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第９５回　WORKSHOP報告（１２月１３日） / 参加者６１名

 

 

（１：受付の方々が笑顔で迎えてくれます！）

 

（２：6名のグループでディスカッションを行います）

 

 

（３：この日は６１名の方がご参加されました）

 

 

（４：workshopの最後に、新規スタッフの方々からご挨拶がありました）

 

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《　今回のworkshop　》

 

○workshop参加人数：６１名（うち新人の方：６名）

 

○【前半】：”As a parent, what can we do for our kids when they get into trouble in school?”というテーマでディスカッション

 

○【後半】：”Corporate participation in agriculture”という記事に関するディスカッション

 

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＜英語サークル　E’s club　第９５回workshopのご案内＞

 

みなさまこんばんは、E’s club幹事のKです。

本年最後となる１２月１３日（土）開催の第９５回workshopの詳細をお送りいたします。

 

今回は前半のマテリアルをMさん、後半のマテリアルをWさんにそれぞれご作成いただきました。

前半は”As a parent, what can we do for our kids when they get into trouble in school?”、

後半は”Corporate participation in agriculture”というテーマでディスカッションを行ないます。

[今週のマテリアル]

＜FIRST HALF＞

As a parent, what can we do for our kids when they get into trouble in school?

 

In my work place, most of coworker has already married and I have many occasions to talk about their story about kids.

It is not always happy story, sometimes it is about some troubles in the school.

In some cases, I think of it as my own case on the assumption that I have a kid.

This time, I want you to think about some trouble cases I made.

They might give us so many ideas, though they are hypothetical cases.

 

Q1

Have you got any support or advice to survive your school life?

Concerning fighting, bullying, physical punishment by teacher, etc.

 

Q2

If you answered yes to Q1, was it helpful or good to you?

 

Q3

Hypothetical cases

 

No.1

You have a 7 years old daughter and she got bullied about stupid nick name by all students in the class.

She started to say” I don’t want to go to school today”.

What would you do for your daughter?

 

No.2

You have a 9 years old son.

His friend put your son up to do shoplifting together and they were caught red-handed by shop owner.

Do you have anything to say to your son?

 

If you still have time…

Try to think up other situations of trouble at school and please talk about them.

 

 

＜LATTER HALF＞

<Agenda>

Corporate participation in agriculture

 

Agriculture is one of the most important industries. However, Japan’s agricultural industry has a lot of problems. The number of farmers in Japan is decreasing rapidly and the average age of farmers is already more than 65 years old. In addition, farming in Japan tends not to be profitable because farm land in Japan is divided into small areas for each farmer as compared to in other countries. That makes Japanese farming less productive. For this reason, the government has long ever been subsidizing farmers to protect them.

Now, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to reform the Japanese agricultural industry as one of Nation’s growth strategies. First of all, He wants to promote corporate participation in the agricultural industry. Some big companies like Watami, Calbee, AEON, etc. have already entered farming business, but there still have been limitations and these limitations have kept companies from participating in farming. Abe is going to ease these limitations so that companies will be able to start farming as a business. The goal is to streamline Japanese agriculture so that it will become more competitive in the global market.

On the other hand, corporate participation in agriculture also supposes to have negative effects especially on current farmers.

Today, let’s talk about Japanese agriculture in the future through Abe’s policy.

 

1. Do you know any examples of companies that entered the farming business?

 

2. What are advantages of corporate participation in agriculture?

 

3. What are disadvantages of corporate participation in agriculture?

 

4. What do you think the government should do to increase the farming population in Japan?

 

5. Do you have any ideas to improve Japanese agricultural industry? Please share your ideas.

 

 

<Reference>

Japan Inc. Steps on Lobby Turf as Abe Reforms Farming

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-16/japan-inc-steps-on-lobby-turf-as-abe-reforms-farming.html

 

Japan’s ruling party wants to increase corporate participation in agriculture to boost the competitiveness of the nation’s farms as pressure increases to cut import tariffs.

 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party is considering allowing non-food companies to own almost 50 percent stakes in farming entities from the current 25 percent, according to Hiroshi Moriyama, the head of the party’s farm-reform committee. The LDP also wants to streamline approvals of land sales by individuals to farming corporations.

 

The rule changes would increase the number of agricultural ventures between farmers and companies and reduce the power of JA-Zenchu, the nation’s largest farm lobby and an opponent of the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade plan. The government will review the lobby’s role as it seeks to bolster the independence of local farm cooperatives, Moriyama said in a speech in Tokyo on June 12.

 

“With the government eager to expand free-trade agreements to accelerate economic growth, partnerships with companies are more important to the survival of farmers than reliance on the farm lobby,” said Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at JSC Corp., a commodities researcher in Tokyo. “They are moving in the right direction to reform the agricultural sector.”

 

Abe’s cabinet will decide on a growth strategy including agricultural reform plans by the end of this month, based on recommendations from his advisers and the ruling party, according to Moriyama. Akira Banzai, the chairman of Zenchu, said in a statement on June 10 that the group will come up with its own reform plans.

 

Doubling Exports

 

Abe set a goal of more than doubling food exports to 1 trillion yen ($9.8 billion) by 2020 as part of an economic growth strategy that began with unprecedented monetary easing and fiscal stimulus. Japan aims to boost beef exports five-fold from 2012 to 25 billion yen by 2020, exports of rice and rice-based products to 60 billion yen from 13 billion yen, and fruits and vegetable exports to 25 billion yen from 8 billion yen.

 

The number of farming corporations rose 15 percent to 13,561 in the three years after rules were relaxed in December 2009 allowing food companies to take stakes of almost 50 percent in farming ventures and other firms to own as much as 25 percent, from less than 10 percent previously, according to data from the Agriculture Ministry.

 

Lawson, Seven & I

 

Convenience store chains Lawson Inc. and Seven & I Holdings Co. are investing in cropland and training young people to work the fields. They’re expanding as Abe cuts subsidy payments to food-rice growers and creates land banks to consolidate small holdings into large tracts that can be leased by companies as older farmers put down their plows.

 

Tetsuhide Mikamo, a director at Marubeni Research Institute, said the government may not succeed with all its plans because LDP lawmakers in rural areas rely on votes from JA members.

 

Zenchu lobbies for JA Group, Japan’s largest farm organization with 9.8 million members and businesses ranging from production and marketing of produce to banking, insurance, fuel supply and health care. Zenchu also supervises the operations of regional agricultural cooperatives.

 

Economic advisers to Abe have said the lobby has added to farming costs by preventing sales of agrochemicals and machinery by non-JA companies to JA members.

 

The LDP aims to submit a revision to the law on the role of agricultural cooperatives to parliament next year, Moriyama said.

 

An economic advisory panel to Abe proposed on May 22 that the government end Zenchu’s supervision of local agricultural cooperatives, and turn Zen-Noh, the trading arm of JA Group, into a joint-stock company. They recommended shifting the banking and insurance operations of agricultural cooperatives to Norinchukin Bank, the group’s financial institute.

 

農業生産法人 有限会社ワタミファーム ホームページ

http://www.watamifarm.co.jp/

 

 

Abe Cabinet Agricultural Reform (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries)

http://fpcj.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/a89885aa705c72d976dd953518d82140.pdf

 

安倍内閣の農業改革（農林水産省，日本語）

http://fpcj.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/31328349595bd71f9754ffdcc82acd75.pdf

 

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