Start a new farm in Japan. 3 ~MEISHO FARM~

Welcome back to Agri Step!

This time I visited the prefectural government office and was able to learn about the behind-the-scenes procedures for starting a new farming business.

I also learned that I have started looking for land to start farming, so I will tell you about that as well.

The Story of becoming a new farmer in Japan

Visit to the Prefectural Office

Since I had been recommended for training in the U.S., I have been acquainted with the people at the Agricultural Management Division of the Saga Prefectural Government, and this time I visited them to report on my return to Japan and to say hello.

They were more welcoming than I had imagined, and even though they were busy, they made time to talk with me.

During our conversation, I told them that I was planning to start a new farming business and that I was currently going through the procedures.

He said that the process of becoming a farmer is carried out by the local government office, extension office, agricultural committee, and JA in accordance with their respective specialties, so it is essential to talk to the person in charge of each.

It seems that there are many people who enter farming for fraudulent purposes because they can get subsidies, and there are many people who pretend to be engaged in farming for the sake of appearances and then quit farming after receiving subsidies for a few years.

The prefectural government officials seem to have the impression that only about one out of every 10 new farmers is a serious newcomer to farming.

With this background, they say that because of the use of government money, the structure is complicated and the procedures are time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Due to the structure of the process, it is a step-by-step screening process, which goes from the local organization, to the prefecture, to the national government.

Since the final destination is the “national government,” applications are received from all 47 prefectures at the same time, and it is not possible to tailor the process to a single person.

Therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to the “deadline” when applying for new farming.

About the “Agricultural Corporation
The Agricultural Public Corporation seems to be the first organization that newcomers from outside of the prefecture, who have no farming experience and do not know anyone in the area where they are going to start farming, consult with.
Therefore, I was not encouraged to visit them when I started farming.

Land search

Together with people from the local government office, extension office, and JA, we had a discussion about the land and the desired crops in accordance with “feasibility”.

In retrospect, in our previous discussions, I already had 1.3 hectares of rice, wheat, and soybean fields, and since I had decided to purchase machinery from a retired farmer, it was determined that there was little risk and that there would be no subsidy.

However, it is clear that 1.3 hectares of rice fields are not enough for a full-time farmer, so we will proceed to discuss the possibility of starting vegetable production from the first year.

In that case, they will consider it a risk.

I had originally planned to start mainly with vegetables, but I was surprised to learn that the criteria for determining risk were not available on the Internet.

It seems that vegetable crop selection is mainly determined by “regional characteristics” and the quality of wholesalers such as “packing facilities” owned by JA in the area.

The farmer is given explanations such as, “It is easy to grow certain crops in this area, and there are packing facilities.

The farmer listens to this advice and discusses where to look for land, and whether to build a greenhouse, storage facility, etc.

If you are interested in a particular area, there are “training farms,” where you are trained by farmers who are growing the crops you are interested in, and eventually you can settle down in the area and start farming.

However, these “training farms” are not available everywhere, so you need to check if there is one in the area you want to farm.

Above is a website about “training farm” in Saga. Please take it as a reference. But it’s all in Japanese.

When I start farming, I would like to take time to consider crops and land, so I decided to get information from various sources.

I am going to ask for information on spinach and peppers, which are popular in mountainous areas.

At the same time, I have told the officials that I want to ask for information about used greenhouses and land.

I hope to get more information on how to farm in the mountains and on the plains, as the way of farming is quite different.

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