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Farming Notes
Nov. 24th, 2006 08:45 pmOne of the enjoyable parts of living in Japan is seasonable vegetables and fruits and a little more closeness to the farming. What I mean by seasonable vegetables and fruit is that we have a number of items that only appear at a certain season. Right now apples and kaki or persimmons are very cheap and plentiful.
However, the news recently has been focusing on hakusai and daikon. Hakusai is the white cabbage that the Koreans used to make kimchi, while daikon is the large white radish that is a popular vegetable here in Japan. Probably 18 inches to 2 feet long, 3 inches or better at the wide end. It resembles a carrot, frankly, except white.
Anyway, this year the weather has been excellent for both of these, and we have a bumper crop. So much in fact that the farmers are destroying part of the crop because there is simply too much to sell, so the price has dropped too far. My wife and I'm sure other Japanese are somewhat upset with this, feeling that they shouldn't waste food. She asks whether the government or somebody could buy it and give it to poor people? Isn't there something to do with it?
Of course, the answer is that they could do something, although they don't really have a policy or program in place. But if someone wanted to support the farmers or give the food away to countries that don't have enough, it would be possible.
But right now, the farmers are destroying the excess crop. If the crop was bad, of course, they'd be fretting about not having enough to meet demand, and the prices skyrocketing. But that's another year.
However, the news recently has been focusing on hakusai and daikon. Hakusai is the white cabbage that the Koreans used to make kimchi, while daikon is the large white radish that is a popular vegetable here in Japan. Probably 18 inches to 2 feet long, 3 inches or better at the wide end. It resembles a carrot, frankly, except white.
Anyway, this year the weather has been excellent for both of these, and we have a bumper crop. So much in fact that the farmers are destroying part of the crop because there is simply too much to sell, so the price has dropped too far. My wife and I'm sure other Japanese are somewhat upset with this, feeling that they shouldn't waste food. She asks whether the government or somebody could buy it and give it to poor people? Isn't there something to do with it?
Of course, the answer is that they could do something, although they don't really have a policy or program in place. But if someone wanted to support the farmers or give the food away to countries that don't have enough, it would be possible.
But right now, the farmers are destroying the excess crop. If the crop was bad, of course, they'd be fretting about not having enough to meet demand, and the prices skyrocketing. But that's another year.
