For Young Japanese, It’s Back to the Farm by Hiroko Tabuchi
May 2, 2009 - By Bobby Solomon - Category: Food & Drinks
For Young Japanese, It’s Back to the Farm
by Hiroko Tabuchi
The NY Times had a really great story a few weeks back about Japan’s new Rural Labor Squad, a program that gets young, underemployed Japanese to work on farms. The idea works in two ways. The first is that it gives young people who are having problems finding a solid job a chance to learn new skills, something they can possibly use in the future. The other part is that Japan’s rural work force is getting older, and they don’t always have the money to hire new people.
While the program isn’t perfect, it’s not going to solve their unemployment problem, it does bring up some interesting ideas. President Obama has recently been calling people to service, to help out in their communities and the such. Well what if more communities started creating farms? Imagine people learning how to grow their own foods, maintain crops, take care of livestock.
Personally I think this is an amazing idea, and I wish I had a place to participate in something like this. It would be even better if it were in the city limits, like the lot where the recently out of business Circuit City is on Sunset. Does anyone else think this would be really fun to try?
Bobby
Comments
If you've got something to say, keep it positive.yeah… too bad congress got rid of the only farm we had in Los Angeles.
there’s a community eco garden being built on a small lot next to a freeway onramp in glendale ca.
here’s the website, with a blog that charts it’s progress; http://green-glendale.org/.
it’s a small step in the right direction and just shows that people can make a difference with some hard work and good intentions.
Yeah this is awesome, if you wanna read a cool concept for farming communities that can pretty much exist anywhere read up on Gaviotas, we read about it in my Ecological Design at class. I would have read it but I’m a senior :/.
http://www.friendsofgaviotas.org/Home.html
here’s their website
A very special friend of mine, Lilli, created a business plan around turning backyards in Sydney into small vegetable plots and establishing localised growers markets, where families could get financial rewards, while at the same time, teaching children how to grow foodstuffs, a skill which is altogether disappearing in modern urbanised societies, yet is one which is more essential than how to use Facebook.
There is something similar to that on an international scale here:
http://www.wwoof.org
But the focus is on learning about organic farms, not just farming in general.
[...] couple days ago I posted about the Japanese’s plan to start introducing underemployed workers to farming, and thought it would be really great if the U.S. had a plan like that. Well that led to a friend [...]
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