Amid the “rice shortage，” the number of rice farms going bankrupt or going out of business is rapidly increasing， hitting a new record high， as rising costs for fertilizer and other items become a heavy burden．
*Published at 10:00 on 9/5 (Thu) Teikoku Databank The aging of producers and lack of successors are also contributing to the problem Amid a nationwide rice shortage and soaring prices, rice farmers are going bankrupt and going out of business. From January to August 2024, there were six bankruptcies (debts of over 10 million yen, legal reorganization) and 28 cases of rice farming (suspension, closure, etc.), with a total of 34 farms disappearing from production sites. The number of bankruptcies and business closures is set to significantly exceed the number for the whole of 2011 (35 cases), and is certain to be the highest number for a year, and is also expected to reach 40 cases in a year for the first time. The reasons behind the successive bankruptcies and closures of rice farms that produce rice for staple food include rising production costs and a serious shortage of successors and people looking to take over the farming industry. According to a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the prices of production materials needed for agriculture in 2023 will rise 1.2 times compared to the 20-year average. In particular, fertilizer, many of whose raw materials are imported, increased in price by 1.5 times, utility costs increased by 1.2 times due to increases in the prices of gasoline and diesel, and agricultural chemicals increased by 1.1 times. Most of the major materials increased in price. Continue reading below.
>>1 I told you so, didn’t I? There are people who are saying that we should release stockpiled rice and lower the price, but as of last week, I said, “If we keep saying that, the farmers who grow rice will gradually decrease, and eventually we’ll end up with a constant rice shortage.” And if that happens, the price will naturally remain high all the time, and the time will come when Japanese rice will be priced only for the wealthy. I said that this will happen eventually if you focus on short-term low prices.
>>1 This is what happens when they have no other choice but to wholesale to JA Not only JA but also distributors, wholesalers, and retailers make profits, so they can only make 30% of the retail price.
It’s over. Consumers in this country are all crazy, deflationary, cost-effective consumers who don’t give a damn about producers. This is the fate of a country that has become poor after neglecting food production for many years.
Agriculture is dead, the birthrate is falling and people aren’t having children. From now on, we’ll be experiencing a decline so severe it will make the lost 30 years seem pale in comparison.
>>10 Consumers don’t have money either, so they can’t buy expensive things. If you look at the Engel coefficient, it’s rising steadily. Even if the price goes up, the only thing farmers can do is reduce rice consumption, so it’s a vicious cycle that makes farmers suffer even more.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, per capita consumption of staple rice has been declining year by year since its peak in fiscal 1962 (118 kg), falling to less than half that figure at 51 kg per year in fiscal 2022. Why is there a rice shortage even though fewer Japanese people are eating rice? The fundamental cause is the “failure of agricultural policy” known as the “rice paddy reduction policy.” President Online In addition, rice shortages are inevitable because rice paddies are subsidized for export. No matter how good the harvest is, rice grown for export cannot be sold domestically because of the subsidies.
The agricultural workforce is declining at a rate of 100,000 people per year, yet only 34 businesses went out of business in the first eight months of the year. Isn’t there something odd about these statistics? Or are these figures only for large agricultural corporations?
>>16 There are statistics that say the number has decreased by about 700,000 in 8 years, but instead, technical intern trainees have been brought in, so the actual number of workers may not have changed that much. However, rice farming does not use technical intern trainees, so the number of workers in paddy fields should not have changed that much.
>>16 In the first place, business closures don’t happen without some kind of notification, so these statistics are just about the number of times we notice something like a closure registration or business closure.
But if we raise the price, people will just stop buying rice. In other words, if we can’t produce it cheaply like other countries, there’s no demand. Those that go out of business should sell their farmland to large farmers and expand their operations.
0019(Kanagawa Prefecture)(Tokyo)(Mushroom)Neko Neko Japan.Sep. 5, 2024 (Thu) 20:07:54.97ID:ocCpeuDD0
I don’t know. Maybe it was knocked down by a typhoon? If they’re going to go out of business, they’ll have to do it after the harvest. The purchase price of rice goes up.
Even though they went below break-even, they continued because it was ancestral land and other reasons, so if that suddenly snaps, it’ll be the end. They’ve just been relying on that for so long.
You guys have posted a lot of misleading replies, but I think the real cause is that people have had the coronavirus vaccine, but I’d like everyone’s opinions.
>>50 Wow lol The highest suicide rate by occupation lol Better than being unemployed though. Bankruptcy is a bleak prospect. Agriculture is not something you should invest in with debt.
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