilize the market ahead of a key election.
- This year, the Japanese government unveiled a new agricultural policy scheduled to take effect starting with the 2027 crop season, aimed at increasing rice production and boosting exports.
- This policy responds to a severe rice shortage caused by a misread heat-damaged 2023 harvest and seeks to reverse a 50-year trend of encouraging farmers to grow less rice.
- Many farmers like Kazuhachi Hosaka of Niigata Prefecture support the policy despite rising input costs, while the government expects them to consolidate and adopt technologies to lower expenses.
- Retail rice prices doubled to over 4,000 yen per 5 kg this year, with supermarket prices 70% higher year-on-year, prompting emergency government releases of stockpiled rice.
- If successful, the policy could stabilize prices around 3,000 to 3,500 yen and increase exports eightfold to 350,000 tons by 2030, but experts warn about risks of price plunges and practical feasibility.
22 Articles
22 Articles
In reversal, Japan now wants rice farmers to produce more. Will it work? | The Asahi Shimbun Asia & Japan Watch
JOETSU, Niigata Prefecture--For more than half a century, the Japanese government has encouraged its rice farmers to grow less of the crop so that prices of the national staple grain remained relatively high and steady.
The Colombian Agricultural Dignity and rice guilds of the country announced the possibility of a national strike for July 14, following the worsening crisis in the sector, marked by the fall in prices and unfair competition for imported products. According to the official statement, a drop in prices in December 2024 and another in June 2025 constitute “a disaster for Colombian rice growers”, a situation that is aggravated by the growing costs of…
The rice producers had already gone out of work between March and April of this May in view of the low competitiveness of cereal prices.
This sector points out that there is a structural crisis that puts at risk the sustainability of the crop.
Arroceros announces indefinite national unemployment in Colombia from July 14th due to crisis in the sector. Image: Taken from Pixabay - @ImageParty The Colombian rice sector announced an indefinite national strike that will begin on July 14th, 2025, in response to what they describe as a serious situation that producers are going through due to the fall in prices, the lack of state support and the failure to comply with commitments agreed with …
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