Don't Go Farming

Farming Fad?

It seems that farming has become a trend in Japan in the late 2010s.
This fad might have stemmed from entrapped salary men, especially after 2008 financial crisis. Juxtaposed against the corporate distributive work, farming is depicted as projection of independence and creative work. 'Free from complicated corporate structures, finally I can live off on what I've produced', one might think.

But the problem is that farmers in countries are as entangled with the system as are white-collar workers in cities.

Agriculture is Business, Big corporations' Business.

2015 Revision

In his article 'Big Business Creeps into Agriculture as Farmers Dwindle', Michio Watanabe wrote

"With traditional family farms on the wane, corporations are increasingly entering the agriculture sector, taking advantage of an updated law allowing them to lease farmland across the country" 

The above quotation indicates that big corporations are seeking to establish the system which makes sure big corporations can make profit, no matter what. This system reminds me of sharecropping.

Sharecropping

The sharecropping spread out among the South after the Civil War (1861-1865). After the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, slavery was terminated, but into this vacant lot came a new system: sharecropping. 

Jeremy Rifkin (1996) explains

“Under the new system, [former slaves] were leased farmland and provided housing, seed, farm tools, and mules. In return, 40 percent of their harvest had to be given over to the landowner” (69).

On the surface level, it sounds like a plan because the remaining harvest would be to go to the sharecropper. However, the sharecropping system did not work like this happy-go-lucky way.

“Goods were often marked up, and interest rates on credit were generally exorbitant. As a result, by the time the harvest was in and counted, the sharecroppers inevitably found that they owed the landlord more money than their share of the harvest was worth, forcing them into further debt and dependency” (ibid. 69-70).

That is, initial investment was so costly that ex-slaves were destined to be in debt tll dead. This illustration is far from the ideal image of self-independence but characterized by the lack thereof.

Initial Investment
As was the case with sharecroppers, Japanese people in late 2010s also need a huge amount of initial investment. One needs to purchase land, machines, and improved seeds, e.g. Green Revolution.

Example: Green Revolution

The most problematic was the brutal fact that seeds kept improving for a larger productivity (less input and more output). In such a situation, what mattered the most was whether farmers were able to afford a new improved seed or not. Green Revolution, liberating as it might sound, advanced the bifurcation of the society. The rich got richer while the poor got poorer.

To sum up, if people are rich enough to keep up with innovation, they could win the race (Bad news is competitors are big corporations). In other words, whether people win or lose entirely depends on capital, the most ubiquitous form of which is money.

Additional Danger: TPP

If TPP is enacted, tariff will be lowered, which leads to lower price of foreign produce. Race to the bottom will be intensified.

Conclusion

If you already have another income channel such as affiliate income and profit from book sales, and subsistence agriculture is what you want, just go for it. But if you want to make profit out of agricultural business, you migh give a second thought on this.

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Bibliography

Rifkin, Jeremy. The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era. United States: Warner Books, 1996.

Watanabe, Michio. "Big Business Creeps into Agriculture as Farmers Dwindle." Japan Times, 4 Aug. 2016, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/04/national/big-business-creeps-agriculture-farmers-dwindle/#.V6U6KDaO6V5.