Angry Japanese farmers are cited as one of the reasons why
the ruling party lost an election this week for governor of Saga, a rural
prefecture.
Yoshinori Yamaguchi, backed by the Japanese Agricultural
Cooperatives, beat Keisuke Hiwatashi, the candidate for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s
Liberal Democratic Party, by 182,795 to 143,720 votes.
Abe recently won a national election during which he
campaigned for a free trade deal that’s being negotiated within the
Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Abe has promised to push farm policy reform, meaning less
protection for farmers, especially those growing rice and with livestock herds.
Unfortunately, farm lobbies are so strong in Europe, the United States and Japan that the best way to bring about reform is via international trade agreements.
The world is so screwed up by farm lobbies that their clout amounts to more largesse than all of the world's food aid added together. Put another way, free trade would do far more to lift people out of poverty than even doubling international aid.
The Bank of Japan is pursuing a policy that pushed the yen
to its lowest level in seven years against the United States dollar.
That has increased the cost of livestock feed and dairy
farmers have been especially hard hit; milk production is now at a 30-year low.
That has been accompanied by an increase in imports from
New Zealand.
And why not buy dairy products from New Zealand, both saving money and improving the Japanese economy?