I've just munched through all the paperwork and extra's to start my own agriculture business for next year. I've seen some posts asking for route's/advice etc and thought a small discribtion on how and what would be nice so here we go.
Starting next season i will farm around roughly 60 hectares of agriculture and silver culture planning. Mainly aiming at free range pigs and meat chickens.
How do you get your farmers license? quite easy tbh you can either show evidence of atleast 2 years of experience. or an agriculture education. ( i took this route) But there is a very fine print that says IF you farm an X amount of hectares you will be seen as a farmer ( the rule is very stretchy and depends on the prefecture)
Subsidie's : you can catch quite a few good deals depending on what your gonna do ( 5 hectares minimum gives you 1.5 million yen a year) it only grows from there. Remember Japans average farming age is around 65 they NEED new farmers.
How expensive is land in Japan? The prefecture i live in ( Niigata) offers 10 hectares of arable land for 100 ish euro/dollar a year (for lease) also depended on prefecture. check with the local city office for more info. Remember were not allowed to buy land till you get a Japanese passport.
Heavy equipment how and what?? you can choose , there are allot of auctions for heavy equipment around every farming hub. ( tractors go for around 300.000 yen for a second hand 24HP 500.000 yen for 45-65HP) take this with a grain of salt and see all quality will be priced different. You can also borrow heavy equipment from the local Co-op which offers all machine's for a certain price per hectare this is also depended on prefecture.
Animal license? Its quite easy you mail the prefecture agriculture board and they roll out your rules and regulations cant do short cuts. If they are affraid for the animal ''smells'' there's a study going around in Japan/Korea where they show allot of data use this data for your defence and you shoud be solide.
I've farmed in the Netherlands and New-Zealand both on a proffesional scale ( max herd has been 600 dairy cows in NZ) There's not much difference in the west and japan with farming it self.
It might rustle some feathers but farming in Japan is quite easy to get into. The equipment and cost threshold is also quite low. Just ask your local city hall and you'll be 95% on the way for me that has been the route.
For more info fling me a PM and i'll send some more info over if you want to start a livestock farm aswell.
* Edit : I'm in Japan on a skilled visa it does put some borders on stuff from a spouse visa point of view.
by Expensive_Click_2006