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workshop参加人数：５９名（うち新人の方：７名）
○ 【前半】How to spend the time
○ 【後半】Let’s think about agricultural industry
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≪FIRST HALF≫
My new year’s resolution of this year is “finish work early and go home.”
Time is precious, considering that our lifetime is limited.
It is equally given to everyone, but I think how to spend it is different depending on the person.
This time, I made material to exchange opinions and have the opportunity to think about time.

[Homework]
(1) Please make a pie chart of how to spend an average weekday.
(2) Please make a pie chart of how to spend the last holiday.
* You may use the attached blank pie chart.

Q1: Please share pie charts in the group.
Q2: Which period of time do you feel happiness in your pie chart?
Q3: Is there any period of time you think you waste the time in your pie chart?
Q4: Do you use any ingenuity to spend the time?
Q5: What are the three most important things for you? Do you think you can give enough time for them?
Q6: Do you feel that a day, a week, a month and a year pass by fast? Or do you feel them long? Why do you think so?
If you feel that a day, a week, a month and a year pass by fast, how can we buffer this phenomenon?

～If time allows～
Q7: Do you use any ingenuity to get your work done early?

≪LATTER HALF≫
＜Agenda＞
Let’s think about agricultural industry.

I have been in charge of designing agricultural machine for two year since I changed job.
But I noticed that I didn’t have enough knowledge about agriculture. So I learned about agricultural technology and agricultural business at school last year.
That was great occasion to know problem about agriculture.
Agricultural problem can affect our life but we seldom read news about agriculture. TV doesn’t show agricultural industry.
So I thought I want to share the agricultural problem with you and discuss it more closely.
That’s why I choose this topic.
I hope you enjoy discussing this topic.

＜Procedure＞
1. Let’s discuss sub questions 7:15-7:50
2. Summarize the opinion about the main question 7:50-8:05
3. Share your opinions with next table 8:05-8:15
(Each table explain Y/N conclusion and the reason, and then receive feedback)

＜Main question＞
Should our government abolish subsidy to agriculture?
(Should farmer earn without subsidy?)
Summarize your table’s opinion (Y/N conclusion and the reason)

＜Sub question＞
Q1 What do you think is the merit and the demerit of subsidy to farmers?
Q2 SYUSHIHOU(種子法) is abolished from this year in Japan.
So it is said that Japanese seed price become higher than before and private company can easily enter the industry of producing seed.
How will this abolishment of the law affect Japan?

SYUSHIHOU(種子法)・・・Law of protecting seed in japan.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%BB%E8%A6%81%E8%BE%B2%E4%BD%9C%E7%89%A9%E7%A8%AE%E5%AD%90%E6%B3%95　　　

Q3 Share of agriculture in GDP is decreasing.
Should Japan strengthen agriculture?
Q4 Japanese self-sufficiency in food is decreasing.
Do you think this fact is a problem to be solved?
Q5 The number of farmer is decreasing. The proportion of workers over 65 is more than 45%.
Do you think this fact is a problem to be solved? And why do you think so?
Q6 Agriculture has two functions, not only of producing foods but also of protecting the land.
If subsidy were abolished, what would happen in Japan?

＜Article＞
https://www.oecd.org/japan/42791674.pdf

Executive Summary
Agriculture faces many challenges as it seeks its role in 21st century Japan. For rice, a
major staple product and for many the defining product of Japanese agriculture, these
challenges are particularly acute. Small average farm sizes and small and fragmented
plots of land are farmed by a work force that is older than average and aging more rapidly
than the general population. A history of support and protection have resulted in a sector
that many feel is uncompetitive and ill-equipped to participate on a level playing field,
either with other sectors of the economy or internationally.

At the same time, many parts of Japanese agriculture are thriving. Production of
livestock products, beef in particular, has grown strongly, and there is evidence to suggest
that producers of fruits and vegetables have been successful at using their comparative
advantages to prosper in the marketplace. These products are produced by businessoriented
farms that are less susceptible to the scale problems faced by the rice sector.
Exports of these products have increased by 60% in recent years, and this growth is
expected to continue. Nevertheless, many agricultural products continue to receive high
levels of support and protection by OECD standards.

Recently, policy-makers in Japan have focussed their attention on improving the
competitiveness of the agricultural sector by directing some important payment
programmes to larger farms, as well as reforming land regulations to make it easier for
farms to increase in size. These efforts are a good start in the process of putting
agriculture in Japan on a competitive footing, but to be successful, this approach will
need to be reinforced by additional reforms that address the market distortions that
adversely affect the efficiency and competitiveness of the sector. Barriers to competition
will need to be lowered, first among farmers themselves, and ultimately with other
economic sectors and internationally.

While the amount of market price support has declined by more than 39% since 1986,
this type of support, considered among the most market-distorting and least effective
means of improving farm income, continues to amount for more than 90% of all support
as measured by the PSE. Steps taken to date to reform the marketing of rice have laid the
groundwork to improve market-orientation, and the next step is to scale back policies that
have the effect of limiting the domestic supply of rice. Ultimately, moving from pricebased
support such as tariffs to payments based on land can improve farm incomes more
effectively than the current policy set. Such a move also holds the potential to increase
the share of paddy land actually used to produce rice and improve the environmental
performance of the sector by promoting more extensive production.

The price of land is an important signal for the allocation of resources; currently this
signal is confused by speculation and by disincentives that keep land from being utilised
by the most efficient producers. The objective to preserve agricultural land is rooted in
the many roles paddy land plays – as part of the social landscape, as a buffer for water
flows and as a contributor to food security. Policies aimed at preserving land have also
had the effect of reducing the attractiveness of land rental transactions and has
paradoxically led to under-use of agricultural land. Objectives to preserve land need to be
met in a way that recognises the value of competing uses and the size of the market. In
particular, targeting those agricultural areas that bring the greatest benefits with policies
aimed at securing those benefits will work better than policies affecting the agricultural
sector more broadly.

In rural policy as well, a targeted approach is called for. The importance of the
agricultural sector in the rural economy has diminished to the point where agriculture can
no longer be seen as the main driver of the rural economy. Policies directed at the
agricultural sector are unlikely to significantly improve the rural economy, and depending
on agriculture for rural development risks a conflict with the objective of improving
agricultural competitiveness through structural reform.

Japan imports a significant proportion of its total food supply, making food security a
prominent policy objective. The two main routes to improving food security are
improving the efficiency of domestic production and trade agreements that ensure stable
trading arrangements. Quantitative targets for food self-sufficiency are useful for
measuring progress, but should not become an impediment to needed reforms. Domestic
food that is more competitively priced for the consumer and a reduced amount of waste in
the food chain will also bring improvements.

There are indications that Japanese agriculture can survive and thrive in a more open
marketplace. Its ability to produce high-quality and specialised products for domestic and
foreign markets is a key comparative advantage that can be exploited. Following that
competitive advantage will mean that the sector has still more change to accomplish, and
what form agriculture will take in the future is difficult to say. It is clear that enabling this
change by providing greater opportunities to farmers to operate in a more open and
competitive environment is essential to securing the long-term growth and
competitiveness of agriculture in Japan.

＜Other Reference＞
環境保全型農業の推進について
http://www.maff.go.jp/j/seisan/kankyo/hozen_type/attach/pdf/index-37.pdf

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