Guy's Books and Thoughts

I saw on NHK news that the price of eggs is going up due to the rise in the price of chicken feed which is made from corn. The rise in corn price is due to the stupid ethanol policy pursued in the U.S. Japan is dependent on the United States for corn and wheat. Corn ordinarily used for food is used for fuel. Less corn for food means a higher price for corn. I should add that the stupid ethanol policy has also impacted the price of bread and other wheat based products. Less wheat is grown in favor of corn. This means a smaller supply of wheat. And in a case of supply and demand, less wheat means higher prices. So the price of pasta, bread and other wheat based products has gone up in Japan.

I think a possible short term solution Japan could take to check the high price of eggs is to use the "emergency" rice stored in warehouses for chicken feed. Japan has been buying rice from other countries and storing it in warehouses. I think this rice is bought to avoid the charge of protectionism. From what I can tell the rice is just sitting in the warehouses and not released to the market. The NIKKEI WEEKLY suggested releasing this rice to keep the price of rice from skyrocketing as it has in other countries. Why not use some of this rice for chicken feed? Chickens can eat rice. And brown rice is more nutritious for the chicken than corn.

Another helpful solution is to adopt the terraced farming practiced by the ancients in Latin America. My friend, Dr. Donald Chittick, in his book THE PUZZLE OF ANCIENT MAN, pointed out the benefits of terraced farming. Some people reconstructed this ancient method of farming and achieved a bumper crop using such methods. In some cases the yield was seven times the normal yield. Using such methods an estimated 100,000 people could be supported. The source cited for this book was an article entitled "Lost Empires of the Americas" found in U.S NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, April 2, 1990 pg 53. I talked to Dr. Chitick and he thought that such terraced farming could be adopted to Japan's hilly regions. Granted one may not be able to grow rice, but perhaps other fruits and vegetables can be grown. The Japanese government should consider encouraging such farming. Direct laws mandating such farming are probably not effective. But perhaps people can be encouraged to engage in such farming through homesteading agreements and tax incentives. Perhaps businesses could also be encouraged to move to such rural areas since cities like Tokyo are getting overcrowded.
Perhaps this type farming might provide some relief to the food problem in Japan. Granted crops cannot be grown overnight. But this terraced farming could provide a longer term solution to the food problems of Japan.

Guy

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